Finland cancels payments for Ukrainian refugees: what will change for 46 thousand people.

The Finnish Minister of Finance Riikka Purra from the Justice Party presented the budget project for the next year this week. In it, she proposes to cancel state payments to municipalities and welfare regions that receive for providing integration services to asylum seekers and refugees. Thanks to this, they plan to save 317 million euros over two years.

Yle reports on what support Ukrainian refugees in Finland may lose.

Why Ukrainians in Finland might lose support

The Director of Immigration of the Ministry of Labor and Economy of Finland Sonja Hämäläinen stated that the cancellation of integration payments will primarily affect those who fled from the war in Ukraine.

State compensations cover the costs of municipalities for providing integration services to immigrants. The most important are language training and employment assistance, as well as training sessions that familiarize people with Finnish society and traditions.

According to Hämäläinen, most users of these services are asylum seekers and refugees, currently mostly Ukrainians who have applied for temporary protection. Their number is about 46 thousand.

This year, approximately two-thirds of the funds for integration will go to support Ukrainians, and next year — probably three-quarters, she adds.

The amount of state compensations has significantly increased due to the large number of Ukrainians who fled from the war. Before the Russian invasion in 2022, compensations were 50-60 million euros per year, now it is over 150 million.

Why the proposal to cancel payments is not liked by everyone

However, even if compensations are canceled, municipalities will remain responsible for integration. This is stated by the Director of Development of the Association of Municipalities Mikko Härkönen.

He emphasizes that someone must handle integration. Then municipalities will have to look for other funding sources for these services. Thus, it is likely that they will either have to raise local taxes or cut other municipal services, and possibly — integration services as well. Even now, compensations do not fully cover municipalities' expenses for these services.

The Head of the Integration Service of the city of Turku Tina Rahimi Ahmad expresses concern that complicating integration may have negative consequences. If a person cannot integrate into society, this can lead to:

• long-term unemployment;
• employment difficulties;
• language learning problems.

This means it will affect not only individuals but also society as a whole.

Currently, the budget project will be considered at government negotiations in the fall, after which the government will submit proposals to parliament. The parliament will make the final decision on the budget.

Earlier we reported that Germany is developing a bill to reduce social payments for newly arrived Ukrainians. They plan to cancel the Bürgergeld assistance. Previously, a complete cessation of payments for all refugees, regardless of their arrival date, was discussed.

We also reported that since the beginning of the war, Germany has been actively supporting Ukrainians who fled from the fighting, providing shelter and financial assistance under Paragraph 24 of the Residence Act (AufenthG). However, such assistance has limitations and is not guaranteed to everyone.

The Finnish government proposes to cancel state payments to municipalities for services in integrating asylum seekers and refugees with the aim of saving 317 million euros over two years. This may affect Ukrainian refugees who receive support in Finland, which provided shelter during the conflict in Ukraine.