Finnish prime minister interfering with dairy sector

The Finnish Prime Minister Matti Vanhanen has written in his blog that he no longer shops at stores belonging to the S-Markt chain because some of them now stock Danish-Swedish milk rather than Finnish Valio brand milk. In his blog for the daily Turun Sanomat Aimon Massinen replies: "In the market economy the cheaper brand often wins. But milk-drinker Vanhanen wants to drink political Keskusta milk [Keskusta is the Centre Party of Finland] and is naturally entitled to do so. The consumer is free to buy at a different store if he wants to. But if it's the prime minister you're talking about it doesn't look particularly elegant when he even starts doing PR for a single company with a public boycott. … In the EU we stress the importance of free movement of workers and capital and open markets. Valio's monopoly is history, no matter how much the prime minister tries to boycott development. Vanhanen should focus his energies on something other than protecting a Finnish company."

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