Prime Minister Sanna Marin's meal perks have plunged Finland into a mini election drama, known as breakfastgate which is making international headlines (siirryt toiseen palveluun).
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Yle political journalist Hannu Tikkala told APN that public debate on the matter was positive, showing that Finnish society was transparent.
"Citizens and journalists really pay attention to how politicians and officials use taxpayer money and hold them accountable for their actions. Another good thing is that the information is available to journalists who can do stories like this about these matters," he said.
But the scandal is likely to dent Marin's Social Democrats in the polls, according to Tikkala.
"It's clear this scandal will damage the prime minister's image, especially when there have not been these kinds of scandals before related to taxpayer money," he explained.
Students in limbo
APN also talked to Sri Lankan students who have been accepted at Finnish universities but can't get their visas to travel here. Their closest Finnish embassy is thousands of kilometres away in New Delhi, India. That embassy is, however, closed until further notice because of India's Covid situation.
"We don't know when we can go there, when we can get our visas, so we are hopeless. Now we have only two months more to start our academic year in Finland," Harshini Kumarasingh,who is set to start international business studies at the Häme University of Applied Sciences, said.
The Finnish Foreign Ministry told APN that any future digital permit platforms have not progressed beyond the discussion stage.
All Points North's in-depth interviews with all of Finland's political party leaders in the run-up to the 13 June elections are available on Yle Areena.
Check out whether you can vote at canivote (siirryt toiseen palveluun). We have compiled a really simple guide to Finland’s local elections, and you can also check out our election compass in English here (siirryt toiseen palveluun).
Join the conversation!
This week's show was presented by Zena Iovino andRonan Browne. It wasproduced by Mark B. Odomand the audio engineer was Anttoni Wikström.
If you have a question or would like to share your thoughts, you can contact us via WhatsApp on +358 44 421 0909, on our Facebook or Twitter accounts, or at yle.news@yle.fi and allpointsnorth@yle.fi.
