Finland, ranked the world's happiest nation for eight years and traditionally one of the European Union’s most fiscally disciplined countries, has just received a wake-up call from Brussels.
The European Commission, the bloc's executive arm, last week ordered Helsinki to devise a credible plan to resolve the country's budget deficit, which has crossed the EU’s limit of 3% of gross domestic product (GDP).
The Commission said Finland's deficit was projected to reach 4.5% of GDP in 2025, while the country's debt burden was set to hit 90% of GDP next year, up by nearly half since 2019.