Opposition in Parliament to Finnish vineyards
This reminds me of Ayn Rand’s “Atlas Shrugged” - In order for Finnish vineyards to sell their wines, the EU must consider Finland a wine-producing country. However, politicians holding hands with agriculture special interests think vineyards “would give wrong impression on Finnish climate conditions” = Finnish farmers get less EU agricultural subsidies…
Moves have been made in Parliament to put the brakes on a proposal that would make Finland an official wine producer in the European Union. Parliament’s Agriculture and Forestry Committee has proposed that the initiative be cancelled. A statement issued by the committee on Friday states that seeking to become a wine producing country would give the wrong impression on prevailing climate conditions in Finland.
[...]The EU is drafting a new wine statute, and the Finnish government has decided to ask that Finland be granted the status of a wine producing country. If it did not do so, the approximately 20 grape growers in the Ã…land Islands would not be allowed to sell their wines.
In a recent interview with Helsingin Sanomat, the European Commissioner for Agriculture, Mariann Fischer Boel remarked that things must not be so bad in Finland, considering that it wants to become a wine producing country. Finland is entitled to special agricultural subsidies specifically because of its northern position.
Tjudö Vineyard located on Finland’s Ã…land Islands
I would imagine, and certainly hope, that they will change their minds on this. Relations between the mainland government and Ã…land, especially when it concerns the EU, are already pretty sour - mainly since the snus issue (the EU court ruled that Finland must enforce the EU wide ban on snus, only Sweden is except from this ban due to an opt-out it negotiated when it joined the EU). Understandably, the Ã…landers see snus as part of their culture too (as they are essentially Swedes living in Finland rather than finlandssvenskar - although Henrik Lax, who is SFPs MEP, is campaigning for snus to be legalised). Of course, the Ã…landers were even more outraged when the EU court issued its ruling in only French and Finnish languages. (Ã…landers are like language-police, so this made them loose their temper even more - and frankly it’s a bit of a stupid mistake by the court in the first place).
As we know, last week the EU decided to fine Finland because snus is still being sold on ferries in Finnish and Ã…land waters. I would imagine the new Ã…land province government will react angrily to this too when they finish their talks on who will form a government(Ã…land had an election last week).
The European Union is extremely unpopular on Ã…land right now, and many Ã…landers already hold the opinion that the mainland government does not represent their interests well (if at all) at the EU level.
Comment by JG — Mon, Oct 29th, 2007 @ 5:15 pm
Let’s make Ã…land a seperate country, then. That’s what they want isn’t it?
I have some grapevines in Southwest Finland. I will soon see if they winter and give me a crop next year.
Comment by Anonymous — Mon, Oct 29th, 2007 @ 5:28 pm
Canada produces Ice-Wine with good success.
Read about it. Finland could do the same.
Besides, the Riesling growing area has been moving north.
Perhaps it will end up growing in Finland as well.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ice_wine
Comment by Anonymous — Mon, Oct 29th, 2007 @ 5:30 pm
“I have some grapevines in Southwest Finland. I will soon see if they winter and give me a crop next year.”
What type? Frontenac? They are suppossed to be good to -40. Looked into the idea of a Finnish vineyard. Thank God that didn’t go forward seeing this idiotic EU issue. How about just selling their wine outside the EU?
Can’t they do that?
Comment by Fred Fry — Mon, Oct 29th, 2007 @ 5:35 pm
Let’s make Åland a seperate country, then. That’s what they want isn’t it?
As the polls demonstrated last week, no. Ã…lands framtid, the one party on Ã…land that advocates independence was widely expected to increase it’s seats in the provincial parliament, however it stayed on 2 mandates.
They would, however, like the mainland government to represent their interests better when it concerns the EU.
Comment by JG — Mon, Oct 29th, 2007 @ 5:45 pm
What would St. Urho say?
http://www.axis-of-aevil.net/archives/2005/03/purple_and_gree.html
Comment by Hugo — Mon, Oct 29th, 2007 @ 6:01 pm
Welcome to the global government. Gee if only we had some more of it.
Comment by winter, "Yea, Proton Power, now in remission" — Mon, Oct 29th, 2007 @ 6:06 pm
I find the whole argument idiotic. Ã…land is arguably the best place in Finland to try growing wine. It is - in a very real way - a special case, and assuming that the weather conditions apply to the whole country all the way up to Lapland is idiotic on so many idiotic levels.
Comment by Juho Salo — Mon, Oct 29th, 2007 @ 6:24 pm
I agree with you Juho, I don’t suppose the French grow many grapes on the top of Mont Blanc.
Comment by JG — Mon, Oct 29th, 2007 @ 6:46 pm
Ã…land. Who cares? They want to have their cake and eat it too. Finnish when it suits them and “Ã…land” when it doesn’t. I say cut them free and let them sink or swim on their own.
