Olena Kutsai: Our Kyiv office is ready to help Finnish companies enter Ukraine

EK and the EastCham chamber of commerce have together established an office in Kyiv this spring. The purpose of the office is to help Finnish companies to participate in the reconstruction of Ukraine and launch their activities in Ukraine. We are proud to introduce the head of the Kyiv office  –  Olena Kutsai. She is a well-networked business professional who is experienced in counselling companies. Olena Kutsai is also active in anti-corruption work.

Olena – great to introduce you to Finnish companies! First of all, is this the right moment for companies to start investigating the Ukrainian market?

The answer is yes – there is an acute momentum to participate in reconstruction projects right now.

The process is well underway: many countries and their companies are already actively and concretely entering the market, for instance companies from Sweden, Denmark, Germany and Poland.

A lot of western expertise is needed to succeed in the hundreds-billion-dollar reconstruction task. All in all, we talk about the “world’s largest construction site”.

There is much potential for Finnish companies to contribute to the reconstruction and establish their presence in Ukraine. Our Kyiv office is there to assist you to take the first steps.

What does Ukraine expect from Finnish companies? Where do you see the most potential for us?

The slogan for Ukraine’s reconstruction is: “build back better, build back greener”. This is a perfect match for Finland!

There is a great demand for Finnish companies in areas such as energy efficiency, infrastructure and telecommunications networks, water and waste management, green tech, civil protection, as well as construction of hospitals, schools and housing.

At the same time, Finnish expertise also helps our country to become a modern, digital and environmentally sustainable member of the European Union.

What concrete services does the Kyiv office offer to Finnish companies?

The Kyiv office helps Finnish companies with the market entry. We help you to navigate in the Ukrainian business environment: how to get started, find the right partners and enter the reconstruction projects. We assist in establishing necessary contacts both in the private sector and on the state /municipal level.

For EK’s member companies, we also provide services completely free of charge: webinars and other briefings, even personal assistance by Teams and peer-to-peer sparring.  (Please see below in more detail.)

How is business life in Ukraine and now? What should Finnish companies be prepared for in Kyiv?

Most of the time we can concentrate on our professional activities pretty much like before the war. The business community is very used to this new normal and things run actually very smoothly.  For emergency situations we have clear safety procedures which are easy to follow.  Kyiv is one of the most protected cities in Ukraine.

Once you have decided to launch your business activities in Ukraine, sooner or later it is good to visit the country in person. Our Kyiv office is there to assist you to take the first steps.

Thank you for sharing your thoughts, Olena! Is there something you want to add to conclude?

One more word of encouragement: Finland and Finnish companies have an extremely positive brand in Ukraine. We are more than happy to see you in Ukraine!

Free of charge services to member companies of Finnish Industries EK

• “Rebuild Ukraine Update from Kyiv” webinars and briefings. Next webinar October 9 – see the program and register.  
• Company-specific sparring remotely (1-2 times per company). Book an appointment at olen.kutsai@eastcham.fi
• Peer sparring of company groups on a quarterly basis

Member company, join the Kyiv mailing list!

Open for all Finnish companies

• Ukraine Reconstruction Forum led by the Finnish Industries EK
• Brings together Finnish business, public sector decision makers as well as funding institutions involved in Ukraine reconstruction.

Join the Reconstruction Forum

Article in Finnish. 

Finnish business to grant the 2024 Ambassador Awards to Maimo Henriksson, Juha Markkanen and Team Finland in France

The entrepreneurs of the Confederation of Finnish Industries (EK) have recognised Finnish diplomats in the Team Finland network who have been particularly effective in helping Finnish companies internationalise and succeed in export markets in challenging times. The 2024 Ambassador Award will go to Maimo Henriksson, Finland’s Ambassador to Sweden, Juha Markkanen, the Ambassador to Singapore, and Team Finland in France, led by Ambassador Matti Anttonen. Translation in Finnish.

The Finnish Ambassadors and other Team Finland professionals are invaluable partners for companies and deserve our warmest thanks, according to Anne Kangas (Hoitokoti Päiväkumpu), Chair of the EK Delegation of Entrepreneurship, and Bengt Westerholm (Beweship), Chair of the Internationalisation and Reform Working Group:

“We face a big challenge together to gain growth from international markets and reverse the downward trend of Finnish exports. In the context of reforming public internationalisation services, cooperation between business and ministries is needed more than ever.”

