Nordics & Baltics
Swedish Social Democrats lose pole position
The popularity of the Social Democratic Party of Prime Minister Stefan Löfven, who have been increasingly under fire at homey for their poor handling of the pandemic, is now in free fall, according to a new poll published on Wednesday...
EU ‘owes Lithuania’s freedom defenders’, says von der Leyen
“Our [European] Union owes Lithuania’s freedom fighters because today’s Europe would look different without their bravery,” European Commission President Ursula von Der Leyen said in a recorded video message. In her video message, the Commission chief said the EU would...
Large corporations lose faith in Finnish government economic policy
Nearly 81% of Finland’s largest companies see the country’s current political leadership as being uncertain when it comes to creating a business environment that favours growth, while 69% of the companies see the government as a threat to their operations,...
Cyberattack on Finnish parliament: ‘a serious attack on democracy’
The cyberattack that targeted the Finnish parliament late last autumn had compromised parliamentary email accounts – including of Finnish MPs – whose exact number has not been disclosed, recent results of ongoing investigations have revealed. This chilling news sent shockwaves...
Swedes increasingly in favour of joining NATO
Support for Sweden’s possible future NATO membership is on the rise, with Swedes supporting the idea almost neck and neck with those against it, according to a poll conducted in December and published on Sunday by newspaper Dagens Nyheter. According...
Swedish government given more power to manage pandemic
The Swedish parliament has approved a law giving the government the right to apply tougher measures in the fight against the current pandemic. The law, which came into force on Sunday, allows the government to limit opening hours and visitor...
Nordic and European security issues left unanswered because of Brexit
The UK leaving the EU has left defence and security issues wide open, as bilateral and joint agreements with the UK may be in danger of turning into dead letters. While questions have been raised about the future of the...
The King’s verdict: Sweden has ‘failed’
After months of Swedish pandemic solo runs, King Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden broke with tradition and openly criticised the government’s COVID-19 strategy. “In my opinion, we have failed. There have been all too many deaths, and it is terrible,”...
Finnish prime minister ‘constantly on knife’s edge’
The legal conditions to re-activate the Emergency Powers Act have not been met, Prime Minister Sanna Marin (SDP) told reporters after a government meeting on Wednesday evening, warning, however, that a state of emergency may well have to be called,...
Citing Brexit, Norway PM says country should not seek new deal with EU
Norway should not try to renegotiate the terms of its membership of the European single market as some opposition parties argue, Prime Minister Erna Solberg said on Wednesday (16 December), citing Britain’s difficulties in negotiating its departure from the bloc....
Lithuania launches probe into Belarus crimes
Lithuania has become the first European country to launch an investigation into crimes against humanity potentially committed by the Belarusian security forces. Svetlana Tikhanovskaya, the main leader of the Belarusian opposition who was forced to flee to Lithuania, called on...
EU scepticism growing in Finland
While 38% of Finns reject the country’s participation in the EU’s €750 billion recovery package, close to half (49%) believe Finland’s influence on the EU is next to unrecognisable, according to a survey published on Tuesday by the Finnish Business...
Finnish foreign minister to remain in office after confidence vote
After a year on a short leash, Finnish Foreign Minister Pekka Haavisto (Greens) retained the confidence of parliament after MPs voted in favour of him staying in office on Tuesday morning, with 101 in favour and 68 against. In the...
Lithuania imposes full lockdown
As the new Lithuanian government was sworn in last Friday, more than two months after the 8 October election, the continued sharp rise in new COVID-19 cases during the delayed handover period has forced the government to impose a full...
Arctic security could be destabilised by power rivalry among US, Russia, China
The growing interests and presence of Russia, China and the US in the Arctic have a destabilising effect on the region’s security, according to the annual risk assessment conducted by the Danish Defence Intelligence Service (DDIS). Tensions within the Danish...
Emergency shutdown causes nuclear scare in Finland
A system failure at the Olkiluoto nuclear power plant caused a reactor to shut down last Thursday, details of which took an hour to reach local authorities though nearby hospitals were quickly put on high alert. Read also: Finland’s Greens...
In Finland, the more you earn, the more you are taxed
Finland’s taxation policy is one of steep progression and high marginal taxes, meaning it is ‘swimming against the tide’ when it comes to taxing wages, reveals a study by the Taxpayers Association of Finland (TAF) published on Thursday, which compared...
Exiled opposition leader Tikhanovskaya urges Europe to probe torture in Belarus
Svetlana Tikhanovskaya, the exiled leader of the Belarusian opposition, has called on European countries to follow Lithuania in investigating crimes committed by the regime in Belarus. “We encourage all other countries to follow this initiative of the Lithuanian prosecutor and...
‘NATO-option’ gets majority in Swedish parliament
For the first time in Sweden’s history the so-called “NATO-option” has obtained a majority in parliament, meaning that while the country edges closer to Finland’s defence and security policy which has the ‘NATO-option’ as its cornerstone, it is also keeping...
‘To Amazon or not to Amazon’: what’s in store for future of Nordic e-commerce?
Nordic companies face a strategic dilemma and a big decision: join forces with the tech giant and the world’s largest retailer Amazon or fight back with everything they can. Already at the end of October, the US company asserted its...
Auditors to probe EU’s 5G network plans
The EU's 5G strategy is to come under the scrutiny of European auditors, as the clock ticks down on end-of-the-year deadlines for member states to embark on frequency allocations for next-generation telecommunications networks.
Is it time up for Finland’s collective wage agreements?
A new survey reveals that a growing number of Finns would like to see wages and working conditions negotiated without trade unions but instead directly between employees and employers, according to a new survey published on Monday by the Finnish...
Finns on the road to extinction
Finland’s birth rate in 2019 saw the most dramatic drop among Nordic countries compared to 2018, according to new figures published by Statistic Finland on Friday. According to the new figures, the country’s fertility rate fell below 1.4, the lowest...