News

The Finnish Government has decided to open passenger rail transport to competition. In the 2020s, the national railway company VR will no longer have exclusive right to the provision of rail transport services in the Finnish rail network and other operators can enter the passenger rail transport market as well. The reform will be carried out in an orderly manner, divided into stages and follow the principles of good human resources policy.

The European Union is the world’s biggest trading block and most advanced economy. We have an extensive internal market based on a liberal free trade policy to thank for that. Trade within the European Union and with the rest of the world is the basis of our prosperity. It creates growth and jobs and allows us to finance welfare states for our citizens. A continued liberal trade policy is essential, if Europe is to remain among the world’s most important economic areas.

Transformation of the energy sector increases renewable power generation that depends on the weather. Consumers will become also producers. Society is being electrified; for instance, electric cars are changing the energy market. It is evident for a variety of reasons that a new kind of agility is needed on the electricity market. What sort of intelligence does this require of systems?

As the EU legislative machinery is gradually slowing down for summer recess, the Permanent Representation of Finland to the EU decided to challenge their partners in the EU Commission for a friendly tournament at the Tc Davis tennis club in Brussels.

On 26 June 2017 at the Energy Council in Luxembourg, EU energy ministers reached agreement on the general approach concerning proposals for revised directives on energy efficiency and energy performance of buildings. The Council agreed a 30% EU energy efficiency target.

Prime Minister Juha Sipilä: European Union must take climate leadership role

The U.S. Government has announced that the country will pull out of the Paris Climate Change Agreement. According to the agreement, the earliest time when the withdrawal could take place is after three years from the entry into force of the agreement, that is, in November 2019.

“Well begun is half done”, five famous words of Aristotle. Interestingly enough, the sentence is found in his work Politics. Is well begun half done a fitting guideline even today, in our efforts to achieve the Digital Single Market, asks Anne Berner, Finland's Minister of Transport and Communications

The European Union must take a more robust position in defense of free trade. On Wednesday the European Commission published its Reflection Paper on Globalisation. The paper discusses how to harness the benefits of globalisation while defending the values and interests of the European Union, with the aim of achieving sustainable growth and boosting employment. Read Prime Minister Juha Sipilä's column.