“The ambassadors’ role is ever more important as we work as a team to promote Finnish exports and to attract tourists, investment and talent to Finland. It is also important for SMEs that the entire chain of internationalisation services works efficiently, from Finland’s regions to the world market at large.”

Recipients of EK’s Ambassador Awards in 2024

Maimo Henriksson, Ambassador to Sweden

Bilateral relations between Finland and Sweden have become historically close. Ambassador Maimo Henriksson has successfully and tirelessly been at the forefront of this development, which has also brought businesses in closer contact. Henriksson has displayed a strong business-oriented service attitude and initiative, and has been a bridge-builder in strengthening the cooperation between Finnish and Swedish companies.

Juha Markkanen, Ambassador to Singapore

Ambassador Juha Markkanen is known as an energetic promoter of the Team Finland spirit. He has successfully applied the Team Finland philosophy in practical action that benefits businesses. Markkanen and his team have provided companies with both high-quality market information and genuine access, and demonstrated an exemplary spirit of service.

Team Finland in France

The Team Finland network in France has done a brilliant job of promoting Finnish exports and internationalisation in Europe’s second largest economy. Matti Anttonen, the Ambassador, has done commendable and successful work in leading his Team Finland network of many different organisations as a unified team. Under his leadership, the Team Finland professionals have provided companies with valuable market information and concrete opportunities in exports and tourism, as well as attracting investment.

Translation in Finnish.

Ministry of Social Affairs and Health’s proposal concerning mandatory pay transparency is incomprehensible

The Ministry of Social Affairs and Health has on 15th of November published a working group report on legislation on mandatory pay transparency. The proposals in the report are essentially the same as those put forward by the Gender Equality Unit of the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health, which headed the working group, to be signed off at the start of its term. The working group’s preparations did not bring any changes to the outcomes that had been decided upon in advance.

The working group’s proposal is not unanimous. Organisations representing employers expressed a joint dissenting opinion on the proposal.

The Confederation of Finnish Industries (EK) strongly supports equality and is prepared to develop legislation on pay transparency. There is still much that remains to be done to achieve labour market equality, and we are keen to be involved in this work. However, we believe that the proposals in the disputed report of the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health are not the appropriate solution to the identified problems.

What exactly does the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health propose?

The Ministry of Social Affairs and Health proposes that:

1. Each employee would have the right to obtain detailed information regarding the pay of any other colleague at any time without the colleague’s consent. An employee would be entitled to obtain pay information from their employer solely for the purpose of substantiating their suspicions of possible pay discrimination based on gender. The employer would not have the right to refuse to disclose the pay information.
2. Shop stewards and other employee representatives, such as occupational safety and health representatives, would have the right to obtain detailed information on employees’ pay without their consent when preparing a pay survey in accordance with the Equality Act. Shop stewards and other employee representatives would have the right to obtain employees’ pay information from the employer regardless of whether or not they represent the employees in question. It would also be possible to obtain information on pay in situations where an employee representative does not even suspect discrimination.

The Ministry of Social Affairs and Health’s disputed report is promoting the most draconian legislation on mandatory pay transparency in Europe.

This year, the EU Commission published its proposal for a directive on pay transparency. The proposal does not contain either of the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health’s proposals.

What would be the outcome of the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health’s proposals?

The legislative amendments proposed by the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health are highly unlikely to lead to any improvement in the general atmosphere at the workplace, and instead would only serve to increase tensions and invasions of privacy. The legislative amendment could lead to unfair standardisation of pay as employers would no longer venture to reward employees for their personal competence and achievements in fear of unfounded claims of discrimination.

The legislative amendments advocated by the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health would be in conflict with public opinion. According to a survey commissioned by EK from Taloustutkimus in 2019, some two-thirds of working-age people oppose the disclosure of their pay information to their colleagues without their consent. Furthermore, the amendments would significantly and without any necessary or justified reason compromise the protection of privacy provided for in the Constitution.

Rights under current legislation have been forgotten

When discussing the issue of pay transparency, we must bear in mind that, under current legislation, an employee already has the right to obtain detailed information regarding the pay of a colleague in situations where there is a justified reason to suspect pay discrimination. In these situations, a shop steward or other employee representative must request the pay information on behalf of the employee through the Ombudsman for Equality.

