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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.

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...

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.

25.1.2018 | The Government plans to strengthen the powers of the Finnish Border Guard to quickly and effectively intervene in hybrid threats. Better preparedness for hybrid threats would improve the Finnish Border Guard's crisis resilience and capacity to manage large-scale incidents. On 25 January, the Government submitted a proposal for necessary legislative amendments to Parliament. The amendments are scheduled to enter into force as soon as possible.

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. 

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.

1.9.2017 | European Centre of Excellence for Countering Hybrid Threats starts operating in Helsinki Ministry of the Interior Publication date 1.9.2017 12.53 Type: News item Press Release of the European Centre of Excellence for Countering Hybrid Threats on S...

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.