The Finnish Expatriate Parliament

The Finnish Expatriate Parliament (FEP) was established in year 1997 by Finland Society together with Finnish organisations abroad, as a joint forum of societies. Consulting Finns abroad is possible through the FEP. The parliament’s activities are based on initiatives made by Finnish societies abroad and on resolutions adopted by representatives of societies at the Parliament Session.

Next parliament session will be in 2025. 

Finnish Expatriate Parliament 10th Session 2021

The 10th Session was organised digitally, on-line, by the Finland Society. A total of 262 participants from 23 countries registered to the Session, so that 153 Finnish societies abroad sent 173 representatives and 89 observers A record number of initiatives was submitted to the Session. It adopted 70 resolutions on matters important to improve in lives of Finns abroad – see underneath their compilation with their yet to be language checked backgrounds, ahead of translation (into English, Swedish).

Finland Society Chairman, FEP Speaker Markus Aaltonen sends to participants a special thanks for a successful session!

SESSION MATERIAL:

Resolutions of the Finnish expatriate parliament 2021 (PDF)

Work report 2017-2021 (PDF)

The resolutions of the 10^th FEP Session were handed over to the Minister of the Interior on September 19, 2021, and forwarded to the working group for the strategy on expatriate Finns set up by the Ministry.

The monitoring and reporting on the resolutions is currently being further developed.  

FEP Speakers’ council 2021- 2025

Speaker: Markus Aaltonen

Australia and Asia deputy speaker: Michael (Mikko) Pekkala (ACT, Australia)
Alternate: Risto Söder (VIC, Australia)

East Europe deputy speaker: Sakari Neuvonen (Estonia)
Alternate: Wladimir Kokko (Russia)

Central Europe deputy speaker: Kari Henrik Tumelius (Great Britain)
Alternate: Inka Kuusela (Germany)

Northern Europe deputy speaker: Seija Sjöstedt (Sweden)
Alternate: Ella Turta (Sweden)

Swedish speaking Finns Around the World deputy speaker: Barbro Allardt Ljunggren (Sweden)
Alternate: Monica Eckermalm  (Sweden)

Southern Europe, Africa and Middle East deputy speaker: Marko Suomalainen (Greece)
Alternate: : Satu Sulkunen (Italy)

Canada deputy speaker: Irina Ilmokari (ON, Canada)
Alternate: Johannes Lahtinen (ON, Kanada)

USA and Latin America deputy speaker: Hanna Wagner (Washington DC, USA)
Alternate: Teuvo Pulkkinen (CA, USA)

Strategy on Expatriate Finns 2022–2026

Strategy on Expatriate Finns 2022–2026 (the Ministry of the Interior) sets objectives and actions to respond to the service needs of expatriate Finns and to make better use of their expertise.

The strategy is a continuation of three previous foreign policy programmes. It was prepared by a cross-administrative working group, with the Finland Society and the Migration Institute of Finland also involved in the process. The preparation process included extensive consultations with expatriate Finns and expatriate Finnish actors and use of the results of studies and surveys on expatriate Finns.

The strategy sets objectives and actions related to:

• coordinating the affairs of expatriate Finns in central government

• developing communication by public authorities concerning expatriate Finns
• promoting easy access to services provided by authorities for expatriate Finns
• strengthening the Finnish identity, language, culture and nationality of expatriate Finns
• making use of expatriate Finns in support of trade and industry, export promotion, research and sustainable development
• strengthening the social participation of expatriate Finns
• the attractiveness of return migration.

The implementation of the strategy will be monitored in the working group on expatriate Finns in central government and in webinars, which will be organised annually in cooperation with the Finland Society.

Strategy on Expatriate Finns 2022–2026

At the beginning of this year, Finland Society surveyed your experiences of the Finnish Expatriate Parliament (FEP). We received answers from almost 100 respondents. Thank you very much for your participation! Report on the results of the survey in Finnish is on our webpage and a summary will be translated in English.

We will be happy to answer your questions about the Finnish Expatriate Parliament. Contact us preferably by email info@usp.fi