The national rural daily Maaseudun Tulevaisuus previews the upcoming nuclear debate within the five-party government and in Parliament. Decisions in principle are to be made on the proposed Fennovoima and TVO Olkiluoto 4 reactors, first within the cabinet in late August or early September. That could well lead to an exit from the government by the Green League. Both reactors already received provisional green lights in 2010, but both have revised their plans since then.
MT also reports on good news for forest owners – growing demand for wood-based products worldwide as the global economy recovers. Rising exports of Finnish sawmill goods, pulp and cardboard are improving the outlook for the country’s forest-products companies, says the Forest Research Institute (Metla).
KL: Busy day for number-crunchers
The business daily Kauppalehti previews a raft of economic data due out from Europe and the US on Wednesday. American private-sector jobs figures for May are expected around 3.15 pm Finnish time. Analysts surveyed by Bloomberg predict that it will show payrolls growing at nearly the same pace as in April. An array of other economic indicators is also to be released in the US during the day. Meanwhile various European statistics will be released around 11 am and noon, including eurozone GDP development in the first quarter and April inflation figures.
Kauppalehti also looks at the Nordic electricity grid, warning that lower water tables could raise prices for hydroelectric power. This could translate into wholesale rate increases of about 10 euros per megawatt-hour later this year or in early 2015. For consumers, this translates into about 1.24 cents per kilowatt-hour.
Ilkka: Niinistö & Obama in Warsaw
The Seinäjoki-based daily Ilkka reports that US President Barack Obama is to meet with Ukraine’s new president Petro Poroshenko on Wednesday during his visit to Poland. Obama has urged his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin to also meet with Poroshenko in order to open a dialogue about Ukraine. Finnish President Sauli Niinistö is taking part in ceremonies in Warsaw marking the 25th anniversary of the fall of the Communist regime. He, too, is to meet with Poroshenko during his visit.
Wednesday also marks the 25th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square massacre, when Chinese troops opened fire on pro-democracy demonstrators in Beijing. However no official commemorations are scheduled.
On a more positive note, Ilkka recounts the story of four teenage girls who rescued an elderly man from drowning in Lahti late Tuesday. The man fell into the water around 9 pm from a dock or boat deck. The girls, all aged around 15, heard the shouts of the man, who was grasping onto a ship’s anchor with his last strength. The teens threw him a life ring and called emergency services, who pulled the man out of the water and into an ambulance.