Comment by Punter — Mon, Oct 29th, 2007 @ 7:06 pm
But do they really? Don’t forget, it’s Finland’s wealthiest province. So, even if they are few, they more than pay for themselves and indeed contribute relatively large tax revenues for just circa 26 000 people to the central government.
In any case, in the election last week, most parties supported the aim of securing tax collection by Ã…land itself. This was a major theme of the election. It is therefore notable to see that the largest party returned were the Liberal party, who were the most cautious in expanding the powers of autonomy and arguably most in favour of close ties to Finland.
Comment by JG — Mon, Oct 29th, 2007 @ 7:15 pm
I find it amazing that Finns can’t do anything on their own, without some type of government subsidy. It seems to permeate every aspect of society from the bottom levels, upward. Needless to say, it doesn’t surprise me that Finnish farmers would make a big fuss about losing their welfare checks. Sisu, my ass.
Comment by Ron, here for now — Mon, Oct 29th, 2007 @ 9:09 pm
JG, you are so typical of the stereotype FinnSwede that I would expect little more from you. If asked, 99% of the mainland Finnish speaking population would say the same thing. They do nothing for us, think themselves different from us and have a percetion of being “Swedish” anyway so let them be. Cut them free and let their cousins in Sweden foot their bill. For crying out loud they even avoid military duty in this country. I find any discussion about 26000 Swedish speaking rock hoppers in Ã…land almost laughable. Who cares?
Comment by Punter — Mon, Oct 29th, 2007 @ 9:45 pm
I agree with Ron, its put your hands out, give me cash.
The real result is, they take your money, 60% tax rate, spend 59%, and give you a 1% subsidy to make you feel good.
Same as a sale. Double the price, then offer a 10% rebate. We all jump for that.
Comment by winter, "Yea, Proton Power, now in remission" — Mon, Oct 29th, 2007 @ 9:56 pm
@4: I have Summer Sweet and Zilga vines. I avoided the Dutch grown varieties. Zilga is from somwhere in the Baltic area or Russia, I believe. I think Summer Sweet is from Canada. Both were grown in Finland. There are other grapes that should be able to grow here, like Concorde. One workmate of mine has a grape vine that has wintered already. He said it produced 10 kg of grapes on a balcony. I have a better location than a balcony - the west side of my house where the sun shines almost all day long in Summer.
Comment by sirkuspelle — Mon, Oct 29th, 2007 @ 10:08 pm
Didn’t the HS do an article a while back that showed that 90% or so of the subsidies go to big farm conglomerates, not the little guy? Sounds like the bureaucrats want to keep their pockets lined with cash.
Comment by hfb — Mon, Oct 29th, 2007 @ 10:25 pm
Talked to a local grower here in Southern Maryland about grapes, and grape growing on 6 acres across the road. He makes no money on it, its really a hobby. You have to be big, and he said “really big”, to make money.
Any subsidy is then, well, feel good government money.
Not well spend money in any way, shape, or form.
Comment by winter, "Yea, Proton Power, now in remission" — Mon, Oct 29th, 2007 @ 10:26 pm
JG, you are so typical of the stereotype FinnSwede that I would expect little more from you. If asked, 99% of the mainland Finnish speaking population would say the same thing. They do nothing for us, think themselves different from us and have a percetion of being “Swedish†anyway so let them be. Cut them free and let their cousins in Sweden foot their bill. For crying out loud they even avoid military duty in this country. I find any discussion about 26000 Swedish speaking rock hoppers in Åland almost laughable. Who cares?
Punter, Have you been associating with Suomalaisuuden liitto? I find it almost extraordinary that an immigrant in Finland would express such feelings of intolerance towards a minority. It’s rather hypercritical in fact, if you think about it.
The Ã…landers are not Finland-Swedes by their own definition in any case. I can sympathise with their situation though. I don’t think it is any coincidence that SFP/RKP is so pro-immigrant compared to most of the other parties. It is because it is easier to put yourself in the mind of minority groups, when in a sense you belong to one and experience some of the things that they do yourself.
They do nothing for us
Again, what exactly do they not do that they should be doing? They pay their tax to the Republic of Finland just like you or me. Should not they expect that the central authorities take into account their views just as much as someone in Jyväskylä, Ekenäs or Oulu?
Regarding military service, this exception is because of the Nations League decision back in the 1920s. As part of the settlement between Finland and Sweden, Ã…land is to remain demilitarised. It is in fact true that the government of Finland was (still is in theory) supposed to set up an alternative service for the men of Ã…land involving the keeping of lighthouses - the state never did this however.
I find any discussion about 26000 Swedish speaking rock hoppers in Ã…land almost laughable.
If they spoke Finnish, it would be ok? Comments that Heikki Tala would be proud to make.
