@ilkkapf.bsky.social
Your friendly local anticorruption and workers' rights advocate | Chair of Transparency International Finland, EU Affairs Advisor @eurocadres.bsky.social Brussels - Finland
The #austerity policies of the Finnish government have thoroughly failed on the one objective the government used to justify them: Lowering public debt
In the meanwhile, Finnish healthcare system is collapsing and unemployment skyrockets
We became a case study
www.helsinkitimes.fi/finland/finl...
Työntekijänä, ei kovin paljoa. Jäsenyyteni on enemmän kannattajajäsen jne.
Sen sijaan EU-edunvalvonta YKA:n, Akavan ja muiden organisaatioiden kanssa on se, mikä minua kiinnostaa.
Työskentelen itse tuossa ns. Akavan eurooppalaisessa kattojärjestössä joka selittänee tämän kulman
Joo ja joo. Äänestänen EU-juttujen perusteella, ne kun vaikuttavat jokseenkin suoraa omaan työkenttääni valkokauluduunareiden EU-edustajana Brysselissä :)
22.10.2025 14:30 — 👍 1 🔁 0 💬 1 📌 0
EPP wanted to push the deregulation agenda through the unholy alliance with far-right. Now, ironically, it has failed due to the Eurosceptics attacking the proposal, smelling blood in the water.
Let's see if the deregulation sharks are learning to compromise
3/3
www.politico.eu/article/parl...
We don't have information on the exact votes, as far-right MEPs (Patriots group) pushed for a secret ballot.
This, however, allowed many central and centre-right MEPs to break from EPP and Renew lines, finally costing the proposal.
So weirdly, it is the EPPs alliance with far-right
2/3
Quite massive news from European Parliament. The #Omnibus I proposal, calling for major watering down of sustainability rules, has been rejected 🚫
This is a major win for the progressives in the Parliament. It might lead into a much, much better proposal, but there is a caveat here 1/3
Tässä mielessä palkansaajan ja eläkeläisen etu on samankaltainen. Sinänsä eläkkeiden määrä ei pilaa, vaan ylläpitää terveitä markkinoita.
Lähinnä työnantajaosapuoli hankaa tätä vastaan, kvartaaliajattelu kun ei usko rahan palaavan markkinoille.
Mm. terveydenhuoltokulut ovat tietty asia erikseen.
Tässä ollaan ytimessä. Tilanne on tuskainen palkansaajalle ja epävarma eläkeläiselle.
En huutele vittua, mutta eläkeläisen näkökulmasta ongelma liittyy ostovoimaan. Nykyinen hallitus on telonut sitä (mm. ALV-nosto) ja tämä heijastuu kysyntään.
#Eläke 'keskustelun ongelmallisuus tiivistyy aika hyvin tähän redditkommenttiin. Kasvavasta väestöstä riippuvainen eläkejärjestelmä ei toimi.
Keskituloisten palkka on 2486 – 4143€, keskieläke 2100€. Nykyisellä talousmallilla ensimmäinen ei tue jälkimmäistä. Hallituksen keinot eivät tätä muuta.
Uutinen ei sinällään ollut yllätys.
Tosin journalistisesti mukava nähdä, että vittuilusta puhutaan sen oikealla nimellä.
This is a gentle reminder, that China is aiming to influence EU politics through a variety of different channels. Far right has proven to be an easy way in through Germany, France, Hungary and everywhere.
Krah's ex-assistant is part of wider phenomena.
7/7
chinaobservers.eu/marriage-of-...
Besides foreign influence there is a bunch of other stuff as well, including fraud investigations related to EU funding and the usual business.
6/7
fundscene.com/id-fraktion-...
Krah also was found with suspicious messages, hinting that he received pro-Russian funding. He has also introduced pro-Russian visitors to the Bundestag, among other political stances
5/7
www.tagesspiegel.de/politik/komp...
He promotes China in pretty much whichever topic you can imagine.
