Finland's public healthcare and social services system has seen rapidly mounting budget deficits ever since a reform at the start of 2023 shifting responsibility from municipalities to regional counties.
On Monday evening, Finance Minister Riikka Purra (Finns) called the social and healthcare reform a failure, but told Yle that the current government neither intends nor is capable of making radical changes to the system.
The Uutissuomalainen news group reports that Antti Kurvinen (Cen), the chair of the opposition party Centre Party's parliamentary group, says his party is ready to sit down at the same table with the government to think about how the financing of services can be put in order.
Kurvinen has now proposed setting up a parliamentary working group to look at ways to secure funding healthcare and social services.
However, he rejected suggestions that merging smaller welfare counties would bring operational savings, and pointed out that the biggest budget deficits being seen are in the larger regions.
Kurvinen also criticised the government of PM Petteri Orpo (NCP) for turning its back on the system, describing it as "indifferent and passive".
According to Kurvinen, the government is blaming the welfare counties for deficits while at the same time cutting their funding.
Russian spokesperson: Finnish exercises hostile
Iltalehti reports that Russian Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Maria Zakharova on Wednesday described upcoming Finnish military exercises, and recent statements by Prime Minister Petteri Orpo as "hostile steps".
The paper points to a report from Russian news agency Tass, which quotes Zakharova as saying "the statements of the Finnish prime minister, which essentially justify the terrorist attacks of Ukrainian neo-Nazis on the Kursk Region, have not gone unnoticed. And it is in this context that we view the exercises of the Finnish Army near the Russian borders."
Regarding Finnish manoeuvrers scheduled for late this month, Zakharova added that Russia views these "in the context of other hostile steps taken by Helsinki", and linked them to what she described as a hybrid war being waged against Russia by "the collective West".
Neo-Nazi trial opens
Hufvudstadsbladet is among the papers carrying a report on the opening of the trial of two men charged with offences committed with terrorist intent, and three other with various related offences.
The five, all members of a neo-Nazi group based in the town Kankaanpää, were in Satakunta District Court on Wednesday for a preliminary hearing.
According to the indictment, the police found almost 40 kg of dynamite, 5 kg of gunpowder and various firearms in the possession in the possession of one of the accused, who is also charged with making explosives from ammonium nitrate.
According to the prosecution, the defendants had embraced an accelerationist ideology, aimed at bringing about a "race war" through acts of terrorism. Police have stated that the men planned a bomb attack on a refugee centre in Niinisalo. Two of the accused are also charged with assaults targeting a Jewish man and a transgender individual.
The five men are facing over twenty different charges in total. The offences were committed between 2018 and 2023.
The trial is to resume in October.
Free flowers
Helsingin Uutiset reports that the fields of Haltiala Farm, an agricultural estate owned and operated by the City of Helsinki have been crowded in recent days.
As in past years, those fields on the northwestern edge of the capital have been turned over to sunflowers, cornflowers and mallows.
The public can pick these flowers free-of-charge for personal use.
The fields are also a popular picturesque spot for taking selfies, which HU says have spread through social media, bringing more and more pickers to the fields.
On a visit to the fields, HU found the access road lined by cars and even briefly blocked by a tow truck rescuing a car from a ditch.
The paper writes that even as the sun sets, hundreds of people can still be seen in the fields, and those just leaving with armloads of fresh flowers.
Users with an Yle ID can leave comments on our news stories. You can create your Yle ID via this link. Our guidelines on commenting and moderation are explained here.