Should Finland and Sweden reunite?
The ever-deteriorating state of world affairs has prompted the Nordic countries to set aside their sibling rivalry and start thinking about a reunion.
Last weekend marked the 100th anniversary of the bilateral annual light athletics (or track and field) competition between Finland and Sweden, the only still existing one of its kind in the world. Called Finnkampen in Swedish (“Finn fight”) and Ruotsiottelu in Finnish (“Sweden match”), the games take place every other year in Finland and every other year in Sweden. Sweden won this year’s anniversary match in both women’s and men’s category at home in Stockholm, but as a generous Finn I will let that pass uncommented - we have won many more times in the 100-year-history of the games, after all.
As one can imagine, the Finland-Sweden games are more than just sports. It’s a question of prestige between best frenemies, and emotions run accordingly high and memories are long. The competition is also not restricted to the annual games but scores are being kept in all other sports competitions as well - as a Finnish saying goes, winning is not as important as that Sweden loses. We still remember with great bitterness the 1980 winter olympics at Lake Placid where Finland’s Juha Mieto lost the gold medal to Sweden’s Thomas Wassberg by 1/100th of a second - the closest finish in Olympic history. (And spare me the “finnish” jokes please. This still hurts.) When Sweden became NATO member, the Finnish ministry of foreign affairs posted a congratulatory video with the song “Den glider in” in the background - it was supposed to be the Swedish team’s song in the ice hockey world championships in 1995, which the Finns won against the Swedish hosts 4-1. The winning Finnish team owned the song and it became an instant classic in Finland.
As a Finn living in Sweden, I of course keep a personal score as well. So far, I have listed the following things as better in Finland than in Sweden:
The Finnish drying cupboards above the sink. I don’t understand why they don’t exist in Sweden. I guess so that IKEA can sell the dish drainers that you put on top of the counter.
All dairy products, especially cheese and yoghurt, are from a different planet in Finland. So much taste, such creamy consistency. In Sweden the only taste you get in cheese is salty, and yoghurt is always “mild and sour” - and watery. It’s baffling - when you buy yoghurt from Finnish brands in Sweden, it’s adapted to the Swedish mild, sour and watery taste, whereas Swedish brands make wonderfully creamy yoghurt for the Finnish market.
Trains (on time and nicer).
Deposit on plastic bottles is much higher (although you of course pay for it yourself when you buy the bottle).
Many more saunas! I don’t understand the lack of saunas in Sweden! And when you find one, it’s not properly heated!
Social mobility.
Better in Sweden than in Finland:
Sauces. For any thinkable dish Sweden has 5-7 more sauce options than Finland. And there are something like 15 different kinds of Bernaise sauce alone.
Filter coffee. I try to avoid drinking it, but when I have to, it’s usually more drinkable in Sweden than in Finland.
I am making a great effort to assess this in a fair and objective fashion and will strive to add more items that are better in Sweden.
The bilateral competition naturally also takes place in politics. Because Finland was a part of the Kingdom of Sweden for more than half a millennium, until 1809, Sweden used to consider itself the “big brother” in the relationship. But the 2022 NATO year changed everything. The Swedish newspaper Expressen has been leading the change, by thanking “big brother Finland” for “NATO help - we would never have made it without you” (in Finnish!) in May 2022, suggesting that Sweden should join Finland instead as the Swedish NATO process stalled in 2023, and recently stating that “Sweden is like Finland, but worse”. In Svenska Dagbladet (SvD), one of Sweden’s largest daily newspapers, a culture columnist dreamily wrote about how Finland was founded by poets, while Sweden only has had kings (lame of course). Finland’s previous Prime Minister Sanna Marin’s international celebrity was tough for the Swedes, and they are having a full-scale meltdown now over Finnish President Alexander Stubb’s prominent role in European Trump management efforts. Another SvD journalist went as far as to say that Sweden’s Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson even looks like Stubb’s little brother and suggested that “it is perhaps the new Swedish condition - to be beaten by Finland”.
One could think that such a competitive relationship would lead to bad blood. But on the contrary, the reaction to this “new Swedish condition” has rather been to seek a closer relationship and more cooperation. A Swedish historian and columnist suggested that Finland and Sweden could realistically become one country again - any hurdles to a reunion would be merely “cosmetic”. And the idea of reviving the 15th century Kalmar Union, a kingdom that united all five Nordic countries, has gone from an internet joke to a semi-serious discussion. Even though it will probably never happen, it is a nice and wholesome idea for a change. We sure don’t have too many of those lately.
I would suggest that the five Nordic countries should definitely recombine as a kindness to the rest of the world. If they do this then the "Ten Happiest Countries" league tables would open up four new spots that could be occupied by other countries. :-)
For an American, this column is a fascinating look inside Finland, and Sweden as well, both countries unreachable but preferable alternatives to Mob Boss Trump's American nightmare. And Sanna Marin, so impressive, and now President Stubb who did the remarkable job of taming the beast in the White House, at least for a short time. Most impressive countries and leaders. Consider yourselves fortunate indeed!