There is a new round in the history of a legislative initiative to restrict the right to purchase real estate in Finland for non-EU and EEA residents.
Recall that in December 2013 a group of MPs of the Finnish Parliament, headed by the deputy of the Social Democratic Party Suna Kyumyalyaynen took the initiative to limit the purchase of real estate to non-residents of the EU, including citizens of the Russian Federation as follows: the non-resident has to live in Finland for 5 years, and only after that period he will be able to buy a property. One of the reasons for her proposal, Mrs. Kyumyalyaynen called that, upon her opinion, the transaction, committed by Russian buyers are signs of money laundering, and the prices for suburban property in Finland grow, so simple Finns have no longer the opportunity to buy a cottage in their own country.
However, she always said that the initiative is not directed against Russia, but only seeks reciprocity in the field of real estate transactions: a few years ago, Russia has unilaterally banned the purchase of real estate by foreigners in the border areas, including the former Finnish territory on the Karelian Isthmus and north Ladoga area, except for the former Finnish Käkisalmi (Priozersk).
Originally the initiative was supported by 101 deputies out of 200, some of them later withdrew their signatures (it remained only 90 signatures), calling the project harmful to the Finnish economy. Legislative Committee of the Finnish Parliament has suspended its consideration of the law "because of the heavy workload and lack of support of deputies". In 2014 the initiative was rejected in the Parliament of Finland.
All this has not stopped the deputy Kyumyalyaynen, and she took again the initiative, this time trying to receive the support of the Finnish society: for the consideration by Parliament of the civil initiative need to dial fifty thousand signatures.
The collection, which was expected to be finished in two months, scored only 10 thousand signatures. This certainly disappointed Mrs. Kyumyalyaynen, but she sees the reason for the failure is that the collection of signatures coincided with the parliamentary election campaign. Before the end of the action is just over a month, but the missing voices can hardly be collected during this time.
Note: According ee24.com with reference to the Finnish news service Yle, Russian buyers each year make from 400 to 500 real estate transactions in Finland, most of them - in the South-East and East Finland. For example, in Ruokolahti about a third of transactions is performed with the participation of Russian capital.
According to the materials of Yle.fi
Photocredit Shutterstock.com and fi.wikipedia.org
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