Finnish News Recap, Week 28: Biden in Finland edition

IT JUST KEEPS GOING ON: I already wrote about the ongoing racism-in-government affair on Friday. I’ll just mention a few developments here: the Swedish People’s Party (SPP), the most liberal party in the government, held a meeting after which they announced that… they really don’t like the government, but will continue to have discussions before they announce if they’ll leave it or not.

The government has also decreed that it will establish a working group to combat racism, prompting reminders of all the times that, in Finnish politics, establishing a working group to do something has basically been an indicator that nothing concrete is going to be done. But at least things like this mean the government can keep hobbling onwards at least a little bit longer.

Especially after the new speaker (also mired in plenty of controversy) Jussi Halla-aho, from the Finns Party, ignored the opposition’s joint request and decreed that the parliament’s summer break will continue and the parliament will only start working again in September, it seems evident the government will probably survive at least until then. Activists from governmental parties are busy on social media telling people to touch grass and enjoy the summer instead of talking about the state of the government.

The whole affair did not stop FM Riikka Purra from attending her first EU ministers meeting in Brussels, though she did not give out any comments of note. Do read this for more discussion on Purra the government, including the SPP’s relationship with it.

Since that is done with and there is little else happening domestically, I can concentrate on international affairs:

NATO IN VILNIUS, BIDEN IN FINLAND: The first NATO summit with Finland as a full member took place. Of course most of the global attention did not focus on Finland, as the big question before the summit was whether Sweden would be also approved in this summit after Turkey gave indications that they would no longer stand in the way (it would not) and whether there would be a clear membership path to Ukraine (there would not).

Finland was mainly represented by new Foreign Minister Elina Valtonen, one of the most presentable government ministers, who is popular within all factions of National Coalition due to her combination of hardline economic views (hardline by Finnish scale, of course, not American) and her outspoken social liberalism – she is even one of the few Finnish politicians, at least on the right side of the scale, willing to support cannabis decriminalization, possibly even legalization.

Cannabis is naturally not a major foreign policy issue, though, but Valtonen seems to have done well in what is one of the main saving graces of this meeting for the government – taking even a bit of domestic attention away from the whole racism thing and presenting a more liberal face to the foreign partners. In particular, she got accolades in foreign media for saying that Western aid to Ukraine is not charity.

Also, after the US President Joe Biden visited Finland, his first visit as a President. (He had previously visited the country as Obama’s VP in 2011.) Just getting a visit by the American president is major news in a small country, and the media was enraptured by days by things like whether ordinary Finns would be able to catch a glimpse of Biden and what hotel Biden was staying at.

Nothing particularly noteworthy was said or done by Biden apart from well-trodden phrases like “Our commitment to Finland is rock solid”. Some protests were organized. Within America, most attention I’ve seen has been from right-wing circles focusing on Biden sniffing on some young girl, as he is wont to do.

IN OTHER NEWS, Dior is selling a luxury version of a traditional Finnish holiday game, an environmental ministry report says that Finland must do more to meet emission targets, the Finnish Security Intelligence Service (i.e. the Finnish FBI-equivalent) is worried that far-righters who have fought in Ukraine are returning radicalized, and former PM Sanna Marin books speaking gigs through an American agency now.

Image: https://www.presidentti.fi/kuvat/pohjoismaiden-ja-yhdysvaltojen-huippukokous-helsingissa-13-7-2023/#lg=1&slide=2