Visit of Helsinki and the Finnish Parliament
On Friday, as part of the Society Awareness course, which I take in the Tampere University of Technology, I went with a group of other students to Helsinki to visit the Finnish Parliament (Eduskunta).
The Programme:
08:00 Departure from Tampere
10:30 Arrival to Helsinki, free time
12:00 Meeting at the Parliament (video on the political system in Finland, tour of the Parliament building, visiting a plenary session of the Parliament, meeting with the MP Arto Sastonen)
14:30 Meeting with Tsemppi ry (a student association in Helsinki)
16:00 Departure from Helsinki
We learned about the history of parliamentarism in Finland from the video which was shown to us before the tour of the parliament. In 1906 Finland, still the Grand Duchy within the Russian empire, adopted a Parliamentary reform. Thus, for the first time in the world, women could both vote and be elected, and the first parliament (1907) had 19 women representatives.
After the seeing the video, we met with the MP assistant, who showed us the building. The building was constructed 1926-1931 according to the design of Johan Sigfrid Sirén. The building has five floors, connected by a white marble staircases and paternoster lifts (which looked rather unsafe to me). At one moment we even saw the Prime Minister Matti Vanhanen giving an interview near us.
Then we entered the main hall of the parliament. At that day the Parliament discussed a law for pensions of military veterans. I noticed that there were a lot of coming a going in the hall, the deputies talked and seemed not paying much attention to what the speaker was saying (he kept reading the bill by paragraphs and knocking with his hummer at accepting each one).
Then we meet with a deputy himself, Arto Satonen, who is a member of National Coalition Party from Tampere. He told us about Finnish political parties and, in more detail, the National Coalition Party, about parliamentary procedures and cooperation of deputies from Tampere (though members of different parties).
The National Coalition Party (Kansallinen Kokoomus) is one of the three largest parties in Finland, along with the Social Democratic Party and the Centre Party. Its vote share has been around 20% in recent elections, and it currently holds 50 out of 200 seats in the Parliament. Although the party is rightist, it harbours several different political currents, including social reformism, conservatism, and classical liberalism. The three main parties of Finland are quite close to each other and usually form coalitions. Now National Coalition Party is in the government together with the Centre Party, the Green League, and the Swedish People's Party.
Mr Satonen has strongly promoted more possibilities for foreign student for employment in Finland. He says that the Finnish education needs more internationalisation, and it is not yet as popular as, for example, British or Swedish education. That is why it is too early to introduce tuition fees for foreigners, and, in any case, in the beginning the fees should not be high.
That was an interesting trip and it has broadened my knowledge about the political system of Finland.
Photos by Emilia Olkanen and myself
The Programme:
08:00 Departure from Tampere
10:30 Arrival to Helsinki, free time
12:00 Meeting at the Parliament (video on the political system in Finland, tour of the Parliament building, visiting a plenary session of the Parliament, meeting with the MP Arto Sastonen)
14:30 Meeting with Tsemppi ry (a student association in Helsinki)
16:00 Departure from Helsinki
We learned about the history of parliamentarism in Finland from the video which was shown to us before the tour of the parliament. In 1906 Finland, still the Grand Duchy within the Russian empire, adopted a Parliamentary reform. Thus, for the first time in the world, women could both vote and be elected, and the first parliament (1907) had 19 women representatives.
After the seeing the video, we met with the MP assistant, who showed us the building. The building was constructed 1926-1931 according to the design of Johan Sigfrid Sirén. The building has five floors, connected by a white marble staircases and paternoster lifts (which looked rather unsafe to me). At one moment we even saw the Prime Minister Matti Vanhanen giving an interview near us.
Then we entered the main hall of the parliament. At that day the Parliament discussed a law for pensions of military veterans. I noticed that there were a lot of coming a going in the hall, the deputies talked and seemed not paying much attention to what the speaker was saying (he kept reading the bill by paragraphs and knocking with his hummer at accepting each one).
Then we meet with a deputy himself, Arto Satonen, who is a member of National Coalition Party from Tampere. He told us about Finnish political parties and, in more detail, the National Coalition Party, about parliamentary procedures and cooperation of deputies from Tampere (though members of different parties).
The National Coalition Party (Kansallinen Kokoomus) is one of the three largest parties in Finland, along with the Social Democratic Party and the Centre Party. Its vote share has been around 20% in recent elections, and it currently holds 50 out of 200 seats in the Parliament. Although the party is rightist, it harbours several different political currents, including social reformism, conservatism, and classical liberalism. The three main parties of Finland are quite close to each other and usually form coalitions. Now National Coalition Party is in the government together with the Centre Party, the Green League, and the Swedish People's Party.
Mr Satonen has strongly promoted more possibilities for foreign student for employment in Finland. He says that the Finnish education needs more internationalisation, and it is not yet as popular as, for example, British or Swedish education. That is why it is too early to introduce tuition fees for foreigners, and, in any case, in the beginning the fees should not be high.
That was an interesting trip and it has broadened my knowledge about the political system of Finland.
Photos by Emilia Olkanen and myself