This ranges from annexation of Tibet to policies regarding Taiwan.
I really should have led with this stuff instead of the trade policy tbh
4/7
www.rnd.de/politik/alic...
This has been more shocking when you look even further. Krah was defending China on the Uyghur related human rights violations as well
3/7
www.theguardian.com/world/2024/a...
Krah has advocated for further industrial deals and/or dependency with China. This lengthy interview by Chinese media sort of covers the basics you can see here. He is promoting the country pretty much with no caveats.
2/7
www.globaltimes.cn/page/202211/...
Assistant of AfD MEP Krah was convicted for spying for China.
Maximilian Krah himself has tried to separate himself from the assistant, even though the German far-right politician has been - unsurprisingly so - taking very pro-Chinese stands
1/7
www.bbc.com/news/article...
Ryhmätöiden perkelöityminen ei ole uusi ilmiö.
Se mikä tässä naurattaa on lähinnä se, että ne valmistavat työelämän epäoikeudenmukaisuuteen/raastavuuteen.
Jos ryhmätyöt kismittävät jo opiskellessa, niin voi juku voin lämpimästi suositella vaikka konsultin uraa 8)
yle.fi/a/74-20184351
Regulating AI is turning out to be a true win-win
26.09.2025 08:43 — 👍 7 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0From the lobbying standpoint it actually makes perfect sense. Big tech has its older allies on the right, while it struggles to access the left.
Hiring influential progressives is a good way to close this gap - if not a bit cynical show of monetary power
Tony Blair Institute has become one of the most aggressive influence centres for the hyper rich and big tech.
Yet, this has not stopped them from hiring progressive politicians/contacts - such as the ex Finnish PM Sanna Marin
It's like a textbook example on 'Money in Politics'.
Absolutely beautiful
23.09.2025 20:22 — 👍 1 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0As the joke goes, plenty of Finnish people seem to have learned the language, and I know they are not that bright, so how hard could it be?
23.09.2025 18:41 — 👍 2 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0The current job market has been especially rough for foreign citizens. Especially if you're not a fluent speaker the situation is quite dire
23.09.2025 14:41 — 👍 4 🔁 0 💬 1 📌 0A bit misleading show of data. A good variety of EU countries have a lower unemployment rate than the US (4%), raging from Norway and Iceland to Poland or Malta.
Then again, the European social model is vastly different, which doesn't make people bankrupt after 2 months of unemployment
At this rate, when prime minister Orpo's mandate is finished by April 2027, the unemployment rate will reach approx. 13-14%.
To extrapolate a bit, it would take Orpo's government until 2061 to make every single Finn unemployed.
This is still faster than their efforts on carbon neutrality btw
About half a year ago, Finland seemed to be en route to pass the Greek unemployment rate within 2025 (which it did).
However, I did not foresee that the development would be so dire, that Finnish unemployment could become the worst within the whole Union already this year. Rookie mistake :|
The Finnish unemployment rate is soon the worst in whole EU📉
The rate has reached 10.0%, just short of 10.29% of the Spanish unemployment rate, which is currently decreasing.
Finland is becoming a poster child for the failures of #austerity policies
yle.fi/a/74-2018449....
Summattuna:
Rantasen esittämälle kiellolle on äärimmäisen vähän syitä naisten aseman parantamiseksi. Se on osoittautunut lähes poikkeuksetta lähinnä vahingolliseksi juuri hunnutetuille naisille.
Tämä ei ole puolustuspuheenvuoro hunnuille, vaan kritiikkiä kieltoa kohtaan.
6/6
Tanskalainen tutkimus totesi vaikutuksen alla olevan ryhmän olevan todella pieni, noin 150 naista (0.1-0.2% Tanskan muslimeista).
Kiellon vaikutukset osoittautuivat metodologisesti silti melko samankaltaisiksi muiden maiden kanssa.
5/
www.cambridge.org/core/books/a...
