Le Monde - France | Monday, September 18, 2006
Finland looking for migrants
In an interview with Daniel Vernet, the Finnish political scientist and diplomat Max Jakobson explains why the Finish population barely counts 1% of foreigners. "It is a traditional attitude to shelter the Finnish nation from foreign contributions. After over a century of Tsarist domination, the Russian population of the Grand Duchy of Finland did not surpass 0.5%! And even if our elites then rigorously followed Russian principles, we did not want Russians here. This sort of fundamental attitude seems to be perpetuating itself. Yet we need more immigrants, because our population is aging. ...Political leaders and industrial areas agree on this necessity to open up our borders. Yet no decision is being made. We do not know where to find these migrants. The Polish and the Baltic are emigrating to Western Europe, to Great Britain. They are not coming here."
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