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🇫🇮 Finland /Culture & Society

Finland’s Kaikkonen calls for major agriculture crisis aid modeled on Sweden

From Helsingin Sanomat · () Finnish

Translated from Finnish and summarized by DistantNews. Read the original for the full story.

At a glance

News Named sources Ongoing story
  • Centre Party leader Antti Kaikkonen says his opposition party is preparing an interpellation over agriculture’s cost crisis if the government does not offer stronger measures.
  • He points to Sweden’s roughly €150 million agricultural crisis package as a possible model, saying fuel and fertilizer prices have risen sharply.
  • The Finnish government has announced targeted support, including €5.1 million from an EU crisis fund and a temporary increase in farms’ energy-tax refund, but Kaikkonen says more substantial and longer-term reforms are needed.

Finland’s opposition Centre Party is preparing a possible parliamentary interpellation over agriculture’s cost crisis, party leader Antti Kaikkonen says. The party will assess the move during the coming week and could proceed if the government does not produce stronger measures.

Kaikkonen criticized the government’s recent budget negotiations, saying they failed to make sufficient decisions to improve food producers’ situation. “The government’s measures appear likely to remain limited. Agriculture is currently facing a serious cost crisis,” he said, pointing especially to steep increases in fuel and fertilizer prices this year.

He said Finland could look to Sweden, which provided agriculture with a crisis package of about €150 million. The Finnish government said after its budget talks that it would redirect unused funds from the current programming period to support food production. A third supplementary budget is expected to include €5.1 million from the nearly €8.8 million Finland received from the EU crisis fund. The remainder would be included in an amendment to the 2027 budget proposal.

The government’s measures appear likely to remain limited. Agriculture is currently facing a serious cost crisis.

· Antti KaikkonenThe Centre Party leader criticized the government’s recent budget negotiations and described the pressure facing Finnish farmers.

The funding will go to production sectors hit by the cost crisis and will be paid alongside existing support. The government also decided in the spring to temporarily raise farms’ additional energy-tax refund by four cents per liter for refunds covering 2025 and 2026. The increase is valued at about €20 million.

Kaikkonen called the refund a useful tool but said it did not go far enough. “A more substantial increase is needed because fuel, energy and fertilizer prices have risen dramatically this year,” he said. He also described agricultural profitability as weak, saying new information suggested it was among the lowest in the European Union. In his view, the sector needs longer-term structural measures, including action on concentration in the retail trade. The Centre Party has submitted 19 interpellations to Prime Minister Petteri Orpo’s government during its term, but none has previously focused on agriculture.

A more substantial increase is needed because fuel, energy and fertilizer prices have risen dramatically this year.

· Antti KaikkonenKaikkonen said the temporary increase in farms’ energy-tax refund was insufficient.
About this summary

Originally published by Helsingin Sanomat in Finnish. Translated, summarized, and contextualized automatically by DistantNews, with a note on how the source frames the story. Not individually reviewed before publishing. How this works.

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