The Parliament’s Finance Committee has today released its statement on next year’s state budget. This involved deciding on the allocation of the government’s extra budgetary sum of around EUR 50 million. The Chair of the Swedish Parliamentary Group, Anders Adlercreutz, is particularly pleased about the additional resources directed at youth entrepreneurship education.
“The process that will in time lead to our NATO membership is a sign of the workability of our political system,” said Anders Adlercreutz, the Chair of the Swedish Parliamentary Group, last Tuesday in a debate on the approval of Finland’s NATO membership.
“One absurd case after another is reported in the news. Within SFP, we have long been concerned about the apparent arbitrariness with which residence permit applications are approved or rejected by the Finnish Immigration Service. It is unsustainable. A profound investigation of the Immigration Service and its processes must be carried out,” says Anders Adlercreutz, Chair of the Swedish Parliamentary Group.
The objective of the Swedish People’s Party is to achieve its best parliamentary election results ever (in number of votes), winning at least 5 per cent of the vote and being represented in all polling districts. SFP aims to keep its current seats and achieve two further seats.
The 2022 United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP27) in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, went into significant overtime, finishing on Sunday instead of Friday. Negotiations centred around tricky discussions concerning a loss and damage fund, and the EU’s hesitancy towards the fund has attracted criticism. Nils Torvalds (SFP/Renew), who attended the conference as a member of the European Parliament’s delegation, directs his critique at China for hampering the negotiations.
Today (10 November 2022), the Finnish Government approved its report on Nordic cross-border barriers. The report responds to the entry in the Government Programme stating that Finland wants to further facilitate the movement of citizens between the Nordic countries, work actively to remove existing cross-border barriers, and seek to ensure that new ones are not created. The minister in charge, Thomas Blomqvist, Minister for Nordic Cooperation and Equality, emphasises the importance of providing this report to the Parliament.
In recent years, gang culture has become an increasing problem in Finland’s large cities. With a dozen or so active street gangs in the Helsinki Metropolitan Area, organised gang crime is also on the increase in cities such as Turku. MP Sandra Bergqvist (RKP) is worried about this trend.
The Finnish Parliament voted to approve amendments to Finnish abortion legislation by a margin of 125 to 41. One of the outcomes of the reform will be that a pregnancy may be terminated up to the end of the 12th week of gestation by the pregnant woman’s request. It has previously been necessary to obtain statements from two separate physicians.
Concerns have arisen over Russian real estate holdings close to significant defence sites in Finland. Last week, the Government issued a proposal for tightening related legislation. The Chair of the Swedish Parliamentary Group, Anders Adlercreutz, points out that sites that are not directly linked to defence may also be strategically significant.
The primary task of the United Nations is to preserve world peace. Today, on United Nations Day, we are reminded of the significance of the UN and of the fact that its role is more important than ever. Russia’s nuclear weapons threat and invasion of Ukraine have completely shifted the international security scenario.
