The government has today agreed on what is probably its final supplementary budget proposal. The budget allocates additional funds to health care, to helping residents out with high energy bills and to fighting youth crime. The leader of the Swedish People’s Party of Finland, Minister of Justice Anna-Maja Henriksson, considered it important to give more funding to health care.
Today (2 February) the Parliament will conduct a follow-up debate on the Government Report on Nordic Cross-Border Barriers. Cross-border barriers or obstacles are laws, official decrees or procedures that prevent the free movement of people or the ability of businesses to operate across national boundaries in the Nordic region. Thomas Blomqvist, Minister for Nordic Cooperation and Equality, who led the drafting of the report, is happy that in its statement the Foreign Affairs Committee emphasises the significance of drawing attention to these important efforts.
In August 2019, the Nordic prime ministers decided to adopt the vision of turning the Nordic countries into the world’s most sustainable and integrated region by 2030. An action plan, led by the ministers for Nordic cooperation, was implemented for fulfilling this vision. Thomas Blomqvist, Finland’s Minister for Nordic Cooperation and Equality, emphasises how topical this vision is and how important it is to continue systematically to work towards it.
Germany has today confirmed that it will send Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine. MP Anders Adlercreutz is pleased that Chancellor Olaf Scholz has finally given the green light to properly supporting Ukraine.
On January 25, Hoiva&Terveys news service and the SME organisation Suomen Yrittäjät arranged an election debate on the roles of the public and private sectors in social services and health care, and on how the objectives of the social and health services reform can be achieved in practice. SFP’s Member of Parliament and Vice Chair Sandra Bergqvist emphasised the need to increase cooperation between public and private health care operators.
The Parliament has today conducted a preliminary debate concerning the Government Report on the Future. In the group speech of the Swedish Parliamentary Group, MP and Chair of the Committee for the Future, Joakim Strand (SFP), pointed out how important it is to instil a belief in the future, particularly among the young. The pandemic, the war in Ukraine, the energy crisis and market uncertainty have led to an exceptional world situation.
A concrete measure for which SFP has long been advocating would be scrapping the requirement to determine home market labour availability before obtaining foreign labour. “In many sectors, the current… Read more »
Helsinki Sanomat newspaper reported on interest by the Norwegian company Blastr Green Steel to build a new steel factory in the southern Finnish municipality of Ingå. The investment sum lies around EUR 4 billion. Anders Adlercreutz, Chair of the Swedish Parliamentary Group, considers this expression of interest as a good example of how policies aiming to support the green transition can lead to projects of major significance to the national economy.
“Many pieces fell into place as a consequence of diverse political decisions, when the Norwegian company Blastr Green Steel announced a multi-billion-dollar investment into climate-smart steel production in Western Uusimaa,” says Thomas Blomqvist, Minister for Nordic Cooperation and Equality.
SFP Vice President Henrik Wickström is pleased by the arrival of an LNG terminal ship in the southern Finnish town of Ingå today. The vessel will be placed in the Joddböle district of Ingå as soon as the weather permits it. Wickström is also the chair of Ingå’s municipal board.
