Finland has emerged as the eurozone’s worst performing economy after contracting 0.6% in the third quarter. The union has been stagnant for the last three years. It’s economic problems are mainly due to a collapse in trade with Russia, highly uncompetitive labor costs and the decline of its successful Nokia. Like Greece, the country is grappling with chronic ageing – not ot mention the fact that it (not Greece) has the highest rates of government spending.

Former Finnish PM Alexander Stubb may have taken a holier-than-thou approach to Greece in talks with the European Commission at the start of summer, but he has swept his own country’s problems under the carpet with the European Commission estimating that it will only manage 0.7% growth next year – worse only to Greece.

Helskinki’s conservative alliance that rose to power in recent elections is led by Prime Minister Juha Sipilä.He has vowed to embark on a bold austerity blitz to slash government spending and carry out structural reforms.