According to the Helsinki daily Helsingin Sanomat, Minister of Economic Affairs Mika Lintilä (Cen) attended a floorball match between Finland and Latvia on Sunday afternoon, even though he had received information on Saturday about a possible exposure to the coronavirus.

Lintilä had participated in a meeting on Friday, also attended by Foreign Minister Pekka Haavisto (Green) who tested positive for the virus the next day.

In an interview with Helsingin Sanomat, Lintilä said that he did not believe he was exposed to the coronavirus, explaining that be had sat at a distance from Haavisto, masks were worn during the gathering, and that he did a home test before going to the match.

Meanwhile, tabloid Ilta-Sanomat reports that Defence Minister Antti Kaikkonen (Cen), who also attended the same meeting with Haavisto, attended a dinner on Sunday marking the 75th anniversary of the Centre Party's youth wing.

Kaikkonen stated in an interview with Ilta-Sanomat that he did not believe he had been exposed.

"I was in the same room as Foreign Minister Haavisto at the cabinet session on Friday. The meeting was short, about 15 minutes. We were not in close contact. We sat across the room. All participants wore a mask," Kaikkonen told the paper, adding that he also took a test that gave a negative result before attending the dinner.

Hanna Markkanen, chair of the Centre Party youth organisation, told Ilta-Sanomat that Minister of Science and Culture Antti Kurvinen (Cen) and Minister of Finance Annika Saarikko (Cen) cancelled plans to attend the event after being informed of the possible exposure.

Special treatment for politicians?

In bylined commentary in Thursday's Iltalehti, political affairs reporter Kreeta Karvala notes that communication problems are often used as a scapegoat in various crises, as has been the case this week concerning the media storm surrounding Prime Minister Sanna Marin's night on the town.

However, communication problems often indicate that an organisation's policies and guidelines are not in place, Karvala says.

"If the public has had difficulty figuring out coronavirus guidelines, the same has been true for politicians," she writes, pointing out that while guidelines for MPs and for cabinet ministers are based on the same instructions from THL, they are tailored differently.

"One would think that common sense would dictate that the health of a foreign minister who makes an average of two trips a week abroad would be of special concern. But 63-year-old Haavisto has still not received a third dose of the vaccine, because it is just slightly less than six months since his second dose," Karvala continues.

She suggests that, at this point, it would be worthwhile to update practices so that the politicians who decide on national affairs and travel abroad for work could receive special treatment to keep them healthy and functioning.

Hard road for Finns Party

The farmer union's paper Maaseudun Tulevaisuus writes that the opposition Finns Party still has a lot of work to do to achieve its goal of being the biggest winner in January's county council elections.

In last spring's municipal elections, the party came in fourth place. The paper points out that Finns Party supporters are generally not very active voters, and according to preliminary estimates, the turnout in these new regional assembly elections is expected to be very low, around 40 percent.

In an interview with Maaseudun Tulevaisuus, Finns Party chair Riikka Purra criticised the current government for "rushing ahead" of the rest of Europe in climate action. According to her party, Finland should keep pace with other EU countries and aim for carbon neutrality in 2050, rather than Finland's goal of 2035.

"Prime Minister Sanna Marin repeatedly says that Finland will gain an advantage as a pioneer and that [Finnish] companies are securing a foothold in the market. However, there is no evidence of this. There is simply no concrete evidence," Purra said.

"The desire to be number one in climate action is mainly about egotistical posturing," she argues.

Airport referendum rejected

The Swedish-language daily Hufvudstadsbladet writes that the closure of Helsinki's Malmi Airport and the plan to fill the area with housing is an issue that haunts local politicians time and time again, and was the subject of yet another heated city council debate on Wednesday evening.

Many Helsinki residents are unhappy about the closure of the airport and oppose the planned construction of housing for tens of thousands of new residents.

Almost 27,000 people have signed a local citizen's initiative that was submitted at the end of the summer calling for an advisory referendum.

A vote which rejected the referendum proposal saw a split within most of the parties represented on the council, with the Greens being the only party unanimously rejecting it.

The main argument against a referendum is that the issue has been dealt with and plans approved numerous times in the council since 2012.