The Ombudsman for Equality must provide the pay information if they consider the suspicion of discrimination to be well-founded. Providing access to the information through a competent authority prevents, for example, inquiries into pay information based solely on curiosity and adequately safeguards the protection of privacy.

It is possible to promote labour market equality in various ways. However, the proposals of the disputed report of the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health do not provide a feasible way to proceed. At this point, it would be sensible to wait for the finalisation of the EU directive on pay transparency and only then move forward with the amendment of our national legislation, in compliance with the directive.

Press release, Ministry of Social Affairs and Health

EK Business Tendency Survey: Business outlooks point to an economic turnaround

According to the Confederation of Finnish Industries’ (EK) July Business Tendency Survey, Finnish businesses’ estimates of the business cycle have improved since the spring but remain poor. Correspondingly, the business outlook indicator has risen and is now to close to zero. This indicates a cyclical turnaround, as expectations have historically been a good predictor of the business cycle. The economic outlook will remain weak for a while, however, as the downturn has been difficult.

“The weakness of the Finnish economy should come as no surprise to anyone. For a long time, businesses have seen the economy perform worse than generally forecast. Now, the business outlook is stabilising, which means the economy has bottomed out. We are making slow progress towards a better economy,” says Sami Pakarinen, Director at the Confederation of Finnish Industries.

Production and sales have declined in recent months. However, companies expect growth in the last quarter of the year. Of the main sectors, only construction is expected to see a decline in output span the entire year. Businesses estimate that weak sales performance will lead to a reduction in personnel numbers during the rest of the year.

“Sofar, the service sector has shielded the Finnish economy and employment from major blows. Now it seems that manufacturing is taking on a bigger role. Construction is still down, but falling interest rates are slowly bringing relief to this sector as well,” says Pakarinen.

There is currently only one real obstacle to business growth, and that is insufficient demand. Fifty-two per cent of the responding companies reported poor demand as a barrier to growth. While problems with the availability of skilled labour have continued to ease with the economic downturn, there were some signs that availability is growing worse in construction.

“In the coming months, there may be mixed messages about the economy, which is a sign of a cyclical turnaround. Finland is starting to overcome low confidence and that is good news, as stronger confidence will boost the economy,” Pakarinen says.

EK Business Tendency Survey

The Business Tendency Survey is published four times a year by the Confederation of Finnish Industries (EK). The survey has been carried out regularly since 1966. It is part of the European Commission’s Joint Harmonised EU Programme of Business and Consumer Surveys, which is partially funded by the EU. The survey concerns activity in Finland. In July 2024, the Confederation of Finnish Industries asked businesses to evaluate their business outlook for the second quarter of 2024. A total of 1,081 companies employing about 250,000 people in Finland responded to the survey.

EU Green Deal (carbon border adjustment mechanism)

Published initiative by European Commission. Further information: European Commission.

The Commission will propose a Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) for selected industrial sectors by June 2021 as part of the European Green deal. EK has strong reservation and highlights the need to make a clear assessment of CBAM’s disadvantages and benefits. It is an instrument that is politically very risky, complicated, and costly to implement. The EU already has well-functioning tools against the risk of carbon leakage in the EU Emissions Trading Scheme (EU ETS), like free allocation and indirect compensation. We strongly oppose the Commission’s initial idea of replacing these measures with a CBAM.

Confederation of Finnish Industries EK represents private sector (services and industries), has 24 member associations and 15,300 member companies. We speak for employers of all sizes, from public limited companies to SMEs. Our member companies create jobs and welfare in Finland and are responsible for 2/3 of Finland’s export of goods and 2/3 of Finland’s R&D expenditure.

We appreciate a possibility to deliver views of Finnish businesses regarding a Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism.

Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism – a highly sensitive measure

The Commission will propose a Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) for selected industrial sectors by June 2021 as part of the European Green deal.

EK has strong reservation and highlights the need to make a clear assessment of CBAM’s disadvantages and benefits. It is an instrument that is politically very risky, complicated, and costly to implement and should be considered only in the most extreme cases where other options for finding a common solution have been exhausted. It is utmost important to use sufficiently time to both impact assessment and coming implementation phase to avoid hasty solution.

The EU already has well-functioning tools against the risk of carbon leakage in the EU Emissions Trading Scheme (EU ETS), like free allocation and indirect compensation. We strongly oppose the Commission’s initial idea of replacing these measures with a CBAM.

