📚 1. Curriculum
At the turn of the millennium, Finnish education was among the best in the world. Our PISA results were unrivalled, and the Finnish comprehensive school was recognised worldwide as equitable and of high quality. Since then, a number of reforms have been carried out whose effects have been the opposite of what was promised. We want to restore the structure of the curriculum to the model that produced those results: clear learning objectives, solid teaching of fundamental skills and the authority of teachers in their own classrooms.
🔧 2. Workers' legal protections
The worker is the backbone of society. Labour-market reforms in recent years have weakened the position and legal protections of ordinary wage earners while employers' power has grown. We want to reverse this trend. Workers must have clear and effective rights in disputes, reasonable protection against dismissal and a genuine ability to defend their interests without fear. A fair working life is not idealism — it is a fundamental prerequisite for a functioning society.
🛣️ 3. Infrastructure investment
When we consider ways to kick-start the economy, there is no need to reinvent the wheel. As a consumer, the state is in an entirely different league from any individual citizen and has the capacity to invest in ways that yield long-term benefits for society as a whole.
After the recession of the 1990s, Finland built over 900 kilometres of motorways in southern Finland, permanently shortening distances between cities and improving both heavy-goods traffic flow and commuting. This network, however, still needs to be expanded.
Sillanrakentajat proposes the construction of approximately 400 new kilometres of motorway on key routes across Finland. The target sections are Highway 3 between Ylöjärvi and Ikaalinen, Highway 4 between Oulu and Kemi, Highway 5 between Lusi and Mikkeli, Highway 6 between Koskenkylä and Kouvola, and Highway 8 between Nousiainen and Pori. These projects improve road safety, shorten travel times and create jobs for Finns across the country.
🛂 4. Immigration criteria
Immigration is a complex matter involving both humanitarian and societal dimensions. We want to address it honestly and without unnecessary evasion. Finland has the right and the duty to decide on what terms and who is admitted to the country. Going forward, immigration must be based on clear criteria: the ability to support oneself, commitment to Finnish laws and values, and a genuine willingness to integrate. The system must be humane yet firm, and it must treat all applicants equally.
⚖️ 5. Deportation
There are currently gaps in Finnish legislation that make the deportation of foreign nationals convicted of serious offences unnecessarily difficult. We want the law to set out clear grounds for deportation in situations where an individual has committed a serious crime or demonstrates through their actions that they do not respect the Finnish legal order. This is not about hostility — it is responsible social policy. Everyone residing in this country has the right to safety, and the law must be able to guarantee it.
🏢 6. Reducing the administrative burden on SMEs
A small business does not fail because of a bad idea — it often fails because of the avalanche of paperwork waiting at the door. Permits, notifications, reports and reviews consume time and money that should be spent on actual work. We want to cut unnecessary bureaucracy with determination and make entrepreneurship in Finland simpler. A healthy SME sector is the foundation of the entire national economy.
🌾 7. Supporting domestic food production
Food security is a matter of national security. When global supply chains falter, it is invaluable that Finland can feed itself. We want to raise the domestic self-sufficiency rate by supporting Finnish farmers, facilitating generational transitions on farms and favouring domestic food in public procurement. Finnish food production is also an environmental act, as short supply chains and a clean northern environment make it responsible by default.
💰 8. Reviewing progressive taxation
Taxation must be fair. At present, the middle class — that hard-working and responsible body of wage earners — bears a disproportionate share of the tax burden. We want to revise the tax structure so that working always pays off and so that the ordinary worker keeps a sufficient share of their own earnings. Taxation must treat people fairly regardless of income level.
🏛️ 9. Strategic use of state-owned companies
Not everything belongs on the market. Nationally critical functions such as energy production, railways and telecommunications are too important to be left entirely to private interests. We want state-owned companies to genuinely serve the national interest, not merely generate dividends. Strategic ownership is a tool that must be used with deliberation but also with boldness.
🚔 10. Strengthening police resources
Safety does not come about on its own. The number of police officers relative to the population is among the lowest in Europe in Finland, and this is especially visible in rural regions where a patrol car can be an hour's drive away. We want to increase police resources and restore a regional presence also outside growth centres. Everyone must have the right to safety regardless of where they live.
🛡️ 11. Fostering the will for national defence
Finland's security ultimately rests on its citizens' willingness to defend their country. This resolve does not arise on its own — it requires upkeep. We want to invest in the quality and quantity of reservist training, strengthen defence education in schools and ensure that Finns feel a connection to their country and its defence. A strong national defence is the best insurance for the preservation of peace.
📦 12. Improving security of supply
The COVID-19 pandemic and Russia's war of aggression demonstrated in stark terms what it means when security of supply fails. Medicine, energy and food (and toilet paper) are necessities whose availability must not depend on foreign supply chains during a crisis. We want to raise domestic stockpile levels, diversify procurement sources and ensure that Finland can cope on its own strength even through a prolonged disruption.
