Sanctions | The ministry’s view: The expropriation of the Hartwall arena requires a separate law

Foreign minister Elina Valtonen (kok) let it be understood from the beginning of the week that the state’s faith in the implementation of voluntary trades in the case of the former Hartwall arena is beginning to be a thing of the past.

The arena, which has been empty for more than two years, is owned by embargoed Russian oligarchs Gennady Timshenko and Roman Rotenbergwho therefore do not seem to sell their voting shares voluntarily either to a private Finnish investor group or to the city of Helsinki.

The exemption granted by the EU for stock transactions expires on June 30, i.e. in a few days.

In the same context, Valtonen spoke strongly in favor of expropriation. According to insider sources, the expropriation process of the arena is already considered a practically certain way forward.

Now the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has very surprising information.

“According to the information received by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, expropriation would require the enactment of a separate law. According to our information, it would not be successful otherwise,” the head of the ministry’s sanctions team Pia Sarivaara tells.

We can talk about a confusing situation.

The information from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is in complete contradiction with the city of Helsinki, which is planning the redemption process: The city believes that the redemption will possibly succeed in the name of the current redemption law, the state does not.

Arena a possible expropriation process can just as well be initiated by one of the ministries or the city of Helsinki. The latter is considered behind the scenes to be the most likely claimant for redemption, as it has the strongest interest in the whole matter.

According to the study, the city of Helsinki loses around 100 million euros in direct and indirect income every year, because no events are organized in Areena due to the embargo boycott.

In any case, the process would proceed largely hand in hand with the state, because it would later be up to the state to either accept or reject the application.

From the beginning of the week, a source from the heart of the city of Helsinki, familiar with legal technology, spoke emphatically in favor of the current legislation.

“We have specifically studied the plan, based on which we will proceed with the possible expropriation of the arena within the framework of current legislation,” he emphasized.

in Finland there is an expropriation law which, if various criteria are met, enables for example the expropriation of real estate or plots of land. The law is often applied on a practical level.

However, redemption has never been attempted in a stalemate the size of the former Hartwall arena, and there are several anomalies associated with the case anyway. Uncertainties.

“The arena is its own special case. It may be that Finland’s current legislation does not adapt to the changing world political situation, but no one knows that yet,” explained the source.

“As a recognized state governed by the rule of law, Finland complies with the articles related to the protection of property, regardless of the world political situation.”

Presently the redemption act is being reformed, and it is in no way caused by the arena. The reform of the Redemption Act is in the opinion request stage.

According to the source, there are “no gimmicks” in the reform that would enable a quick takeover of the arena. The process will surely drag on for a long time if a new separate law is enacted.

“The different view of the state and the city on the redemption process strongly underlines the fact that no one really knows where we are going with certainty,” says a political source now.

“We haven’t dared to look into the matter properly before. That’s why a common line is still missing.”