Helsingin Sanomat takes an in-depth look at the next stage in the government’s plan for a pilot of the so-called “basic income” or “citizen’s wage”. Under the scheme, which is due to be tried out from the start of next year, every member of the test group will receive around 600 euros a month from the government. Higher earners would see the amount eaten up straightaway in tax, but the sum will support those who are on low incomes or unemployed, and replaces most means-tested benefits.
Currently, the paper says, the government still doesn’t know how many people will receive the payments during the two-year pilot – that will depend on how much money is left from the 20 million euro budget after the other institutions involved in the study, such as the tax and employment offices, have charged for their services. But the participants are likely to be working-aged Finns of whom the majority are low earners, or partially or fully unemployed. Students and people on parental leave will be excluded.
The money they’re given will replace income support and other welfare payments, but not housing benefit, for instance. The project will try to assess whether the basic income payments boost people’s employment or wellbeing. The bill will be presented to parliament once it gets back from its holidays, the paper reports, when MPs will begin grappling with the issue of how the idea of giving money to just one group of people can comply with Finland’s equality legislation.
The benefits or drawbacks of a basic income have long been discussed and disputed around the world, and Hesari hears from a professor of social politics who tries to weigh up the arguments for and against. The system can make going to work profitable for people who would otherwise be trapped on benefits, he says, and should cut the government’s bill for red tape. But previous studies have shown these advantages don’t always materialise, he says, not least because some people won’t – or don’t want to – get back to work even if it becomes profitable. “A basic income isn’t the only way to cut bureaucracy or boost employment,” he says, “so the choice is an ideological one, if anything.”
Finnish troops to Middle East
Ilta-Sanomat carries a full-page report on Finland’s pledge this week of 10 million euros’ worth of support to the coalition fighting the terror group Isis. Defence minister Jussi Niinistö has been in Washington at a summit to try and forge an international strategy against the jihadists. The paper reports that more Finnish troops and advisers will be sent to the Middle East to offer training and other behind-the-lines support, bringing the Finnish presence in the region to around 150. The move will bring Finnish personnel closer to the front line in the crisis region than ever before, Ilta-Sanomat notes.
“The advisers will be closer to the front, but they are not going there to fight,” Niinistö said. “They will be engaged in more dangerous work, but not combat,” he insists, adding that Sweden is also sending more military trainers.
Finnair privatisation
Tampere’s Aamulehti leads with a poll this morning of MPs’ views on whether government should sell off more of its shares in the national carrier Finnair. Currently the taxpayer owns 55.8 percent of the airline, but there have been calls to reduce that to under 50 percent.
86 parliamentarians responded to the questionnaire, of whom almost 60 percent were in favour of keeping the public’s majority stake in Finnair. The main reason, the paper reports, is a 1993 deal which allows the airline’s planes to pass through Russian airspace, which in practice only exists for as long as Finnair remains a state-owned concern.
Being able to cross the eastern neighbour, and therefore cut journey times to Asia, has been a key tenet of the airline’s growth in eastern markets, the paper says.
The desire to keep the airline on the state’s books was common among both government and opposition, Aamulehti reports, with only MPs from the conservative National Coalition Party being the majority in favour of privatisation.