Ilta-Sanomat describes Sauli Niinistö's last week in the presidency as "a whirlwind of travel from country to country and city to city."
Niinistö has not been taking it easy, even though his term ends Friday when Alexander Stubb takes over as President of the Republic.
A week ago, on Thursday, Niinistö was still touring Finland. He visited his home town of Salo for the last time before the end of his second and final term in office.
From Salo, he headed for Windhoek, the capital of Namibia, where the funeral of President Hage Geingob took place over the weekend.
From Namibia, Niinistö flew back to Europe to Paris, the where he attended a meeting to reaffirm Western support for Ukraine, hosted by French President Emmanuel Macron.
Following that, Niinistö returned to Helsinki. On Wednesday he had his final formal meeting with the cabinet. On Thursday, Niinistö will hold his last press conference as president.
The week, and Niinistö's final term, will culminate on Friday in Parliament. At 11:50 am, Niinistö will inspect an honour guard in front of the Parliament for the last time. He and Stubb will then proceed to a plenary session of Parliament, where Niinistö will present an address to the house.
During that session, power will change hands and Stubb will become president.
Niinistö's legacy
The Uutissuomalainen news group asked three researchers what Niinistö's legacy will be and what issues from his time in office will go down in history.
Professor of Political Science Tapio Raunio from the University of Tampere, political scientist Johanna Vuorelma from the University of Helsinki and Associate Professor of Political History Johanna Rainio-Niemi from the University of Helsinki all believe that the last two years of Niinistö's presidency will define his legacy.
Rainio-Niemi said she believes that Niinistö will be remembered as a president who served during a time of upheaval, most remembered for Finland's quick ascension into Nato. Vuorelma also believes that Niinistö's legacy will be defined by Nato membership.
Vuorelma pointed out that Niinistö was not publicly in favour of Nato membership before Russia's attack on Ukraine. For example, in his New Year's speech before the Russian invasion, Niinistö said that Finland had a crisis-resistant foreign and security policy that did not need to be changed.
"Niinistö himself was not the one who dictated or persuaded the public to back this change," Vuorelma told USU.
According to Raunio, it would be wrong to say that Niinistö is the one who brought Finland into Nato. Raunio points out that during Niinistö's first ten years in office, practically nothing happened with regard to the western alliance.
"It was only when Putin invaded Ukraine in 2022 and public opinion changed that Niinistö and the rest of our political elite turned the corner and started moving towards Nato," Raunio noted.
Finnish arms in Russia
According to a report in Helsingin Sanomat weapons and ammunition produced by the Finnish arms industry companies Sako and Nammo Lapua have ended up in Russia despite the arms export ban.
In February, a report by the Russian online magazine IStories and the Italian newspaper Irpi Media claimed that Finnish arms and ammunition had ended up in Russia. HS says it has verified this information and obtained new information, for example on the routes of the weapons took from Finland to Russia.
According to some Russian war bloggers, these weapons and ammunition have also been used by Russian soldiers in Ukraine.
In total, reports HS, several million rounds of Finnish ammunition have ended up in Russia. Between 2022 and 2023, nearly 700 rifles made at the Sako factory in Riihimäki and about 67,000 boxes of Sako cartridges were registered in Russia. During the same period, about 174,000 boxes of Nammo Lapua cartridges were registered there.
Sako and Nammo Lapua denied to HS that they exported these products to Russia. According to the companies, the weapons and cartridges were exported to Russia without their permission and without their knowledge.
According to HS's investigation, the Sako rifles and parts entered Russia via Italy.
Lapua Sako is owned by the Beretta group, which is originally Italian. Nammo Lapua is part of the Nammo group, which is owned by Finland's Patria and the Norwegian state. The Finnish state owns 50.1 percent of Patria.
Household spending down
Karjalainen reports on a fresh survey showing that more than half of Finnish households have cut back on spending in order to balance their finances.
The survey, carried out by the pollster Taloustutkimus for the loan comparison service Sortter, asked households what measures they have used to offset rising interest rates and living costs over the past year. A majority, 54 percent of respondents said they had trimmed back on everyday spending on items such as food and medicine.
One in three said they had also spent less on energy. One in four has drawn on their savings.
Just over 40 percent of households reported having less money available to spend each month compared to a year ago.
English-only ban?
On Wednesday, MPs debated issues related to the use and status of Finnish, and what some members see as threats to the majority national language.
Ilta-Sanomat is among the papers reporting that Pekka Aittakumpu (Cen) issued a call for a tightening of language legislation along the lines of the French model. He believes that the Finnish language should be protected in particular from the dominance of English.
"The law could also require private sector operators to provide services in Finnish. In Estonia and France, for example, language law also applies to private service providers. In those countries, a café that provides service only in English is illegal," Aittakumpu was quoted as saying.
Aittakumpu also demanded that it should be possible to obtain degrees in Finnish at all educational levels.
"In many fields, it is no longer possible to continue studies in the national language after obtaining a bachelor's degree, as master's degree courses switch to teaching in English. This is not right. University funding must be more strictly linked to the opportunity of studying in Finnish," he argued.
Minister of Justice Leena Meri (Finns) told MPs that there are several government-initiated projects underway examining the status of the use of Finnish.
Minister of Education Anna-Maja Henriksson (SPP) pointed out that the national language strategy aims to ensure that the Finnish language does not become less widely used. She added, that on the other hand, speakers of Swedish, Finland's second official language, do not always receive even legally-mandated services in their mother tongue.
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