Jyväskylä's Keskisuomalainen is among the papers carrying a Uutissuomalainen poll which found that almost 60 percent of Finns would be willing to allow a military presence in the Åland Islands, which is an autonomous, demilitarised province.
Fifty-eight percent of respondents in the survey said they would allow the military to station forces in Åland. Sixteen percent were in favour of keeping the present demilitarised status, while 28 percent did not take a position on the issue.
Interviewed by USU, Veronica Thörnroos, who heads the Åland provincial government, pointed out that the demilitarisation of the region is based on international agreements. She did note, however, that Finland has the right to establish a military presence in Åland if the situation so requires.
Senior researcher Saila Heinikoski of Finnish Institute of International Affairs said, however, that Finland cannot revoke the demilitarised status of Åland unilaterally.
The Uutissuomalainen-commissioned poll surveyed the views of 1,000 people in Finland from 11–19 May. The margin of error is 3.1 percentage points.
Marin to Washington
Prime Minister Sanna Marin (SDP) says she will soon be on her way to Washington.
Ilta-Sanomat is among the papers carrying a STT news agency report that Marin announced in an Instagram post that she will travel to the US capital on Wednesday, but did not elaborate on the reason for the trip. Marin said she will be in Washington for the rest of the week. STT was unable to immediately obtain a comment from the Prime Minister's Office on the visit.
Ilta-Sanomat also reports that Marin held talks in Brussels on Tuesday with the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, about how possible hybrid pressures on Finland's eastern border could be deterred or prevented.
As the paper explains, this could be a situation where, for example, large numbers of asylum seekers would be manipulated to travel to Finland's border with Russia.
The Finnish government has been exploring means to prevent the political exploitation of asylum entry.
In practice, this could be, for example, temporarily suspending the processing of asylum applications under exceptional circumstances.
"In Finland, we want to ensure that we have all the needed tools available, and that we also have strong support from the EU to combat any such attempts to pressure [us], to use people as instruments in hybrid influence," Marin said in Brussels, according to Ilta-Sanomat.
Covid app closes down
The coronavirus smartphone tracing app service of the Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare THL will no longer be in service as of today, Wednesday 1 June.
Known as Koronavilkku, the app was launched by THL at the end of August 2020 to inform users about possible exposure to the coronavirus.
The application was based on user participation. The idea was that a person who tested positive for the coronavirus would enter a code they received from a health care professional into the application. Anyone who was within a two-metre radius of someone who had tested positive for at least 15 minutes received a notice of possible exposure.
Helsingin Sanomat reports that THL does not have precise data on how many people actually received notifications of exposure via the application over the two years.
At its peak, the app had 2.5 million users.
The application was in widespread use until the end of 2021. Gradually, however, the number of users waned. It is thought that one main reason is that that many people saw no reason to reload the application when switching to a new phone.
According to THL, in 2021, between 75 percent and 82 percent of those who received a code after testing positive for the virus entered it into the app. By May 2022, the percentage who did so had dropped to 57.
A "cold lump" keeping things cool
Finland seems to be stuck in a period of cooler-than-average weather and according to the latest monthly forecast, there are no guarantees it will warm up anytime soon.
Iltalehti reports Foreca meteorologist Joanna Rinne saying what she described as a “cold lump” of air in the region that will keep temperatures down for at least part of the month.
However, there is a sliver of hope of warmer weather, given the fact that the forecast for the week beginning 6 June is still uncertain.
This week, though, is almost certain to continue rainy and a few degrees below average in southern parts of the country.
In contrast, Finnish Lapland and North Ostrobothnia are likely to be 1–3 degrees warmer than usual for the time of year.