CBAM’s are politically risky, complicated, and costly to implement

EK supports 55% GHG emissions reduction target for 2030 and climate neutrality target for 2050 in the EU. We see that the EU ETS is an effective tool to reduce GHG emissions in energy production and industry and it must remain as a main instrument for these sectors.

Carbon pricing continues to gain traction globally as a cost-efficient tool for emissions reductions. However, progress is too slow in Europe’s main trading partners making the risk of carbon leakage a reality. We support Commission’s efforts to assess different options to minimize the risk on carbon leakage. At the same time, the current and mostly well-functioning measures like free allocation and indirect compensation in the EU ETS need to be continued and not be replaced by a CBAM. Uncertainty about the level of these ETS carbon leakage measures in the future is detrimental to investment decisions among ETS companies.

Before the EU should move ahead with a CBAM, there needs to be a comprehensive impact assessment. A detailed analysis should include the practical feasibility, legal aspects, impact on the ETS and downstream sectors, as well as risk of retaliation. The functionality and compatibility with the EU ETS need to be carefully assessed to avoid any disruption, especially in the options in which ETS allowances would be used as a CBAM for import goods. If the impact assessment shows that a CBAM is not a good tool to prevent carbon leakage or mitigate climate change, the EU needs to adapt its plans accordingly.

Designing of a CBAM will be politically challenging and subject to many uncertainties. It is currently extremely difficult to determine the carbon footprint of different products limiting the possibilities of a CBAM.

CBAM would also entail additional costs that could hamper the competitiveness of the EU export industry. What is more, the carbon border adjustment would not benefit EU companies operating in third markets.

Major trade policy risks are also associated with the carbon border adjustment mechanism. The unilateral introduction of a new CBAM tool would most likely lead to retaliatory measures especially from the EU’s biggest trade partners. It is also uncertain whether it is possible to find a CBAM, which would be compatible with WTO rules making the risk of countermeasures by our trading partner even greater. If the EU decides to move with measures that would be clearly against the WTO rules, it would be another major hit for multilateral rules-based trading system.

Companies’ views on circular economy

Summary: Konecranes, McKinsey, Gaia:

https://youtu.be/v3Zw1wY47GU

Johanna Pirinen, Director Corporate Responsibility, Konecranes:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Orou-UhXwFc&feature=youtu.be

Hanna Kaustia, Consultant, McKinsey:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XVs6scLImmQ&feature=youtu.be

Pasi Rinne, Chairman of Gaia Group:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wJ7edwEBs8U&feature=youtu.be

Helena Kivi-Koskinen, Public Affairs Manager, SSAB:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dLAcA5GVNnE&feature=youtu.be

Pia Tanskanen, Head of Environmental Management, Nokia:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SNDv3IWODGk&feature=youtu.be

 

New report on Finnish pioneers: Take a Leap into Circular Economy

Circular economy plays a key role in providing solutions to global climate change and scarcity of natural resources. It is also considered to be a world-class business opportunity.

In a circular economy, materials are kept in circulation for as long as possible to retain their value and reduce their harmful impact on the environment. No waste is generated in the circular economy vision because one company’s surplus materials are raw materials for others and products are designed to be reused. In a circular economy, value creation is also increasingly immaterial: products are replaced by services and goods and resources are shared rather than owned.

Many Finnish companies are making headway in the circular economy. This became evident when EK interviewed over 20 companies from large industrial companies to small start-ups that are looking for growth in the circular economy.

The goal was to find out how companies understand the rising trends of the circular economy and seize the opportunities it offers. Based on our extensive research, we identified four areas in which companies can seek substantial growth:

1. Make use of material flows across sectors
2. Create new value with design and branding
3. Expand from products to services
4. Generate new types of growth with platforms

Within each area there are several inspiring companies that create new growth together. In this publication, we take a closer look at these opportunities and show how Finnish companies are already closely engaged in the circular economy business.

Read the full report here: digital publication or PDF (4 Mb).

European Parliament’s support for Small and Medium Sized Enterprises is welcomed and important

European Parliament’s recent adoption of the State of the SME Union is timely and important. Small and Medium Sized Enterprises (SMEs) are the backbone of our economy representing as much as 99% of all businesses in the EU, employing around 100 million people and creating wealth and wellbeing. At the same time, they continue to face challenges when it comes to access to finance, adopting digitalisation, financial struggles due to late payments, scaling business within the internal market and access to skilled workforce among others.

