Haku

16.3.2018 | The Ministry of the Interior has set up a legislative project with the aim of ensuring that the police have necessary powers to intervene in the use of drones and unmanned aircraft, vessels and other vehicles. The project will also examine the possibility of the police to use these powers in their work.

18.7.2019 | The EU home affairs ministers met in Helsinki on 18 July to discuss internal security and migration. The agenda of this informal meeting also included a scenario-based discussion exercise on how to counter hybrid threats. This was the first exercise of its kind to be organised at ministerial level by Finland’s Presidency.

20.1.2022 | Representatives of the EU Member States, the European Commission and EU agencies will meet in Vilnius, Lithuania on 20–21 January for a conference on external border control organised by Austria, Greece, Lithuania and Poland. The conference serves as a forum where Member States can discuss ways to develop the EU’s external border control to be better equipped to respond to current and future challenges. State Secretary Akseli Koskela will represent Finland at the meeting.

8.9.2022 | New provisions to be added to the Aliens Act and the act on migration authorities’ processing of personal data will enable Finland to make use of the support from the European Union Agency for Asylum (EUAA) as smoothly as possible in the event of a mass influx of migrants. The Government submitted the bills for approval on Thursday 8 September. The President of the Republic is to approve the bills for the acts on Friday. The acts will enter into force on 15 September.

16.12.2021 | The reception act will be amended so that the Finnish Immigration Service will have central responsibility for preparedness planning concerning the organisation of reception services in the event of a mass influx of migrants. The President of the Republic approved the bill for the act on Thursday 16 December. The act will enter into force on 1 January 2022.

19.1.2022 | On 19 January, the Ministry of the Interior sent out for comments draft legislative amendments that would support preparedness for a possible mass influx of migrants. This is a follow-up to the government proposal for amending the reception act last year. The need for change has been identified in the development work that the authorities have been carrying out since 2015.

27.9.2023 | EU home affairs ministers will gather in Brussels on 28 September for a meeting of the Justice and Home Affairs Council. Items on the agenda include the situation in Ukraine and migration issues. Finland will be represented by Minister of the Interior Mari Rantanen. The Spanish Presidency is seeking political agreement between the EU Member States on extending temporary protection for Ukrainians.

21.4.2022 | New provisions to be added to the Aliens Act would enable Finland to make use of the support from the European Union Agency for Asylum (EUAA) as smoothly as possible in the event of a mass influx of migrants. The Government submitted a proposal on the amendments to Parliament on 21 April.

10.8.2022 | Minister of the Interior Krista Mikkonen will meet with German Minister of the Interior Nancy Faeser in Helsinki on 10.8. The Ministers will discuss, among other things, the war in Ukraine and its impact on internal security. Items on the agenda include cyber and hybrid threats caused by the war and the situation of Ukrainian refugees. 

13.9.2023 | On Wednesday 13 September, the Government appointed Eriikka Koistinen, Master of Social Sciences, as Director of Communications at the Ministry of the Interior from 18 September 2023 to 17 September 2028.

6.4.2023 | The government proposal for amending the Act on the Administration of the Border Guard and the Border Guard Act has been sent out for comments. This legislative project seeks to deploy the human resources of the Border Guard more flexibly and ensure operational capacity during various incidents under normal conditions. Examples of such incidents could include a mass influx of migrants, hybrid influe...

4.12.2023 | The EU home affairs ministers will gather in Brussels on 5 December for a meeting of the Justice and Home Affairs Council. Items on the agenda for the meeting include issues related to the Schengen area, improving the efficiency of procedures to return migrants, and the implications of the situation in the Middle East for the EU’s internal security.

8.7.2022 | In future, the reception of asylum applications can be centralised at separately designated border crossing points at Finland’s national border. Amendments to the Border Guard Act help prepare for hybrid influence activities that exploit e.g. migration. The President of the Republic approved the amendments on 8 July. The act will enter into force on 15 July 2022.

29.1.2024 | On Monday 29 January, the Ministry of the Interior and the United States Department of Homeland Security signed a joint statement of intent on deepening scientific and technological cooperation in the field of homeland security. 

20.2.2024 | Finland’s Minister of the Interior Mari Rantanen and Sweden’s Minister for Migration Maria Malmer Stenergard met in Finland on 20 February. The Ministers visited Finland’s eastern border and received an update on instrumentalised migration at the eastern border. 

28.11.2023 | The Government has decided to close the border crossing point of Raja-Jooseppi during the night between Wednesday and Thursday, that is, as of 30 November 2023. The decision means that all border crossing points on the land border between Finland and Russia will be closed until 13 December.  It will not be possible to submit applications for international protection at any border crossing points on the land border between Finland and Russia.

18.11.2024 | The new Preparing for Incidents and Crises guide aimed at the entire population has been published on Suomi.fi. The Ministry of the Interior produced the online guide together with the Digital and Population Data Services Agency and an extensive cooperation network. The guide collects preparedness instructions in one place.

8.4.2024 | The interior ministers of Finland and Estonia visited the Pelkola border guard station and the Imatra border crossing point on 8 April. The exceptional circumstances at Finland's eastern border continue. The ministers were briefed on the current situation at the border and the project to build a fence on the border.

11.1.2024 | The Government has decided that the border crossing points on the land border between Finland and Russia will remain closed until 11 February 2024. It will not be possible to submit applications for international protection at any border crossing points on the land border between Finland and Russia. The Government decided on the matter in its session on 11 January 2024.

14.12.2023 | The Government has decided to close border crossing points at the land border between Finland and Russia up to 14th of January 2024. The decision will take effect on the 15th of December 2023 at 20.00. Applications for international protection will not be accepted at the crossing points on the Finnish-Russian border. A decision to this effect was made by the extraordinary session of the Government on the 14th of December.