Thursday newspapers: climate budget dispute, new defense report and criticism of the Covid strategy | Yle Uutiset

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The defense report will be presented Thursday afternoon by Defense Minister Antti Kaikkonen (Cen) and Defense Forces Commander Timo Kivinen. Image: Silva Nieminen / Yle

Prime Minister Sanna Marin (SDP) gave the Center Party and the Greens until Thursday morning to find common ground in a row that crippled budget negotiations, reports Finland’s biggest-circulation daily Helsingin Sanomat .

The Greens were eager to continue negotiations on climate measures from Wednesday night, but the Center Party was not so enthusiastic, according to Environment and Climate Minister Krista Mikkonen (Green), writes Iltalehti.

“Yes, the discussions took place in a good spirit and in a civilized manner, but no consensus was found,” Mikkonen, who was acting as the Greens’ chief negotiator, told the tabloid Wednesday evening.

The Finnish government’s goal is for the country to be carbon neutral by 2035 and to achieve this, annual greenhouse gas emissions must be reduced by 11 megatonnes. The dispute over how to implement this, however, has yet to be resolved and ministers are now racing against the clock to reach a common consensus.

You can read more about the details of the line here.

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New defense report addresses threats for the coming decade

Finland’s latest national defense report is due for release on Thursday, after its submission to parliament, writes Helsingin Sanomat (HS).

This is only the second report of its kind, the orientations of which will extend until the end of this decade.

The report aims to ensure that Finland’s defense capability is in line with changes in the country’s operational environment, i.e. the land, sea, air, space and cyber networks where the Finnish army is located. present.

According to interviews conducted by the STT news agency, cyber attacks and corresponding responses, as well as various threats posed by hybrid and informational interference are at the forefront of the new report.

Defense Minister Antti Kaikkonen (Cen) and Defense Forces Commander Timo Kivinen will present the report at a press conference on Thursday afternoon.

Chief Doctors Criticize Government’s Covid Strategy in Letter

The chief doctors of five hospital districts have published a “hard” letter in which they call for an improvement in the pandemic strategy of the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health, writes the tabloid Ilta-Sanomat (IS).

In the letter, written on the last day of August, doctors expressed concern about the amount of resources and effort being focused on contact tracing and isolation decisions at the expense of healthcare delivery services. primary.

“Current large-scale quarantine and testing guidelines are causing congestion in health services, which in turn has adverse effects on health care on all fronts,” the letter read to IS.

Health experts have further argued that the current coronavirus strategy does not reflect the evolving pandemic situation, reports ISIS.

THL and local doctors were not listened to enough in decision-making processes, the chief doctors added. According to them, the central problem is “the slowness of the development of a national strategy and the inability to listen to experts in the fight against communicable diseases”, according to the letter which was read by journalists from the EI.

The letter ends with a seven-point list of suggested measures the government should adopt in its Covid strategy, focusing primarily on the effectiveness of testing and revising quarantine guidelines.

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