Finland

HELSINKI, Oct. 7 (Xinhua) -- The EU Inter-parliamentary Conference on Climate Change on Monday called on the new EU leadership to step up the efforts in fighting climate change.

A statement issued after the meeting said that the majority of delegations called upon the new European Commission and the European Council to step up the EU ambition level in carbon neutrality, and underlined the importance to involve the whole society in economically viable and socially just transition towards the goal.

HELSINKI, Oct. 5 (Xinhua) -- Answering a phone call from British Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Saturday, Finnish Prime Minister Antti Rinne told his counterpart that it would be important to find a solution on Brexit within a week.

According to a press release from the Finnish government, the two prime ministers talked about Brexit situation and the ongoing negotiations between the UK and European Union (EU) on the subject.

HELSINKI (AP) — North Korea’s chief negotiator said that nuclear talks with the U.S. had broken down, but Washington maintained the two sides had “good discussions” in Sweden that it intends to build on in two weeks.

The North Korean negotiator, Kim Myong Gil, said the talks in Stockholm on Saturday had “not fulfilled our expectations and broke down. I am very displeased about it.”

HELSINKI, Sept. 20 (Xinhua) -- Finnish Prime Minister Antti Rinne and Chairman of the European Council Donald Tusk conferred on Friday over the phone, Finnish media reported.

They agreed on the view that the UK must be fast in submitting alternatives to the the existing Brexit agreement, newspaper Helsingin Sanomat reported quoting unnamed Finnish government officials.

It is considered by many EU officials as necessary for the current British government led by Boris Johnson to submit written proposals since it does not accept an earlier agreement with the EU.

HELSINKI, Sept. 14 (Xinhua) -- The finance ministers of members of the European Union on Saturday discussed options of changing the EU energy legislation to adapt to the climate change combat.

Air travel taxation got attention, but with emphasis on the needs to take into account the competitiveness matter.

Mika Lintila, the Finnish finance minister, said in a statement that it is "difficult to envision air travel taxation without the taxes being global".

HELSINKI (Reuters) - Italy’s economy minister Roberto Gualtieri said on Saturday that privatization targets set by the previous Italian government were “unrealistic”, and warned the sale of government shares in public companies should be handled with caution.

The government of the anti-establishment 5-Star and the far-right League, which quit the coalition in August, had set a target of raising 18 billion euros ($19.93 billion) this year from the sale of public assets.

HELSINKI, Sept 7 (NNN-AGENCIES) — An agreement with Britain to avoid a no-deal Brexit now appears impossible as the country is in “quite a mess”, Finland’s prime minister, whose country holds the rotating EU presidency, said Friday.

“I hope that we can reach a situation where this (Brexit) can be solved so that there is no mess, but it seems not possible now,” Antti Rinne told reporters after a meeting with European Parliament president David Sassoli in Helsinki.

HELSINKI, Aug. 30 (Xinhua) -- Federica Mogherini, the High Representative of the EU for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, on Friday reaffirmed the EU stance on the full implementation of the existing Iran nuclear deal.

Mogherini made the remarks at a press conference in Helsinki after an informal meeting of EU foreign ministers.

The EU foreign ministers reviewed the ongoing dialogue with Iran, following Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif appeared in France on eve of the G7 summit that took place there last weekend.

HELSINKI (Reuters) - Germany expects Britain to crash out of the European Union on Oct. 31, Foreign Minister Heiko Maas said on Friday.

“We cannot imagine reopening the Withdrawal Agreement,” Maas said in the Finnish capital. “We assume that Brexit will happen on Oct. 31. We will do everything to avoid a no-deal Brexit. But the British government has made it clear that if there is no agreement (on the Irish border) a no-deal Brexit will happen.”

HELSINKI (AP) — British Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab is defending his government’s decision to suspend parliament and says the move has nothing to do with preventing lawmakers from debating the country’s exit from the European Union.

At a meeting Friday with his EU counterparts in Finland, Raab said that “the idea that this is some kind of constitutional outrage is nonsense. It’s actually lawful. It’s perfectly proper. There’s precedent for it.”