Finland is an exception in Europe
COLUMN
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By Max Jakobson
Now that the result of the German Parliamentary elections has paralysed that country’s politics and started up a dramatic power struggle between Christian Democratic leader Angela Merkel and Chancellor Gerhard Schröder, one cannot help but observe how serene and easy-going political life in Finland is.
Presidential elections are coming in this country, too, for which the candidates are already preparing by practising their Nordic walking skills in front of TV cameras one at a time. Stiff competition is to be expected between two candidates - both hoping for the silver medal.
In Germany the worry is that neither of the two large parties will be able to form a functioning government, leaving as the only alternative a coalition of the two main parties.
Such a government was last in office for four years in the 1960s, but it did not operate efficiently. Nor is it expected that the cooperation between Schröder and Merkel can be very successful. Still, no other government coalitions seem likely to emerge.
In Finland, a similar coalition of the Social Democrats and the Agrarian League (later the Centre Party) was the basic foundation of our political life from 1937. With the exception of the wartime years and the first Presidential term of Urho Kekkonen, it continued until 1987. Since then, a third party, the National Coalition Party, has joined it.
In 1987 - 1991 the government was formed by the SDP and the National Coalition Party. From 1991 to 1995 it was the Centre Party and the National Coalition Party. In 1995 - 1999 it was the SDP and the National Coalition Party, from 1999 to 2003 it was the Social Democrats and the National Coalition Party again, and [in the present Parliamentary term] 2003 - 2007 it is the Centre Party and the SDP.
Politicians believe that in 2007 the government will be formed by the SDP and the Centre Party, and that the National Coalition Party will have to wait until 2011...
The combinations of the three largest parties show that ideologies do not determine the composition of governments. Ministers represent the economic and social interests of different population groups, which are accommodated with each other in the government.
The way that Finnish political parties work together is an apparent anomaly with respect to the political systems of nearly all other - with the exception of Switzerland. Finland is living its own political life.
But economics is moving away from politics. International competition is becoming tougher, and production is increasingly moving to countries with low production costs. The result is that industrial jobs are declining and service industries bring more jobs.
Growth in the euro zone remains slow, especially now that the situation in Germany is so vague. Europe is falling behind the United States and the leading Asian countries.
Finland’s exports have nevertheless remained strong, even though prices of export goods have declined. Economic growth in our country is expected to rise to 2.1%, and next year to just over three percent.
Finance Minister Antti Kalliomäki praised Finland’s economic situation in his farewell speech, listing a long series of positive figures. However, in closing he issued a serious warning to Parliament over problems in the near future, which might significantly hurt our economic situation.
We have long faced a multidimensional human problem - the ageing and decrease of the population. We can no longer remain silent on it. The working-age population will begin to decline by 2010 at the latest, at which time those who were born in 1945 reach 65.
The government has taken into consideration the greying of the population, and decided to raise the retirement age to 68. It remains to be seen how many employees stay at work for another five years after turning 63. If this happens, an employment level of 70% will be achieved by 2007; perhaps not many immigrants will be needed then.
Emigration and immigration are nevertheless factors that inevitably affect Finnish society and the Finnish economy.
Everyone can move freely within the European Union. Between 10,000 and 12,000 people in Finland move abroad each year. Some of them are students, researchers, or civil servants (that is to say, their emigration is temporary), but some well-trained men and women emigrate permanently for work.
So far, only two percent of our population are immigrants: 35,000 have come from Russia and other parts of the former Soviet Union, 8,700 from Estonia, 4,500 from the former Yugoslavia, and 4,700 from Somalia.
These statistics reveal Finland’s exceptional situation in Europe. In Western Europe, Muslims constitute the great majority of immigrants - in France, there are as many as about six million, in Britain 1.6 million, and in a country as small as The Netherlands, some 800,000. After the massacres committed by hard-line Muslim terrorists, attitudes toward immigration from Muslim countries have become more negative in Western Europe.
In addition to the Somalis, there are 15,000 other Muslims in Finland, and citizens’ opinions are such that Muslim immigrants encounter some resistance in our country. However, we will soon need immigrants: young people, well-trained people, professional men and women. But where would they come from?
So far the situation in Finland, and in other Nordic Countries, appears to be excellent in the eyes of other Europeans, compared with both Germany and, for example, France, where unemployment has risen to more than ten percent - to say nothing of the economically weakened Italy.
In Finland, citizens have a positive view of conditions in the country. Understandably, the government is pushing the so far unresolved problems past the next elections.
Helsingin Sanomat / First published in print 22.9.2005
Helsingin Sanomat
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| 27.9.2005 - THIS WEEK |
 Finland is an exception in Europe |
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