Media | Kaja Kunnas is HS’s new Finland-Estonia correspondent

From Estonia Finland’s southern neighbor has developed, from which Finland can also learn. What does the present and future of Estonia look like from the eyes of Finns?

Helsingin Sanomat’s new Finland-Estonia correspondent learns about this Kaja Kunnaswho will start his position at the turn of the year.

“The big change is that, for the first time, Estonia and Finland are in the same military alliance. Estonia has almost 20 years of experience in NATO, so Estonia and Finland will have a new kind of relationship. Finland’s military non-alignment was not understood in Estonia,” says Kunnas.

According to him, it’s time to shake off the big brother-little brother arrangement once and for all. Kunnas describes Estonia as an open-minded “living laboratory”, where various technological solutions are tested, for example. People are also encouraged to start a business right from school in a completely different way than in Finland.

Tens of thousands people live in two different countries. There is even talk of Talsing, i.e. the twin city of Tallinn and Helsinki.

Kunnas wants to describe the lifestyle of this “invisible crowd”. This means, for example, relationships, housing, real estate, work and hobbies. On the other hand, 1.5 million trips were made to Estonia from Finland last year.

“Estonia is still more of a holiday destination for Finns, while Estonians work in Finland. But this has started to change.”

Kaja Kunnas is an experienced journalist who has worked, among other things, as HS’s Baltic assistant in Tallinn from 2002 to 2019. He has also co-written Marjo Näkin with Gulf of Finland relationship book (2016) On the relations between Estonia and Finland and Baltic Sea security inspection (2023), which deals with the security situation in the Baltic Sea.

Theme correspondent is already seventh in the series in HS. In the assignment, the editor of HS focuses on a certain theme for one year at a time.

Previous theme correspondent Elina Kervinen is focused on following nato. His season ends at the turn of the year. He continues to monitor security policy in the delivery of economics and politics. In the past, HS has also had an environment correspondent, a Silk Road correspondent focused on the growth of China’s influence, a climate correspondent, a Baltic Sea correspondent and a future correspondent.

This time, the relationship between Finland and Estonia was chosen as the focus from among several options.

“Finland and Estonia are considering solutions to very similar issues on their own: from education to health care and from urban planning to security policy”, Helsingin Sanomat’s editor-in-chief Erja Yläjärvi justifies.

“We have a short sea connection, and everyday life is also shared between the two countries. We are now both NATO countries. I consider it important and natural that we discuss Finland’s connection with Estonia also in the light of such themes that unite both countries. All in all, we also have more and more to learn from our neighboring country.”

Theme Correspondent the station is in Helsinki, but he also spends a lot of time in Estonia. In addition to the theme correspondent, HS has seven correspondents whose permanent stations are Stockholm, London, Beijing, Washington, Brussels, Moscow and Berlin.

What should the new Finland-Estonia correspondent write about? Tell HS your story idea to [email protected]