Tag: Finland

German chancellor vows ‘leadership’ with call to further arm Ukraine

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MUNICH — Countries able to send battle tanks to Ukraine should “actually do so now,” German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said Friday, trying to rally support for a Europe-wide fleet of tank donations.
Speaking at the opening of the Munich Security Conference, a gathering of global political and security leaders, Scholz said “Germany acknowledges its responsibility for the security of Europe and the NATO alliance area, without ifs and buts.”
This is, he added, “a responsibility that a country of Germany’s size, location and economic strength has to shoulder in times like these.”
Concretely, the chancellor said Germany would “permanently” adhere to the NATO goal of spending 2 percent of its economic output on defense — a target that Berlin is currently set to miss this year and probably also next year, despite a massive €100 billion special fund for military investment.
Germany needs to boost its defense industry and switch to “a permanent production of the most important weapons we are using,” the chancellor added.
Scholz’s remarks came just hours after his defense minister, Boris Pistorius, told reporters in Munich Germany must commit to even higher spending targets to follow through on its security pledges.
“It must be clear to everyone: It will not be possible to fulfill the tasks that lie ahead of us with barely two percent,” Pistorius said.
Western allies are gathering in Munich for a series of high-level talks focused primarily on the war in Ukraine, one year after Russia invaded the Eastern European country.

Scholz said it would be “wise to prepare for a long war” and to send a clear message to Russian President Vladimir Putin that he’s making “a miscalculation” if he is counting on Ukraine’s Western allies eventually growing war-weary and pulling back from their military support.
The German chancellor said Ukraine’s allies with German-made, modern Leopard 2 tanks in their stocks should join Berlin in delivering them to Ukraine, adding that his government would use the three-day Munich conference to “campaign intensively for this.”
The German chancellor himself hesitated for months over whether to send Leopard 2 tanks, only changing course last month, when he vowed to build an international alliance that would give Ukraine 80 of the German-built tanks.
But he is struggling to deliver on that commitment. Some allies like Finland are dragging their feet on tank donations, while others like Portugal are not sending as many as Berlin had hoped.
Other countries like Poland or Spain are only sending an older version of the tank, the Leopard 2 A4. Scholz said he hopes “some more will also join” Germany in sending the more modern Leopard 2 A6.
Scholz also said that Germany “will do everything it can to make this decision easier for our partners,” offering to provide logistical support or training Ukrainian soldiers on the tanks. “I see this as an example of the kind of leadership which everyone is entitled to expect from Germany — and I expressly offer it to our friends and partners.”
Just before Scholz spoke, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy warned that “speed is crucial,” underscoring the German leader’s point.

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( With inputs from : www.politico.eu )

February 16, 2023
Putin is staring at defeat in his gas war with Europe

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There’s more bad news for Vladimir Putin. Europe is on course to get through winter with its vital gas storage facilities more than half full, according to a new European Commission assessment seen by POLITICO.
That means despite the Russian leader’s efforts to make Europe freeze by cutting its gas supply, EU economies will survive the coldest months without serious harm — and they look set to start next winter in a strong position to do the same.
A few months ago, there were fears of energy shortages this winter caused by disruptions to Russian pipeline supplies.

