Editorial: the Finnish lesson

Photo: AFP / Scanpix

Before reading the lines below, be reminded that Finland is a prosperous and strong society from which Estonia has a lot to learn in various fields, even nearly a quarter century after our regained independence.

This time, the lesson is a warning. Even a strong and prosperous society may fail to grasp its chances to react to obvious signs of danger before the woes hit. This, though the dangers are common knowledge – as if. Still, the decisions never come. For Estonia, warning parallels abound.

In a month, on April 19^th, Finland is electing its parliament. Four years ago, also in April, the topics in Finland at Etuskunta elections were exciting. Being against giving money to Greece, being against immigration, and whatnot. The True Finns leader Timo Soini, running in Uusimaa region, pocketed 1,500 more votes than current prime minister Alexander Stubb – respectively, all-times third and fourth votes tallies in Finnish parliamentary elections history.

One is reminded of a question posed back then by Finnish journalist Jarmo Mäkelä: but who is talking about how to maintain the welfare society? It being clear that in a land with aging population it was hard to fulfil social promises given during times of more favourable demographics. Also, the defeat by competitors of one-time economic engine Nokia etc. As well as: with the wage level in these unfavourable conditions rising faster than in Germany, competitiveness will go down. Still, all energy was spent on details of how to deliver the money to the Greeks. Or on the fiery fight against immigration in a state where the related problems do not even come close to some other countries in Europe.

Here, a neutral onlooker may ask that, perhaps, the past elections were wasted for issues not on top of the agenda.

What followed were lengthy, two-months long coalition talks from which the True Finns – who took nearly a fifth of the votes – left. The multi-coloured government of Jyrki Katainen, composed of a whopping six parties, only took office near Midsummer Day 2011. Last year, Mr Katainen left for Brussels and handed the baton to Alexander Stubb. Difficulties with decision-making have remained, however, as the coalition is as striped as ever. The political reality remained unbeatable by the forward-looking and strong centre-right leaders like Misters Katainen and Stubb.

Parallels with Estonia are not hard to find. Naturally, in a democratic society, all kinds of topics may be raised – and rightfully so. For instance, anyone has the right to think opposing a gay bill is the chief issue. The trouble being, such over-amplified issues may cloud out what is of much more weight long term.