STT: Finland plans to allow entry into the country for work from Estonia, Sweden and Norway

In addition, the government is going to make it easier for Russians who own country houses in Finland to enter the country.

According to the STT news agency, the government will discuss easing the restrictions at sea and land borders tomorrow, and they should come into force next Monday. This will primarily make life easier for thousands of Estonians who work in Finland, but remain registered at home.

The Estonian side has repeatedly asked the Finnish authorities to allow Estonians to come to work with a negative coronavirus test. Last week, the Prime Minister of Estonia Kaya Kallas made an open letter on this topic in the Helsingin Sanomat newspaper, and Estonian MEPs complained to the European Commission about the actions of the Finnish government.

Residents of the Schengen countries were allowed to enter Finland for work across the air borders at the beginning of June, but Estonia considered this relief insufficient. According to Callas, in this way Finland supports a less environmentally friendly mode of transport and better-off citizens who have funds for air tickets.

Since the end of January, Finland has virtually completely closed its external borders even from European countries. In general, only those who lived here and those who were employed in professions that were key to ensuring the viability of society had the right to come to Finland. Estonians who worked in Finland, but remained registered in Estonia and regularly visited the families that remained there, were actually faced with a choice: either to leave and be left without earnings, or to stay and not see their relatives.

In addition, according to the STT, the government is expected to discuss other border concessions tomorrow. According to the plans, the country will be allowed entry to persons who have completed the full course of vaccination, but it will concern only residents of the Schengen countries. Most likely, the list of safe countries from which you can enter without restrictions will be expanded. Now it is Iceland and Malta, it is expected that Poland, Romania and Hungary will be added to them.

In addition, the authorities plan to facilitate entry into the country for owners of real estate, for example, country cottages. This need has matured in connection with the question of whether the state can be financially responsible if the owners cannot regularly monitor their property. In early June, 42 Russians who own real estate in Finland sent a letter to Prime Minister Sanne Marin with a request to make it easier for him to visit his own summer cottage.