Various papers report on the snap meeting between the Finnish President and the Ministerial Committee on Foreign and Security Policy that took place on Sunday.
The sudden calling of the meeting led to much speculation on social media as to the reasons behind such a move, but the President's office explained the timing was due to calendar clashes during this coming week.
Helsingin Sanomat (HS) writes that Finland's Nato membership application process and President Sauli Niinistö's five-day, bi-coastal US visit were among the main topics on the agenda. Discussions reportedly focused particularly on the tripartite talks between Turkey, Sweden and Finland, held in Brussels on Thursday.
In another article, HS also reports on Niinistö's optimism regarding the Nato process, which was especially evident in an interview with Fox News that aired on Sunday.
Niinistö said that based on recent discussions, the message from Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán was clear: Hungary would not be the last country to ratify Finland's Nato bid.
The Finnish president also commented on the warming relations between China and Russia, calling them a problem, according to HS.
"China should understand that if European people and [the United States] get the impression that China is supporting Russia, that would ruin their reputation," Niinistö said.
Niinistö further added that China should remember people's opinions in "the free world" have a bearing on those countries' policies, such as on trade.
"China wants to trade with Europe, trade with the USA. What about if they first spoil their reputation? There won't be much trading left," Finland's President noted.
Parties amp up on their election spending
Newspaper Ilkka-Pohjalainen reports on the "big differences" between the election spending of Finland's larger parties.
The party to splash the most cash is the National Coalition Party (NCP), with a budget of some two million euros. It is a significant increase from the opposition party's 2019 budget, which was just short of 1.6 million euros.
Opposition Finns Party, in comparison, has only allocated about a fourth of the NCP's budget, some 550,000 euros. The right-wing party has traditionally taken to the hustings with a smaller budget than other parties, IP notes.
Prime Minister Sanna Marin's SDP meanwhile also increased their campaign spending this year, from 1.4 million in 2019 to 1.8 million euros this time out.
The Centre Party was less eager to increase their total spending, only upping their funding up from 1.35 million to 1.5 million euros since the 2019 election.
"Inflation is also evident in our election marketing, so that with an increased budget we get about the same visibility as we did four years ago," Centre Party secretary Riikka Pirkkalainen said.
New and improved documents
Finnish passports and ID cards issued from Monday will feature a new design and security features, Tampere-based Aamulehti reports.
The most notable changes on passports include the less prominent position of the Finnish coat of arms on the cover and the new imagery of the Finnish Archipelago Sea on the inside.
Meanwhile, ID cards issued from 13 March will feature "substantially larger" photos, according to the paper.
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