US Elections | Finland unexpectedly became an example of the election debate – This is known from Walz’s visit to Finland

Finnish got into the limelight and the center of American politics on the night between Tuesday and Wednesday Finnish time for a small, fleeting moment. Democratic Vice Presidential Candidate Tim Walz namely, made Finland look positive, for example, in the election debate of the vice-presidential candidates.

Walz and the Republican vice presidential nominee J.D. Vance debated US gun laws and gun violence. The discussion sidestepped school safety and school shootings, when Walz unexpectedly brought up Finland.

“I have spent some time in Finland and seen Finnish schools. This doesn’t happen to them [kouluampumisia]even though they have a lot of gun owners,” Walz said.

Vance caught Walz’s attention, albeit briefly.

“I appreciate what Tim said about Finland because it illustrates some frankly strange differences between our country’s gun violence problem and Finland’s,” he said.

According to Vance, the United States has a significant number of problems with mental health and substance abuse. It is not entirely clear whether he meant to compare the situation with Finland.

of Minnesota Governor Walz visited Finland in November 2021. He was accompanied by a delegation that included, among other things, representatives of Minnesota companies and universities.

Fulbright Finland Foundation magazine according to the visit included a section that dealt with Finnish education. The Fulbright Finland Foundation supports the internationalization of Finnish higher education institutions and Finnish-American educational and research cooperation.

According to the newspaper, the higher education delegation that came to Finland with Walz visited the foundation. Among other things, they were introduced to the Finnish education system and cooperation opportunities regarding exchange studies and international education. The delegation was led by Tim Walz’s wife Gwen Walz.

During the visit to Finland, the delegation also established relations with the Ministry of Education, the Academy of Finland, the University of Helsinki and Aalto University, the newspaper reports.

The magazine also published a photo in which Tim Walz and his spouse pose as the CEO of the Fulbright Finland Foundation Terhi Mölsän and a board member Erika Holtin with. The picture also includes representatives of Minnesota universities.

Tim Walz has previously worked as a teacher.

I waltz The main purpose of the visit to Finland was to expand cooperation between Finland and Minnesota related to energy, bioeconomy and digital technology.

During his visit, Walz met, among others, the president Sauli Niinistönthe Minister of Economy of the previous government Mika Lintilän (central) and the then Minister of Foreign Trade Ville Skinnarin (sd).

Skinnari, on the other hand, had only visited Minnesota a month before. He is too described Walzia as “Finland’s great friend”.

Walz’s program also included company visits to forest company UPM, building technology manufacturer Uponor, and fuel manufacturer Neste.

Vice presidential candidate Walz’s connections to Finland will by no means last until 2021.

In August, he performed at Suomi-pipo in Minnesota. A picture of Walz started to spread on the internet, where he posed for the camera with a dog and on his head he had a picture with the text Finland.

The authenticity of the image cannot be completely certain, but according to artificial intelligence identification services, the image is not made by artificial intelligence.

In July 2023, Walz, as governor, declared a holiday called Finnesota in the state of Minnesota, when a football player Teemu Pukki moved on to play for a local football club.

to Minnesota has been a strong migration from Finland throughout history, and the state has, for example Star Tribune – magazine, the largest concentration of people with Finnish roots in the entire United States.