The government aims to lift municipalities' obligations to promote integration

According to the 2026 budget proposal, Prime Minister Petteri Orpo's government aims to remove municipalities' legislative obligations in tasks that promote integration. The budget proposal also presents other measures to promote integration.

The removal of municipalities' obligations will begin in 2027 in a way that does not weaken language training, early childhood education or teaching services, or services that promote employment. The legislative changes related to municipalities' tasks would enter into force on 1 January 2027 and the budget cut for them would be EUR 30 million.

The government's goal is to assess the basics of the integration training curriculum so that it is possible to flexibly combine integration training with work or entrepreneurship. In addition, the goal is to enable full-time or part-time work alongside integration training, and to ensure smooth working life paths for immigrants.

The budget also proposes directing quota refugees to bilingual municipalities. This would aim to contribute to the government's goal of 5–10% of refugees moving to Finland choosing Swedish as their integration language. At the same time, the possibility of creating a coordinated model (including reception, employment, education and municipal cooperation) to promote integration would be investigated. The goal would be to gradually develop the activities into a bilingual integration and reception competence center, which would support integration in the Swedish language and the achievement of the government's goal.

Efforts to strengthen language learning conditions for children who have immigrated to the country

According to the budget proposal, the government will investigate supporting the language development of children who have immigrated to the country and the possibility of implementing an assessment of the Finnish or Swedish language development of 3-4 year old children with an immigrant background as part of the child health clinic system. At the same time, the aim is to investigate whether the child could be guided more closely to early childhood education or various services based on the assessment. The aim is to strengthen language learning conditions at an early stage. 

With regard to international students, the government intends to assess the challenges related to the livelihood of students from third countries and their family members, abuse of the permit system and possible security threats, and the needs to respond to them. Based on the study, the ministerial working group aims to outline measures that would be implemented on a rapid schedule.

Further information:

Press Release 2.9.2025: Orpo Government: Government’s decisions support emerging economic growth