East and North Finland EU Office

The East and North Finland EU office represents the interest of the regions of Central Ostrobothnia, Kainuu, Lapland, North Karelia, Northern Ostrobothnia, Pohjois-Savo and South Savo in Brussels. In close collaboration with the regional councils the Brussels office aims to improve the competitiveness and conditions of the businesses throughout the East and North of Finland.

The Brussels office closely follows the developments in EU policies relevant to East and North Finland and aims to influence them. Focus areas are regional policy, research, development and innovation policies, transport and energypolicies, external relations, demographic challenges, industrial policies and international co-operation between the regions.

EU interest representation and promotion of the regions

The aim of the East and North Finland EU office is to follow up relevant EU policies and legislative developments and influence them according to the needs of East and North Finland. Our aim is to increase awareness within the EU institutions and other relevant stakeholders of the special conditions in East and North of Finland and promote the special knowledge and knowhow of these regions. The team establishes and maintains close collaboration with the representatives of the different EU institutions and represents the interests of the regions via Brussels based networks of collaboration. The office informs representatives of the EU institutions and other stakeholder groups of good practices and projects and increases the awareness of the regions at EU level via meetings and events. We also keep stakeholders in the regions informed about EU legislation in preparation and their impact. On the other hand, we inform the representatives of the EU institutions about the impactoflegislation in preparation for the regions and their businesses.

EU project capacity building

The East and North Finland EU office increases the capacity of the actors of the regions to participate and succeed in EU projects through the provision of tailor made information and training services, as well well as through supporting networking amongst international organisations. Our team helps find suitable partners for EU projects and offers its premises for the organisation of partner meetings.

Information services

The East and North Finland EU office provides custom made, topical information on the EU programmes and policies for the relevant stakeholders in the eastern and northern regions of Finland. The information provided is of current interest and the aim is to work in close collaboration with the relevant actors in the regions. With the target of increasing the knowledge of the actors in the regions about the variety of EU´s funding programmes and how to best benefit from them, we organise trainings in Brussels and in East and North of Finland.