The EU faces challenging prospects for the next five years. The geopolitical situation is uncertain, and the political landscape in several countries is unstable. There is a need to boost the economy, and clean solutions are seen as a driver of growth. However, these investments require huge capital and a stable regulatory environment. In his column, Director General Riku Huttunen reflects on the outlook for EU energy and climate policy and the choice between placing more emphasis on markets or on subsidies and regulation.

The number of unemployed jobseekers rose by 29,900 from September of last year. The number of new vacancies reported totalled 29,700. In all, the number of unfilled vacancies in September was 56,200, which is 53,100 fewer than a year ago.

Reko-Antti Suojanen (M.Sc. Engineering) will lead the national coordination of ICE Pact – an icebreaker collaboration effort between Finland, the United States and Canada.

The Government is seeking to strengthen the link between work and work-based residence permits, and to make permit supervision after the entry into Finland more systematic. The proposal takes the long recruitment times of specialists into consideration. At the same time, the proposal would offer foreigners more opportunities to find new work in the national labour shortage sectors. 

The Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment has granted a total of EUR 44,546,484 in investment aid to 12 projects under the national Recovery and Resilience Plan (RRP). Moreover, by a decision supported by the Ministerial Finance Committee on 3 October, EUR 28,048,200 was granted to Nordic Ren-Gas Oy for a large demonstration project on new energy technology.