But a combination of mild weather, increased imports of liquefied natural gas (LNG), and a big drop in gas consumption mean that more than 50 billion cubic meters (bcm) of gas is projected to remain in storage by the end of March, according to the Commission analysis.
A senior European Commission official attributed Europe’s success in securing its gas supply to a combination of planning and luck.
“A good part of the success is due to unusually mild weather conditions and to China being out of the market [due to COVID restrictions],” the official said. “But demand reduction, storage policy and infrastructure work helped significantly.”
Ending the winter heating season with such healthy reserves — above 50 percent of the EU’s roughly 100bcm total storage capacity — removes any lingering fears of a gas shortage in the short term. It also eases concerns about Europe’s energy security going into next winter.
The positive figures underlie the more optimistic outlook presented by EU leaders in recent days, with Energy Commissioner Kadri Simson saying on Tuesday that Europe had “won the first battle” of the “energy war” with Russia.
EU storage facilities — also vital for winter gas supply in the U.K., where storage options are limited — ended last winter only around 20 percent full. Brussels mandated that they be replenished to 80 percent ahead of this winter, requiring a hugely expensive flurry of LNG purchases by European buyers, to replace volumes of gas lost from Russian pipelines.
The wholesale price of gas rose to record levels during storage filling season — peaking at more than €335 per megawatt hour in August — with dire knock-on effects for household bills, businesses’ energy costs and Europe’s industrial competitiveness.
Gas prices have since fallen to just above €50/Mwh amid easing concerns over supplies. The EU has a new target to fill 90 percent of gas storage again by November 2023 — an effort that will now require less buying of LNG on the international market than it might have done had reserves been more seriously depleted.
“The expected high level of storages at above 50 percent [at] the end of this winter season will be a strong starting point for 2023/24 with less than 40 percent to be filled (against the difficult starting point of around 20 percent in storage at the end of winter season in 2022,” the Commission assessment says.
Analysts at the Independent Commodity Intelligence Services think tank said this week that refilling storages this year could still be “as tough a challenge as last year” but predicted that the EU now had “more than enough import capacity to meet the challenge.”
Across the EU, five new floating LNG terminals have been set up — in the Netherlands, Greece, Finland and two in Germany — providing an extra 30bcm of gas import capacity, with more due to come online this year and next.
However, the EU’s ability to refill storages to the new 90 percent target ahead of next winter will likely depend on continued reduction in gas consumption.
Brussels set member states a voluntary target of cutting gas demand by 15 percent from August last year. Gas demand actually fell by more than 20 percent between August and December, according to the latest Commission data, partly thanks to efficiency measures but also the consequence of consumers responding to much higher prices by using less energy.
The 15 percent target may need to be extended beyond its expiry date of March 31 to avoid gas demand rebounding as prices fall. EU energy ministers are set to discuss the issue at two forthcoming meetings in February and March.

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( With inputs from : www.politico.eu )

February 16, 2023
‘Finland must triple immigration to maintain labour force’

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Helsinki: Finland needs net immigration of up to 44,000 people annually to stabilize the size of the country’s labor force, a report has said.
The report published by the Research Institute of the Finnish Economy (Etla) on Friday examined the economic effects of work-based immigration, and how immigration can compensate for the effects of Finland’s aging population, Xinhua news agency reported.
Etla said that the level of immigration required to boost the workforce is almost three times the actual level predicted by Statistics Finland: around 15,000 people annually.
Finland’s working-age population began to decline at the turn of the 2010s, when the “baby boomer” generation moved into retirement.
If the current low birth rate and the level of immigration forecast by Statistics Finland continue, the working-age population will drop by nearly 20 percent by 2070.
Such a decrease in the labour force would result in a slowdown in the growth of the national economy, and affect the sustainability of the welfare state, Etla warned.
“There is a lot of room for increasing the employment rate in Finland, but it is by no means enough to cover the future need for labour,” said Tarmo Valkonen, research advisor at Etla.
According to Etla’s model calculations, with the required level of immigration the labour input would increase by almost 10 per cent by 2040, and approximately 40 per cent by 2070.

Although the report points out that the impact of immigrants with low levels of education on the public economy is less positive than that of highly-educated people, low-skilled immigration is still beneficial to Finland’s economy since it enables services to function and the general population to target better jobs that match their education.
“As life expectancy rises, additional immigration would still not be enough to stop the population aging,” Etla added.
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( With inputs from www.siasat.com )

February 4, 2023
Ransomware hacking campaign targets Europe and North America, Italy warns

