Minister Harakka: Government supports public transport and invests in cybersecurity

"The consistent support for public transport, for electrification of the vehicle fleet and for new power sources for heavy goods transport will continue," says Minister of Transport and Communications Timo Harakka. 

In April 2022, the Ministerial Working Group on Preparedness decided on the support for the transportation sector and for the green transition package for 2022 and 2023. In its second supplementary budget proposal for 2022, the Government proposes EUR 75 million for the new transportation support for the logistics sector.

For 2022-2023, additional funding of EUR 13 million will be reserved for purchase support to fully electric cars (Ministry of Transport and Communications) and EUR 30 million for charging infrastructure support to housing companies (Ministry of the Environment). A total of EUR 21.5 million will be reserved for supporting the public distribution infrastructure for transport electricity and gas (Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment).

Support for the public transport will continue

The Government proposes an increase of EUR 48 million for support of public transport. This would compensate urban regions for an estimated half of the ticket income losses caused by reduced passenger numbers, a total of EUR 28 million. In addition, EUR 12.5 million would be allocated for compensating for the increased costs of transport operations. A total of EUR 7.5 million would be used for transport procurements to replace market-based transport and to compensate for the increased costs of transport operations.

"The central government has strongly supported the organisation of public transport in a difficult situation. After the fourth assistance package, the support for public transport for 2020-2022 will rise to EUR 300 million, " Minister Harakka says.

Cybersecurity will be improved across society

Additional appropriations of approximately EUR 38 million are proposed to improve cyber security preparedness. The proposals are allocated to several branches of government and numerous agencies.

An appropriation of EUR 6 million will be allocated to the development of information security in Finland. Within the scope of this allocation, fixed-term information security vouchers can be granted to companies operating in sectors critical to the functioning of society, to the key service providers of these companies and to organisations.

"I have been a strong advocate for information security vouchers for a long time. It is important that in addition to public administration, finance will be provided for the extensive security tests for the private sector too," Harakka says.

The supplementary budget proposal will be submitted to Parliament in the government plenary session starting at 13:00 on Wednesday 25 May.

Inquiries:

llkka Hamunen, Special Adviser to the Minister, tel. +358 50 478 1027, [email protected] (transport)

Antti Malste, Special Adviser to the Minister, tel. +358 50 400 1628, [email protected] (cybersecurity)

Press release by the Government Communications Department and the Ministry of Finance, 20 May 2022: Government reaches agreement on second supplementary budget proposal for 2022