It is necessary to reduce administrative burdens for companies. We need to avoid the cumulative effect of legislation and the increase of reporting obligations such as environmental, social and governance reporting. European Commission has promised to simplify reporting requirements by reducing the obligations by 25%. SMEs look forward to seeing this in practice.

The competitiveness check introduced by the Commission when preparing for new legislation is welcomed. The impact assessments of legislative proposals should always be properly done mapping out the legislation’s impacts on cost and price competitiveness, international competitiveness and indeed on SME’s competitiveness.

Regarding the upcoming revision of the Late Payments Directive, it is necessary to improve payment behaviour in Europe and to enforce the rights of SMEs. The current directive’s implementation and enforcement differs among Member States and industry sectors and has resulted SMEs going bankrupt waiting for their invoices to be paid. This is not acceptable. However, preserving the freedom of contracts and flexibility especially in B2B relations and benefiting all parties, must be ensured.

Many SMEs report the shortages of skilled workforce as one of their major challenges. Europe is already facing shortages of skilled labour, also due to demographic change. To succeed in the twin transition of greening and digitalisation and simply running a business, a workforce with the relevant skills is essential enabling companies to expand. It is indeed necessary to upskill and reskill people as well as simplify the recruitment of skilled non-EU nationals for SMEs.

Only 17% of SMEs have integrated digital technology into their businesses. This is regrettable as digitalisation has a profound impact on the competitiveness of the EU economy, boosting efficiency and innovation. Digital technologies adoption and integration across the economy will be vital to the overall competitiveness and productivity. SMEs should be supported in every way to manage it.

Finally, continuous efforts are needed to ensure the further deepening of the single market. Both practical and regulatory barriers still exist making it especially difficult for SMEs to operate across the member states’ borders. Lack of harmonization and varying implementation of rules remains a challenge. More integrated implementation and unification of EU regulations is needed.

As the backbone of European economy and significant employers and wealth creators, SMEs continue to take risks to improve their businesses, invest, open new export markets, and thus seize growth opportunities even in challenging times. This must be applauded and supported.

STM’s proposal on border security legislation is problematic and places Finland at odds with the rest of the EU

In their press conference 2nd of June 2021, the cities of Helsinki, Vantaa and Espoo, along with Finavia and Finnair, pointed out issues with the Communicable Diseases Act amendments drafted by the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health (STM). The Confederation of Finnish Industries (EK) and the Central Organisation of Finnish Trade Unions (SAK) were also present to highlight the impacts that the decisions at hand will have on employment and the economy.

It is the joint view of the parties involved that Finland cannot go against the general consensus of the EU and deviate from the goals and spirit of the EU’s green certificate by demanding additional testing and voluntary quarantine from those arriving in the country with a test certificate. Finland must align itself with general European policies to enable health-secure travel instead of making it more difficult. Finland cannot afford to turn inwards.

STM’s proposal entirely neglects free travel from countries where the pandemic situation is good and the incidence value is lower than 75, to which all Member States are committed with regard to free travel across the external borders of the EU. As vaccination coverage increases, we can expect more and more countries to be accepted into this category over the course of the summer. Many EU countries are about to open up travel arrangements with countries where the pandemic situation is good while deploying a variety of tools to thwart the latest virus variants, for example.

Practical problems at the border and negative impacts on Finland’s image

The proposed operating model also causes concrete problems at the borders as the health certificates are not checked in the country of departure and must, instead, be presented by request on arrival. This will cause bottlenecks at airports and harbours, and place an unreasonable burden on cities’ health care resources.

“The model planned by the Government cannot be practicably implemented at border control points. Without electronic advance registration, it is extremely complicated to find out who the arrivals in the country are or how to contact them afterwards,” says Mayor of Helsinki Jan Vapaavuori.

“The proposal does not take into account the view of the parties responsible for health security at the borders,” states Mayor of Vantaa Ritva Viljanen.

“Leaving it to the staff of the hospital district or communicable diseases authority to check the certificates at the airport would take too many health care professionals.”

Kimmo Mäki, CEO of Finnish airport company Finavia, reminds that Helsinki Airport is an integral part of Finland’s image from the perspective of other countries.

