Government supports Kemi due to sudden structural change

Cooperation negotiations at the Veitsiluoto paper and pulp mill in Kemi have been completed and Stora Enso confirmed that 550 jobs will be cut. Measures to support the employees and businesses of the region in the sudden structural change were launched in April. The Government will decide on additional funding for the region in June.

The visit of Minister of Employment Tuula Haatainen to Kemi on 27 April included meetings with the staff and management of Stora Enso. 

“This is a very unfortunate situation both for the employees and the economy of the region. We will use all measures in the Government’s toolkit to support the employees who have lost their jobs and the whole region in this structural change,” Minister Haatainen says.

“Already in April the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment granted EUR 2.3 million to the Lapland Centre for Economic Development, Transport and the Environment to deal with the acute employment situation, and now we will consider whether additional resources will be needed,” Haatainen says.

The Government should decide on the funding for the sudden structural change in the Kemi region on 29 June. The funding will comprise both regional development funds to be allocated to the region and business funding. The Government will also examine other funding measures that could be targeted to the region.

“The economic development of the region has undergone several transformations quite recently. In March the Government granted EUR 1.1 million in additional funding to the Kemi-Tornio region to manage the sudden structural change in Outokumpu. However, we have also had good news as Metsä Fibre announced that it is going to build a new bioproduct mill. The Government will make sure that the conditions exist for Kemi to renew its industrial structure and create jobs in the future as well. The advantages of Kemi and the whole Meri-Lappi region include the excellent infrastructure with ports to serve the transforming and new kinds of business activities,” Minister of Economic Affairs Mika Lintilä says.

Inquiries: 
Timo Nevaranta, Special Adviser to the Minister of Employment, Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment, tel. +358 50 574 1430
Jenny Hasu, Special Adviser to the Minister of Economic Affairs, Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment, tel. +358 40 658 3510
Marjukka Aarnio, Senior Ministerial Adviser, Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment, tel. +358 29 504 7150