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Wednesday's papers: Heart of Nato, budget blues and a screen time solution

Finland joined Nato last year, and the move could have big implications in future.

Six men talking while standing in a circle, some wearing military uniforms, in a wintry landscape.
President Alexander Stubb was keen to visit Nato exercises in one of his first trips abroad after election as president. Image: Thomas von Boguslawski / Yle
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Iltalehti marks one year of Finland's Nato membership with an editorial on President Alexander Stubb's self-declared role as the "Nato president".

Claiming that title was a bold move, given the broad consensus across the political spectrum that Finland had to join the alliance after Russia's war of aggression against Ukraine.

It does make a certain amount of sense, given Stubb's long history as a supporter of Nato membership — even before it was fashionable.

IL says that Stubb is likely to try to move Finland into the heart of Nato decision-making, utilising the high regard most Nato states have for the Nordic country's preparedness and military efficiency.

This could entail Finnish troops being stationed abroad, potentially in Estonia. Finland might also host a new Nordic command headquarters for Nato, which IL has reported could be hosted in the eastern town of Mikkeli.

In that sense he will be following in the footsteps of Paavo Lipponen, the Social Democrat prime minister who tried to put Finland as close to the heart of EU power structures as possible once the country finally joined in the 1990s.

Budget blues

At the risk of boring regular paper review readers, Helsingin Sanomat continues the drumbeat of budget cut preparation with a Riikka Purra (Finns) interview.

The Finance Minister is not saying anything particularly new, but she does offer more details and her rationale for the coming pain.

Her ministry is very keen to avoid sanctions under the EU's excessive deficit procedure. These could include fines, but the more important consequence could be additional reputational damage among lenders.

Economic forecasts have worsened progressively since last year's election, meaning the amount of additional savings targeted has increased repeatedly since the government took office.

Purra notes that Finland had previously taken something of a finger-wagging role towards Greece when it ran into budget difficulties, upholding EU rules and demanding others do the same.

Now, with Greece repaying debts ahead of time and Finland threatened with EU action on its own budgetary woes, Purra says it's time for Finland to live up to the principles it has espoused.

The means she prefers are many and varied. VAT could be raised this year, rather than at the start of next year — an exceptional move in state budget terms.

Pensions are also likely to face some kind of cut, as reported previously, in the teeth of opposition from coalition partners the National Coalition Party.

But talks among the four government parties are likely to go right down to the wire, according to Purra, who says the last moments are likely to be the most difficult.

Tampere school trims screen time

Children's screen time seems to be a permanently hot-button issue, and Tampere daily Aamulehti reports on a potential solution.

Kaukajärvi school in the east of the city held a theme week during which classes competed to see who could have the lowest average daily screen time.

The winners were a fifth-grade class (11-year-olds in the Finnish system) who spent just under two hours per day on their phones. That's down from 3 hours 50 minutes in the control week before the competition.

Children in the upper grades reported that TikTok and Snapchat take a lot of their time, and the whole school looks at phones during lunch breaks.

The recommendations the school cited are that kids aged under 13 should have a maximum of two hours' screen time per day, and older ones should try to stay below three hours.

School 'coach' Laura Vänskä said that the competition had helped many students reduce TikTok consumption, and some had even deleted the app altogether.

"It is, however, the parents' responsibility if a child is on their phone a lot," said Vänskä. "There are lots of negative effects on fundamental things, like sleep and exercise."

The APN Podcast asked why Finland is so relaxed about smartphone usage. Listen to the episode via this embedded player, on Yle Areena or via Spotify

Children and smartphones. How much is too much?

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