“Health checks at airports increase the risk of spreading the disease, cause congestion, deteriorate the customer experience and impact the impression travellers have of Finland and how well things run in our country,” Mäki says.

“In addition to combating the coronavirus pandemic, we must ensure that Finland can restore economic growth after the crisis. In terms of international competitiveness, it is important that we adhere to the same international safety practices as other nations in terms of entry into the country and travel in general,” says Mayor of Espoo Jukka Mäkelä.

A more feasible option would be to require airlines to check COVID-19 certificates in the country of departure before boarding, which is the policy in other EU countries. This improves health security and makes the entire process more straightforward for travellers.

Travel decisions have significant impacts on employment and the economy

Finnair CEO Topi Manner is concerned about the long-term effects that Finland refusing to permit the entry of foreign travellers in the same way as other EU Member States may have on fields that are dependent on air traffic and travel.

“The quarantine recommendation places passengers in an unequal position. In practice, it prevents unvaccinated persons from travelling and makes travel more difficult for families with children, for example,” says Manner.

“It will be worrisome if the Finnish tourism and air travel industries do not have the opportunity to recover at the same rate as the rest of Europe. This will have direct impacts on employment – at Finnair alone, 3,000 people are currently temporarily laid off.”

The majority of tourism businesses, restaurants and hotels have been forced to lay off their personnel. Tourists from abroad are also important to restaurants, hotels and retailers throughout Finland.

Finland falling behind the rest of the EU in health-secure travel arrangements would hamper the recovery of sectors that have suffered from the pandemic and hold back economic development.

“SAK represents a wide range of people who work, either directly or indirectly, in logistics, the restaurant and accommodation sector, and the culture and events industry. Some have been on lay-off or out of a job for more than a year, which means that they are now among the long-term unemployed,” says SAK Chairman Jarkko Eloranta.

“We need to keep pace with the rest of Europe in lifting the restrictions to get people back to work and prevent the economic, social and health-related detriments caused by unemployment.”

“Finland is at risk of being left on the sidelines as other EU countries accelerate towards burgeoning economic growth. We need to right our course and join the ranks of EU countries in terms of travel practices,” says EK CEO Jyri Häkämies.

EK blog: Do we need Sustainable Development programs?

The European Commission is preparing the next steps for the sustainable European future beyond 2020. The initiative is connected to the review of the Europe 2020 strategy, as well as to the implementation of the global Sustainable Development Goals launched by the United Nations.

In this context, I would like to share my views on some of the most fundamental aspects of this challenging and fascinating topic.

3 interdependent dimensions of sustainability

First of all, it is crucial for the decision-makers to consider economic, social and environmental aspects as inseparable and interdependent components of sustainability.

The connections between these three are in principle very logical: Economic activity generates work and revenues for the society, hereby creating ground for social sustainability, while environmental elements act as a driver for renewed growth.

Secondly, sustainability is a way of thinking – it is a mindset. It calls for taking all the three dimensions into account whenever, wherever and whatever decisions are being made.

The Commission, too, emphasizes an integrated approach in materialising sustainable development. In practice, however, it is often given a restricted meaning and role. In the Commission’s program, for instance, sustainability is introduced as one item among others. And if you look at the website, you find Sustainable Development as a part of Environmental Policies.

21st century thinking on sustainability

In order to get forward we should overcome certain misinterpretations:

• As far as sustainable deveploment is seen as a separate entity, we are on a wrong track. In that case, there is a risk of missing the true magnitude of sustainability.

• Sustainable development is neither a matter of only certain themes or phenomena, such as circular economy. There are not “sustainable development issues” and “other issues”. Being a way of thinking, sustainability applies to everything.

• Furthermore, if sustainability is considered to be related to less than all the 3 dimensions, it is a torso. In the past, it has been often linked to environmental affairs only. You may also hear fruitless debate on which one is more important: social or environmental sustainability? The economic dimension again is easily ignored even though its role is most crucial.

To conclude, my answer to the question of the title is the following: Now at the latest – after the 25 years’ path of sustainable development processes – we should be approaching the ideal situation where explicit sustainable development programs are no longer needed.

Instead, every program by every institution and organisation should be a sustainable development program as such. This is the approach which many companies have already adopted or are actively striving for. I hope this is something the European decision-makers would also consider when preparing their next strategies and programs.