Hardship not over, exceptional conditions to continue: Niinistö

President Sauli Niinistö said the hardship is not over yet and the exceptional situation would continue for several months.

“While vaccines have already given us some hope, even in the best case the exceptional conditions will continue for several months,” said the president in his New Year's Speech on 1 January 2021.

He, however, said this is an experience we all share. No one has remained unaffected.

“The coronavirus has put us all to the test. To highly varying degrees: some have faced irrevocable losses, while others have got off more lightly with only inconvenience in their normal daily lives,” said Niinistö, adding that complying with the restrictions is the only way of getting rid of them.

He said, “The vaccines will only help if we get ourselves vaccinated.”

“Our future success also depends on each one of us. Even if we already feel tired, we must find the strength to go on,” said the president.

He thanked the country’s people for coping with the coronavirus pandemic, particularly those who have worked to look after the health of others.

“So far, we have coped with the coronavirus pandemic rather well compared to many other countries. This is something we achieved together, however. Finland has again proven its strength and resilience in a tight spot,” said Niinistö

He said the pandemic has changed the way of people living their lives.

He said the transformation, however, is not only about the pandemic. Global warming continues to advance, even faster than was feared.

“Power relationships in international politics are in turmoil. In monetary economics, millions have become commonplace, and not only billions but also trillions, figures with 12 zeros, crop up more often. At the same time, new transitional technologies ranging from artificial intelligence to quantum computing are making a rapid breakthrough,” said Niinistö.

Terming Finnish citizenship as a precious capital, he said someone who has been granted asylum in Finland is also in a better position than most people in the world.

He said, “Discussing and even debating the extent of freedoms and rights enjoyed by all those who live in this country is quite justified. Less attention has been paid to the other side of the equation: duties, and responsibility.”

He said the feeling of security has also been eroded by new digital threats. Whether the target is parliament or individual citizen’s health data, the word ‘data breach’ is not strong enough to describe the problem.

“Cyber attacks threaten security; they are attacks against not only individuals but also our entire social order. We must improve our ability to foil them, also at the international level,” added the head of the state.