🔒 13. Cyber security at the core of national security
Wars are now also fought on screens. Critical infrastructure, government communications and the basic functions of society are under constant digital threat. We want to raise cyber-security investment to match the real threat landscape, train more specialists in the field and ensure that public administration is protected digitally as well. Information security is a national security issue every bit as much as physical defence.
🏥 14. Access to primary healthcare in the regions
Getting to see a doctor must not depend on where in Finland you live. At present, the availability of health services varies dramatically by region, and queues for primary care are in places unreasonably long. We want to ensure that every Finn has equal access to a doctor within a reasonable time. It is not only a humanitarian issue but also an economic one, because an untreated illness always costs more than one treated in time.
🧠 15. Resourcing mental-health services
Mental-health problems are the leading cause of incapacity for work in Finland, and distress among young people has grown alarmingly. Yet access to treatment is in many places difficult and slow. We want to increase the resources for mental-health services significantly, shorten treatment queues and bring low-threshold support closer to everyday life — into schools, workplaces and health centres. Mental health is health.
🤗 16. Combating loneliness and social exclusion
By many measures Finland is the happiest country in the world, yet at the same time loneliness and social exclusion are growing problems. The erosion of community is especially visible among the young and the elderly. We want to support community structures, civil-society organisations, neighbourliness and local culture that keep people connected to one another and to society. No one should fall into loneliness for the simple reason that no structure reached out in time.
👴 17. Strengthening the oversight of elderly care
Elderly care is regulated, but the regulations are not always observed. Staffing ratios meet requirements on paper, but the reality in care units is often different. We want to strengthen oversight so that the law is upheld in practice and not only on inspection days. Elderly people have the right to dignified care, and society has a duty to guarantee it.
🔨 18. Raising the standing of vocational education
Society needs plumbers, electricians, chefs and builders every bit as much as lawyers and economists. Yet vocational education is often seen as a secondary option. We want to change this attitude and improve the resources and image of vocational schools so that a young person can choose a practical field with pride and without feeling they have chosen a less worthy path.
📜 19. Strengthening Finnish history and cultural heritage in education
A nation that does not know its history does not understand itself. We want Finnish history, culture and national identity to receive the weight they deserve in school education. This does not mean romanticising the past, but an honest and multifaceted relationship with where we come from and what we have built. It is the foundation on which a sustainable future is constructed.
🪚 20. Restoring crafts and technical subjects to comprehensive school
Hands are also tools of thought. Crafts, woodwork, metalwork and home economics teach children concrete skills, problem-solving ability and a relationship with materials that cannot be replaced by screen time. Cutting back these subjects has been a mistake, and we want to restore them as part of the core content of comprehensive school. Children should be allowed to work with their hands in school.
🏘️ 21. Strengthening municipal self-governance
Local people know local problems best. In recent decades central-government steering has tightened in a way that has eroded municipalities' ability to solve matters according to their own needs. We want to restore genuine decision-making power to municipalities in their own affairs and reduce central-government regulatory control. Functioning local democracy is the foundation of all democracy.
🔍 22. Transparency in public procurement
Public procurement is a major part of the national economy, and large sums of money are involved. Yet procurement processes are often opaque and susceptible to favouritism. We want to tighten transparency requirements so that every taxpayer can, if they wish, see where their money goes and on what grounds decisions are made. Openness is the best prevention against corruption.
✍️ 23. Developing the citizens' initiative
The citizens' initiative was a good idea, but practice has shown its teeth to be blunt. Initiatives collect hundreds of thousands of signatures yet still end up buried in committees without any real impact. We want to lower the threshold for processing initiatives and oblige Parliament to give genuine consideration to initiatives that have gained sufficient support. The instruments of direct democracy must actually work.
🏃 24. Children’s exercise in school
The physical fitness of Finnish children has deteriorated alarmingly in recent decades. Screen time has increased, breaks have shortened and organised physical activity has declined. The consequences are already visible in children’s back problems, difficulty concentrating and obesity.
We want every school week to include supervised vigorous exercise on at least three days — running, ball games, orienteering or other activities that get the heart pumping properly. In addition, we want every school day to begin or end with a short shared stretching and calisthenics session. This does not require vast resources, but above all the will to prioritise children’s physical well-being.
The model is not unfamiliar. In China, school days have for decades included a communal exercise session in which the entire school does gymnastics together. The results in terms of body control, team spirit and concentration speak for themselves. There is no reason Finland could not adopt a similar approach in its own school day.
An active child learns better, behaves better and feels better. It is not only about health but about well-being at school, learning outcomes and the foundation we give children for adulthood. Exercise belongs in every school day.