JEF Finland President Amanda Alvesalo took part in a discussion event at the invitation of Prime Minister Petteri Orpo, together with other youth organisations. The President delivered remarks at the event, which can be read here:
Dear Prime Minister Orpo,
First, on behalf of JEF Finland, I want to express our gratitude for the invitation, as well as our satisfaction with two concrete matters: first, the willingness you expressed in your letter to Government ministers to invest in early influence on EU decision-making, and second, the defence-policy commitments concerning the EU listed in the Government Programme. We would like to see more of this appetite for reform.
As you yourself have said, the EU must reform. And it will reform, one way or another. The question is whether Finland acts as a proactive visionary or as a stick-in-the-mud holding back progress.
Take, for example, how urgently the EU’s budget needs to be expanded and reformed. The Government Programme rules out, as a starting point, all new financing instruments, and states that the EU’s own resources system should not cause additional costs for Finland. In reality, the EU’s budget is currently far too small relative to what is expected of it.
I also want to raise an issue tied to a larger set of concerns affecting us as youth organisations. Last summer, the Ministry of Education and Culture revoked JEF Finland’s eligibility for state funding. This was based entirely on political steering — that is, a desire to reduce the number of organisations receiving grants. Cuts to the civil-society sector, especially to funding aimed at young people, are short-sighted policy. When the Government talks about the importance of efficiency, I want to point out that no actor operates as cost-effectively as an organisation run mainly by volunteers. It is also intrinsically valuable that young people get to work for young people.
I appeal to Prime Minister Orpo: do not cut young people’s opportunities to participate and to learn. And do not make harmful compromises on EU matters within the Government. Look further ahead, look at the bigger picture. Dare to believe in a better, more united and more effective European Union. Only through reform can we build a Union capable of rising to the challenges of our future.