Comment by JG — Mon, Oct 29th, 2007 @ 11:00 pm
I find the whole argument idiotic. Ã…land is arguably the best place in Finland to try growing wine. It is - in a very real way - a special case, and assuming that the weather conditions apply to the whole country all the way up to Lapland is idiotic on so many idiotic levels.
Yeah exactly, they’re stupid to be treating Finland as a whole, the north and south have very different climates.
Comment by Phil — Mon, Oct 29th, 2007 @ 11:01 pm
Im sorry for bringing this offtopic subject in to this one, but I just want everyone to know about this:
http://www.iltasanomat.fi/viihde/uutinen.asp?id=1449643
It says the Finnish musician J.Karjalainen was arrested at the Minneapolis-St.Paul international airport by the US custom officials. They released him after 3 hours of interrogation, after accusing him for the possession of illegal drugs, threating him with several years of jail and with big fines.
J.Karjalainen himself said he was on a US tour and that the officials acted very unprofessionally. He also said he is going to avoid travelling and touring in the USA from now on.
The US embassy in Helsinki is solving the incident.
Comment by a bit offtopic — Mon, Oct 29th, 2007 @ 11:34 pm
There was a case in the USA of a Mom, spilling some juice, forced to clean it up, in line for security at an airport, and blamed the TSA for it.
Funny, the TSA released the tapes.
She lied, big time.
Now if he was truly experienced a “acted very unprofessionally”, then by all means post the names and the facts.
Just remember they will have tapes of you, so be accurate, or you will be shown to be the fool.
Comment by winter “Yea, Proton Power, now in remission†— Tue, Oct 30th, 2007 @ 2:57 am
“an alternative service for the men of Ã…land involving the keeping of lighthouses - the state never did this however.”
JG, now that sounds cool. Of course, most lighthouses have become somewhat obsolete by better navigational technology and, as always, the whole of the archipelago there being used by submarines to train in navigation.
And Winter, get the story straight…it was a sippy cup filled with water just after the stupid liquids ban went into place. The mother was also a former Secret Service agent. Both sides could have acted a bit better since travelling is about as fun as getting a root canal without anesthesia anymore and tempers run high.
Comment by hfb — Tue, Oct 30th, 2007 @ 4:43 am
Huh, did you even see the tape? They bent over backwards to help the lady. Then she trashed them live on TV, saying they held her back.
Get your facts right. She was the fool, and was seen to be the fool on the tape.
Comment by winter “Yea, Proton Power, now in remission†— Tue, Oct 30th, 2007 @ 4:56 am
It says the Finnish musician J.Karjalainen was arrested at the Minneapolis-St.Paul international airport by the US custom officials. They released him after 3 hours of interrogation, after accusing him for the possession of illegal drugs, threating him with several years of jail and with big fines.
He brought drugs to the airport, is he retarded or something? Maybe he was supposed to sell them to Senator Craig in the Mineapolis-St. Paul bathroom!
Comment by Phil — Tue, Oct 30th, 2007 @ 6:09 am
Phil, I thought you read Boing Boing?
http://www.startribune.com/462/story/1513926.html
Comment by Juho Salo — Tue, Oct 30th, 2007 @ 9:26 am
HFB wrote: JG, now that sounds cool. Of course, most lighthouses have become somewhat obsolete by better navigational technology
Sure, that’s a good point and very true. But this agreement was made in 1921! One would imagine that had the state implemented it, it should have had to update it by now.
Here’s what the law actually says (it also says they should be trained as those people who guide boats in and out of harbours or do service in some other civil administration):
“Den som har hembygdsrätt har rätt att i stället för att fullgöra värnplikt tjänstgöra pÃ¥ motsvarande sätt vid lots- och fyrinrättningen eller i nÃ¥gon annan civilförvaltning…. Tills sÃ¥dan tjänstgöring som avses här har ordnats är de invÃ¥nare i landskapet… befriade frÃ¥n att fullgöra värnplikt.”
Comment by JG — Tue, Oct 30th, 2007 @ 3:21 pm
It sure looks like at least flirting with fascism.
From They Thought They Were Free by Milton Mayer:
“Each step was so small, so inconsequential, so well explained or, on occasion, “regretted,†that, unless one were detached from the whole process from the beginning, unless one understood what the whole thing was in principle, what all these “little measures†that no “patriotic German†could resent must some day lead to, one no more saw it developing from day to day than a farmer in his field sees the corn growing…
Each act, each occasion, is worse than the last, but only a little worse. You wait for the next and the next. You wait for the one great shocking occasion, thinking that others, when such a shock comes, will join with you in resisting somehow.â€Â
Comment by Timo73 — Tue, Oct 30th, 2007 @ 11:09 pm
Is there a finnish vineyard owner who would be willing to contact a U.K viticulture student.
E-mail me at A.M.Egerton@brighton.ac.uk
Comment by A. M. Egerton — Fri, Nov 16th, 2007 @ 10:28 pm