WHAT’S THE STORY?

As far as birthday presents go it is unusual but a proposal to gift a Norwegian peak to mountain deprived Finland has been met with enthusiasm.

The plan to shift Norway’s border by just 200m would bring the summit of Halti mountain into flat Finland in time for the country’s 100th anniversary of independence in 2017.

A facebook campaign in favour of the gesture has already gained the backing of the head of the Norwegian Mapping Authority, Anne Cathrine Frøstrup.

“I must say that I think it’s a very good idea,” she said.”It is a nice gift to give to a country that lacks a high mountain, where the highest point isn’t even a peak.

At 1,365m the mountain isn’t even among Norway’s 200 highest mountains but one of its lowest spurs is the highest part of its neighbour at 1,324m.

Moving the border 200m to the east and 150m to the north would gift the mountain to Finland with Norway losing only 0.015sq km of ground.

It was a retired mapping authority employee who initially had the idea when he was taking measurements along the border back in 1972 but the pending anniversary spurred him to put forward the idea to his bosses.

“We would not have to give away any part of Norway. It would barely be noticeable. And I’m sure the Finns would greatly appreciate getting it,” said 75-year-old Bjørn Geirr Harsson.

SICK MAN

If Finland does gain the peak it will be the only high point for a place now described as the “sick man of Europe”.

In an ironic twist, the country which was so much in favour of imposing austerity measures on its debt-ridden counterparts in the Eurozone is finding out the hard way that austerity is bad news for the economy.

Once a European success story, Finland is now the Eurozone’s worst performing economy.

The Finnish government has taken a hard stance against bail-outs for other countries but the latest figures show the economy contracted by 0.6 per cent in the third quarter this year, worse even than Greece at 0.5 per cent.

Refusing to allow that the last two years of increasing austerity in Finland has not helped, the right-wing government has pledged even more “painful” cuts to government spending.

CUTS PROTEST

Leading economists disagree that further austerity is the way forward for Finland.

The government has blamed uncompetitive labour costs, plummeting trade demand from neighbouring Russia and the decline of Nokia, Finland’s most successful company, for the present doldrums, but economics professor at Tampere University, Matti Tuomala, believes spending cuts have dramatically reduced domestic demand.

“The fiscal policy was stimulative for a while after the recession of 2009, which is evident in an increase in the gross domestic product. Then, the policy changed. Finland’s fiscal policy was clearly restrictive in 2011–2013, according to the International Monetary Fund (IMF),” he said, adding that the policy had become even more restrictive in the last two years.

He said the government should ensure household disposable income should not be cut any further as this would help mitigate a drop in demand for exports.

“We could take Sweden as an example to learn from as its economic growth has been based specifically on domestic demand and a rise in the amount of disposable income,” Tuomala said.

LEFT ON RISE AGAIN

Meanwhile polls show that support for the dominant Centre Party is dropping along with the economic figures.

Last week the main opposition, the Social Democratic Party came top of the polls, the first time since 2008, with support rising as much as seven percentage points while backing for the Centre Party has dropped to 20.9 per cent following trades union demonstrations against government austerity measures in August.

The only other opposition party to record an increase in its approval rating since August is the Left Alliance.

“The government has made a mess of things, but the Social Democrats have their achievements, such as the annulment of the cuts in pensioners’ housing allowance and the shadow budget proposal,” said voter Hannu Tytärniemi.

Along with many others he believes the weakening of conditions of employment – the so-called competitiveness measures – should be reversed.


FINNISH TRUMP

Some blame the new prime minister, who has been described as the Finnish answer to Donald Trump, for the depressed economy.

They complain Juha Sipilä, a billionaire businessman, runs the country like a company and is only out to increase the profits of employers.

During the August demonstration, 10,000 people took to the streets to protest against the government’s austerity measures that include the watering down of workers’ rights. Sipilä has also proposed drastic cuts in education, 43 per cent cuts to development aid, cuts in help for asylum-seekers and an increase in military spending.

Many are furious about the new policies, pointing to the fact that Finland has led the way in many areas – in 1906 they were the first European country to give women the vote, 11 years before becoming the Republic of Finland.

Until recently trade unions have worked well with employers’ organisations and the government but now their powers are greatly weakened.