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Italy’s National Cybersecurity Agency (ACN) warned on Sunday of a large-scale campaign to spread ransomware on thousands of computer servers across Europe and North America.
France, Finland and Italy are the most affected countries in Europe at the moment, while the U.S. and Canada also have a high number of targets, the ACN warned, according to Italian news agency ANSA.
The attack targets vulnerabilities in VMware ESXi technology that were previously discovered but that still leave many organizations vulnerable to intrusion by hackers.
“These types of servers had been targeted by hackers in the past due to their vulnerability,” according to ACN. “However, this vulnerability of the server was not completely fixed, leaving an open door to hackers for new attacks.”
France was the first country to detect the attack, according ANSA.
The French cybersecurity agency ANSSI on Friday released an alert to warn organizations to patch the vulnerability.
It is estimated that thousands of computer servers have been compromised around the world, and according to analysts the number is likely to increase. Experts are warning organizations to take action to avoid being locked out of their systems.

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( With inputs from : www.politico.eu )

January 31, 2023
Turkey may evaluate NATO applications of Finland, Sweden separately: FM

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Ankara: Turkey could evaluate Finland’s NATO bid separately from Sweden’s bid to distinguish “between a problematic country and a less problematic one,” Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said.
“If NATO and these countries take such a decision, we, as Turkey, think that we may evaluate the applications separately. But first of all, NATO and these countries have to decide,” Cavusoglu added at a joint press conference with his Portuguese counterpart Joao Gomes Cravinho on Monday.
He emphasised that the alliance and these countries initially requested that the membership process of the two countries be carried out together, Xinhua news agency reported.
Since then, Finland has taken some steps, but there were “provocations” in Sweden, he said.
“We’ve been saying that we have fewer problems with Finland since the two countries’ application process started. It would be fair to distinguish between a problematic country and a less problematic one,” the Minister added.
On Sunday, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that Turkey may show a different approach to Finland’s NATO bid than Sweden.
“We may respond differently to Finland if necessary. Sweden would be shocked when we respond differently to Finland. But Finland should not make the same mistake,” Erdogan added.
Turkey submitted a list of 120 “terrorists” to Sweden for extradition, he said, adding that the Nordic country must extradite these people in order to join NATO.

Turkey has postponed a trilateral meeting with Sweden and Finland on their NATO bids slated to take place in February following the burning of a copy of the Quran in Sweden.
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( With inputs from www.siasat.com )

January 31, 2023
NATO dialogue with Sweden, Finland ‘meaningless’: Turkey

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Ankara: It is “meaningless” to hold a trilateral meeting with Sweden and Finland to discuss their NATO accession process after recent protests in Stockholm, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu has said.
“In this environment, a trilateral meeting is meaningless. It has been postponed because the current environment will overshadow this,” Cavusoglu explained at a joint press conference with visiting Serbia’s First Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ivica Dacic on Thursday, Xinhua news agency reported.
“Sweden has to decide. Does it want to join NATO or not? One of the aims of these incidents is to prevent Sweden from joining NATO,” the Turkish minister said, referring to recent protests in the Nordic country, which involves burning of Quran and demonstrations by the supporters of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) outlawed by Turkey.
He warned the incident was a “racist attack that has nothing to do with freedom of thought”.
Turkey has postponed a trilateral meeting with Sweden and Finland on their NATO bids slated for February following the burning of a copy of the Quran in Stockholm.
Sweden and Finland submitted their formal requests to join NATO in May 2022, which were initially objected by Turkey, a NATO member, citing their support for anti-Turkish Kurdish organisations and political dissidents.
A month later, Turkey, Sweden and Finland reached a memorandum of understanding (MoU) ahead of the NATO summit held in Madrid.
Under the MoU, Ankara agreed to lift its veto on the NATO bids by Finland and Sweden, which in return pledged to support Turkey’s fight against terrorism and address its “pending deportation or extradition requests of terror suspects expeditiously and thoroughly.”

