Estonia's six months in EU have brought no massive changes for Finland
|
By Lasse Kerkelä and Jussi Niemeläinen
The membership of Estonia in the European Union from May of this year has led to an increase in interaction between Finns and Estonians, but neither the feared massive imports of alcohol nor the flood of foreign workers have materialised.
Monday marked six months since Estonia became a member of the EU.
Minister of Labour Tarja Filatov (SDP) says that the changes on the labour market have been more or less what has been expected. "There are no signs of a massive surge of labour", she says.
One factor slowing down the movement of labour has been the two-year interim period imposed by the Finnish Parliament, which restricted access to the Finnish labour market by new EU member states.
Some trade union leaders say that the amount of Estonian labour in Finland has grown, as Finnish companies have been using more Estonian subcontractors and temp agencies; the two-year waiting period does not apply to their employees.
"In practice, the labour market is almost completely free between Finland and Estonia, because most Estonians working here since May have not gone through the work permit process. The change is quite dramatic", says Matti Viialainen of the Central Organisation of Finnish Trade Unions.
This means that labour exchanges have not assessed whether or not it would have been possible, in a reasonable amount of time, to find people in Finland to do the jobs being done by Estonians. On the other hand, many of the workers are berry-pickers, for instance.
There has been a very dramatic change in the way Finns consume alcohol.
STAKES reports that the average per capita intake is growing from the previous 9.4 litres of pure alcohol a year to 10.3 litres this year. An average one litre of this total is brought in by travellers from Estonia, says STAKES researcher Esa Österberg.
He says that imports from Estonia have at least doubled.
He believes that without Estonian EU membership, and without the resulting need to lower the Finnish tax on alcoholic beverages, per capita consumption would only have risen by 0.2 litres instead of 0.9 litres.
Customs authorities say that personal imports of food and other goods have also increased somewhat.
Although the "booze rally" never materialised on the scale that was feared, the number of passengers sailing to Tallinn has increased, "largely thanks to Estonia’s EU membership", says Håkan Nordström, CEO of the shipping line Tallink. On the other hand, passenger capacity also increased.
More Finns travel beyond Tallinn. Travel by car has increased the most. "As EU members, Estonia and the other Baltic countries are now seen as safer than before", says Tuomas Nylund of Silja Line.
More Finns are also spending nights in Estonia. "Half of the increase can be attributed to EU membership", estimates Valdar Liive of Enterprise Estonia.
More Estonians are also spending nights in Finland, too.
Nordström and Nylund are not the only ones to believe that EU membership has changed the perception that Finns have of Estonia.
"Estonia’s EU membership means equality", says Finland’s Ambassador in Tallinn, Jaakko Blomberg.
"We have never had this much in common", says Estonia’s Ambassador in Helsinki Matti Maasikas.
As interaction increases, knowledge will also increase, believes Seppo Kuusisto, head of the Tuglas Society for Finno-Estonian Cultural Relationships.
However, he notes that some darker aspects have arisen in bilateral relations during the six months of Estonian EU membership.
"The interim period preceding free movement of labour has increased suspicions of undocumented Estonian labour."
Helsingin Sanomat / First published in print 27.10.2004
The membership of Estonia in the European Union from May of this year has led to an increase in interaction between Finns and Estonians, but neither the feared massive imports of alcohol nor the flood of foreign workers have materialised.
Monday marked six months since Estonia became a member of the EU.
Minister of Labour Tarja Filatov (SDP) says that the changes on the labour market have been more or less what has been expected. "There are no signs of a massive surge of labour", she says.
One factor slowing down the movement of labour has been the two-year interim period imposed by the Finnish Parliament, which restricted access to the Finnish labour market by new EU member states.
Some trade union leaders say that the amount of Estonian labour in Finland has grown, as Finnish companies have been using more Estonian subcontractors and temp agencies; the two-year waiting period does not apply to their employees.
"In practice, the labour market is almost completely free between Finland and Estonia, because most Estonians working here since May have not gone through the work permit process. The change is quite dramatic", says Matti Viialainen of the Central Organisation of Finnish Trade Unions.
This means that labour exchanges have not assessed whether or not it would have been possible, in a reasonable amount of time, to find people in Finland to do the jobs being done by Estonians. On the other hand, many of the workers are berry-pickers, for instance.
There has been a very dramatic change in the way Finns consume alcohol.
STAKES reports that the average per capita intake is growing from the previous 9.4 litres of pure alcohol a year to 10.3 litres this year. An average one litre of this total is brought in by travellers from Estonia, says STAKES researcher Esa Österberg.
He says that imports from Estonia have at least doubled.
He believes that without Estonian EU membership, and without the resulting need to lower the Finnish tax on alcoholic beverages, per capita consumption would only have risen by 0.2 litres instead of 0.9 litres.
Customs authorities say that personal imports of food and other goods have also increased somewhat.
Although the "booze rally" never materialised on the scale that was feared, the number of passengers sailing to Tallinn has increased, "largely thanks to Estonia’s EU membership", says Håkan Nordström, CEO of the shipping line Tallink. On the other hand, passenger capacity also increased.
More Finns travel beyond Tallinn. Travel by car has increased the most. "As EU members, Estonia and the other Baltic countries are now seen as safer than before", says Tuomas Nylund of Silja Line.
More Finns are also spending nights in Estonia. "Half of the increase can be attributed to EU membership", estimates Valdar Liive of Enterprise Estonia.
More Estonians are also spending nights in Finland, too.
Nordström and Nylund are not the only ones to believe that EU membership has changed the perception that Finns have of Estonia.
"Estonia’s EU membership means equality", says Finland’s Ambassador in Tallinn, Jaakko Blomberg.
"We have never had this much in common", says Estonia’s Ambassador in Helsinki Matti Maasikas.
As interaction increases, knowledge will also increase, believes Seppo Kuusisto, head of the Tuglas Society for Finno-Estonian Cultural Relationships.
However, he notes that some darker aspects have arisen in bilateral relations during the six months of Estonian EU membership.
"The interim period preceding free movement of labour has increased suspicions of undocumented Estonian labour."
Helsingin Sanomat / First published in print 27.10.2004
LASSE KERKELÄ AND JUSSI NIEMELÄINEN / Helsingin Sanomat
lasse.kerkela@hs.fi, jussi.niemelainen@hs.fi