Helsinki Flyer

I doubt they´ll allow transit trough Sweden. This whole opening a few select borders has to do with 2 things. The intranordic passport free travel/work scheme which precedes the rights EU brought is why they have opened Norway, Denmark and Iceland. The Baltic states are about the hundred thousand Estonian workers and their families living in between the two states. Tourists from and to Denmark, Norway, Iceland, Latvia and Lithuania are of lesser importance.

Obviously they very reluctant to keep the Swedish border closed. It wasn´t closed during the second world war. But the Finnish public is looking at corona infection numbers in Sweden and is worried. We did have way stricter measures than Sweden and the population feels like it might have been for nothing if we get a second wave from Sweden during the summer.

nacho

https://www.aftonbladet.se/nyheter/k...i-ser-svenskar

With this attitude I doubt that Finland will open the border to Sweden

Helsinki Flyer

Aftonbladet is looking for those types of answers and reactions. We had the same reactions when the Finnish government decided to close the "borders" of Uusimaa/Nyland region from the rest of Finland. The decision made sense as over 80% of cases were in the Helsinki region. Still, the idea of restricting people´s movement within the country could not be extended for more than a month, even if nothing had changed in the virus situation. Most cases are and were in Helsinki region. Our very own Aftonbladets were reporting that people elsewhere in the country were supposedly cheering in masses that the diseased Helsinki people should stay home forever. I very much doubt such reactions were widespread.

nacho

I know Aftonbladet is kind of a tabloid or fake news depending on who you ask, I don't trust anything 100% but I shared the link because it's so funny.

GUWonder

Being anxious about the "big city" folks and wanting to have the "big city" people kept at a distance -- or somehow otherwise keeping a distance away from the "big city" folk -- has been quite the international phenomenon this year. In the southern Swedish regions, some people were trying to avoid the grocery stores that the Stockholm-accented-people were more likely to use and have been actively hoping that Stockholm-people wouldn't come down for visits and/or the summer. Now that the Southern Swedes are stir crazy for vacations too and have realized that they are being lumped in with Stockholm anyway, the attitudes toward Stockholm people seem to have thawed in some ways; but the domestic discontent with the outcome in Sweden -- including consequences with regard to travel -- have grown a bit in parts.

I do find it sort of interesting -- but not surprising -- how quasi-hostile Sweden's neighbors have gone on Sweden at this time. I wonder how the Swedish people who took in Finnish orphans and other Finnish children into their home during the Second World War feel about Finland's way of dealing with Sweden at this point. I guess I could ask some of my own Southern Swedish relatives since they had hosted some such very young kids at the time.

Fredrik74

I won't be surprised if Sweden's government is such a sorry bunch of clowns that they personally have offended their colleagues in other countries. Just when I thought I had seen it all from earlier governments this group has reached a new low.

nacho

Tegnell did it pretty successfully to Italy that the Italian ambassador in Stockholm has to release 2 statements:

https://ambstoccolma.esteri.it/ambas...ciatore_0.html

https://ambstoccolma.esteri.it/ambas...asciatore.html

CPH-Flyer

With all due respect, that is one of the most absurd parallels I have ever seen drawn here on FT.

In the one case you are talking about people saving children from starvation, suffering, and potential early death. In the other you are talking about people feeling slighted because they can't go on vacation in Finland.

In the one case you are talking about a situation where there was an acknowledgement of a humanitarian disaster in the making, in the other case you have a situation where the Swedish government claims a good strategy and successful handling has put them where they were aiming for. (4th highest fatality rate in the world if you exclude micro states, otherwise 6th)

It is not like Sweden has asked for help or assistance and has been denied it by Finland. The first step in being able to receive assistance is to recognise that there is a problem. As long as Sweden is in denial about the state of the outbreak, other countries can only wait and watch. And part of that waiting and watching is being rather carefully with border restrictions. In some ways the Swedish government's continued claim of success does make me think of the 45th president of the United States of America.

If people who were the guardians and caretakers of children during the war time use those kind actions as a reason to feel slighted by Finland under the current circumstances, I think they need a serious dose of reality, context, and proportionality.

Fredrik74

UD is now removing the recommendation against travel to some countries. My initial reading is that it is the same countries that allow us in.

GUWonder

People from Skåne, Sörmland and Västerbotten as well as Halland and Blekinge will be able to play tourist in Denmark to vacation from June 27th. For people from Västerbotten and Sörmland, they have to show that they are staying at least six nights in Denmark. For residents from Halland and Blekinge, a negative coronavirus test needs to be presented.

It will be interesting to see how this is enforced and what kind of games are played with this.

nacho

Yep, pure political decision which makes me sick.

Nothing but extra work for the Danish police - I don't think DK knows that you can change your address in less than a second and no one will check (saw it in a forum where people said it's so common and they reported to Skatteverket and the police). Also someone from Skane can head up to GBG for a crazy partying weekend and then head to DK the day after - what's the point?

I should have stopped by at the airport Netto yesterday before it turns itself back to a semi-systembolaget if I had known this

RedChili

No, it's not political at all. It's based on practical realities concerning which countries Swedes will be allowed entrance, where there's an enforced quarantine, and where you can be fairly certain that the flights will actually operate. You could basically say that the Swedish governments warns against traveling to countries where Swedes are not allowed to enter, where Swedes will have to stay in a quarantine, and/or where you can't be certain that the flight back home will operate. It's just common sense to not travel to any of those countries anyway.

nacho

There is a reason why Swedish residents are required for quarantine in certain countries - it's not that they don't like Sweden or anything but they are based on ECDC's figures. My point of thinking that it's political is that if FHM thinks that most Covid-19 cases are from abroad, then why are they suddenly think it's ok for Swedish residents to go to France and Greece where non-EU are welcome? 2 weeks ago we were told that we were only allowed to travel only within Sweden? I know the situation is constantly changing, and of course no one knows if there's another outbreak in France/Greece/any other country 1 month from now.

Very interesting interview with the Swedish foreign minister: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4bCT...nB7kAK8P4bwv9I

CPH-Flyer

So Danish government caved in to the nonsense that Sweden has the epidemic under control? At the same time as two cities in Norbotten locks down and cuts most public transport connections as they can't control the spread, and the same day Sweden reports 1,439 new infections.

I guess spines were in short supply when they built the Danish government?

RedChili

The Swedish UD recommendations really have nothing to do with the possibility of catching or spreading the virus. It has to do with the practial questions of traveling. That's why they recommend traveling to countries like France and Spain, which are very hard hit, but against traveling to countries like Finland, which have only a handful of cases.