The Turkish parliament has not ratified the Nordic countries’ NATO bids so far, citing that they have yet to meet Turkey’s requests.
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( With inputs from www.siasat.com )

January 27, 2023
Turkey postpones trilateral Sweden, Finland meeting after Quran burning

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Ankara: Turkey has postponed a trilateral meeting with Sweden and Finland on their NATO bids following the burning of a copy of the Quran in Sweden, the state-run TRT network reported.
The meeting was slated to take place in February, the report said, citing anonymous Turkish diplomatic sources.
The decision came a day after Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan told Sweden not to expect Turkey’s support on its NATO bid after Rasmus Paludan, the head of the Danish far-right political party Hard Line, burned a copy of the Quran on Saturday outside the Turkish Embassy in Stockholm, Sweden.
Sweden and Finland submitted their formal requests to join the NATO in May 2022, which were initially objected by Turkey, a NATO member, citing their support for anti-Turkish Kurdish organisations and political dissidents, Xinhua news agency reported.
A month later, Turkey, Sweden and Finland reached a memorandum of understanding (MoU) ahead of the NATO summit held in Madrid, Spain.
In the MoU, Ankara agreed to lift its veto on the NATO bids by Finland and Sweden, which in return pledged to support Turkey’s fight against terrorism and address its “pending deportation or extradition requests of terror suspects expeditiously and thoroughly”.
The Turkish parliament has not ratified the Nordic countries’ NATO bids so far, citing that they have yet to meet Turkey’s requests.
(Except for the headline, the story has not been edited by Siasat staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

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( With inputs from www.siasat.com )

January 25, 2023
Finland may need to join NATO without Sweden, foreign minister says

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Finland could reconsider its joint NATO bid with Sweden if Stockholm’s application is delayed further, Foreign Minister Pekka Haavisto said Tuesday, a day after Turkey said it would not support the Swedish candidacy.
“You have to assess the situation,” Haavisto told Finnish public broadcaster Yle. “Has something happened that the longer term would prevent the Swedish project from going ahead? It [is] too early to take a position on that.”
Finland and Sweden applied to join NATO together last October, as a consequence of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

Turkey and Hungary are the last two members of the military alliance who still need to ratify the joint bid.
While Budapest has pledged it would sign off the bid, Ankara is yet to follow suit.
But relations between Sweden and Turkey have taken a turn for the worse in recent days, after a far-right Swedish politician burned a copy of the Quran during a protest in Stockholm last Saturday.
On Monday, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said the burning was an insult, and that Sweden would not receive “any support from [Turkey] on the NATO issue.”
Haavisto seemed more restrained in an interview to Reuters, also on Tuesday morning. When asked if Finland could join NATO on its own, the Foreign Minister said: “I do not see the need for a discussion about that.”
Haavisto also told Reuters the three-way talks between Finland, Sweden and Turkey on NATO accession would be paused “for a couple of weeks” until “the dust has settled after the current situation.”
“No conclusions should be drawn yet,” Haavisto added.

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( With inputs from : www.politico.eu )

January 24, 2023
European allies will send about 80 Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine, Germany says

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BERLIN — Germany and its European partners plan to “quickly” send two Leopard 2 tank battalions to Ukraine — suggesting about 80 vehicles — the government in Berlin announced Wednesday, adding that Germany would provide one company of 14 Leopard 2 A6 tanks “as a first step.”
Other countries likely to send Leopards to the war against Russia include Poland, Spain, Norway and Finland.
The decision by Chancellor Olaf Scholz — which emerged on Tuesday evening — marks a decisive moment in Western support for Ukraine in its fight against Russian aggression, which entered its 12th month this week and could soon heat up further as Moscow is expected to launch a new offensive.

Following Berlin’s move, other European countries like Spain and Norway reportedly agreed to join the Leopard tank alliance.
Andriy Yermak, the head of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s office, welcomed the German announcement as a “first step.”
“Leopards are very much needed,” he said on Telegram.
Zelenskyy himself also welcomed the move on Twitter. “Sincerely grateful to the Chancellor and all our friends in” Germany, he said.
Russia’s Ambassador to Germany Sergei Nechaev said in a statement the decision was “extremely dangerous,” and took the conflict “to a new level of confrontation.”
Kyiv had long urged Germany and other partners to supply its army with the powerful German-built Leopard 2 tank, but Scholz hesitated to take the decision, partly out of concern that it could drag Germany or NATO into the conflict. He remained adamant that such a move had to be closely coordinated and replicated by Western allies, most notably the United States.
The news of an imminent announcement by U.S. President Joe Biden to send “a significant number” of American M1 Abrams tanks to Ukraine facilitated the chancellor’s decision. Scholz had come under huge pressure from European partners like Poland, as well as his own coalition partners in government, to no longer block the delivery of the German tank. Since they are German-made, their re-export needed the approval of the German government.
“This decision follows our well-known line of supporting Ukraine to the best of our ability. We act internationally in a closely coordinated manner,” Scholz said in a written statement. He is also due to address the German parliament at 1 p.m. on Wednesday to further explain his decision.
“The goal is to quickly form two tank battalions with Leopard 2 tanks for Ukraine,” a German government spokesperson said.
“As a first step, Germany will provide a company of 14 Leopard-2 A6 tanks from Bundeswehr stocks. Other European partners will also hand over Leopard-2 tanks,” the spokesperson added.
The spokesperson also said the training of Ukrainian crews on the tanks “is to begin rapidly in Germany.” Berlin would also provide “logistics, ammunition and maintenance of the systems.”
Moreover, Germany will provide partner countries like Spain, Poland, Finland or Norway, which “want to quickly deliver Leopard-2 tanks from their stocks,” the necessary re-export permission, the spokesperson said.
NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg tweeted that he “strongly welcomes” Berlin’s decision. “At a critical moment in Russia’s war, these can help Ukraine to defend itself, win & prevail as an independent nation.”
Spain, which owns one of the largest fleets of Leopards in the EU, with 347 tanks, has previously said it would send tanks to Kyiv as part of a European coalition, according to El País.
The Norwegian government is considering sending eight of its 36 Leopard tanks to Ukraine, but no decision has been made yet, Norwegian daily DN reported late Tuesday after a meeting of the parliamentary committee on foreign affairs and defense, quoting sources close to the deliberation.
Portugal, which has 37 Leopards, could provide four tanks to the assembling European coalition, a source close to the government told Correio da Manhã late on Tuesday.
The Netherlands, which is leasing 18 Leopards from Germany, is also weighing supplying some of their armored vehicles, Dutch newswire ANP reported, quoting a government spokesperson. On Tuesday, Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte said he was “willing to consider” buying the tanks from Germany and shipping them to Ukraine, but that no decision had been made.
On Wednesday, the Swedish defense minister said that Sweden did not exclude sending some of its own tanks at a later stage, according to Swedish daily Svenska Dagbladet.
Wilhelmine Preussen and Zoya Sheftalovich contributed reporting.
This article was updated.

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( With inputs from : www.politico.eu )

January 24, 2023
IMF urges Finland to boost sustainability of public finances

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Helsinki: Finland has been urged to boost the sustainability of its public finances in a new report published by the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
The IMF, in its annual assessment, also urged Finland to reduce its debt ratio in the medium-term to prepare for an ageing population, Xinhua news agency reported.
The Finnish economy recovered quickly from the Covid-19 pandemic, supported by government measures, the IMF said. However, the Ukraine crisis has weakened the country’s economic outlook, and increased pressure on public finances.
Economic activity is expected to stall in 2023, the IMF said. Further contraction in private demand due to inflation is expected, and this can be only partially offset by higher public spending.
In 2024, the country’s growth is projected to return to a subdued trend rate of around 1.25 per cent, reflecting adverse demographics and low productivity growth.
Therefore, IMF said that in 2023, Finland should tighten fiscal policy by better targeting support measures related to energy prices, in order to curb inflationary pressures.
Finland is three months away from a general election, with the Finnish political scene split along classic left-right lines on taxation and labour policy.

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( With inputs from www.siasat.com )

January 24, 2023