Helsingin Sanomat calls on Finland's politicians to show grit and determination in their decision-making to lift the country out of these harsh economic times.Is Finland's government showing enough sisu in its decision-making? Image: Silja Viitala / YleRonan Browne9:11Finland is facing some tough economic times.The country's unemployment rate is currently the worst in the EU, bankruptcies are at a 30-year high and consumer confidence has hit an all-time low.So what should Finnish policymakers do to get the country back on the right economic track?In an editorial, Helsingin Sanomat writes that there are lessons to be learned from countries with similar-sized economies — such as Ireland and New Zealand — but the newspaper ultimately argues that Finland should learn from… Finland.Ireland, for example, attracted big tech companies with a low corporate tax rate, HS notes, but "the problem is that Finland cannot directly replicate other countries' actions".Instead, there are lessons from Finland's own history on how to claw the country out of economic turmoil. HS cites the example of Prime Minister Esko Aho (Cen), who led Finland during the deep recession of the early 1990s.While many Finns of a certain age shudder as they recall his tenure of harsh austerity measures, ultimately the policies worked as the Finnish economy eventually recovered, before booming as Nokia went from strength to strength.Esko Aho was Finland's prime minister from 1991 to 1995. Image: Pekka Sipilä / YleAho's government's measures required grit and determination — and there is a word in Finnish for that: sisu — as well as the courage to carry out policies that they knew would be unpopular with voters. HS wonders if Finland's current crop of politicians can put aside "political opportunism" in the interests of the country."In the drone age, citizens are required to have resilience, persistence, and inflexibility. The same must be demanded of politicians," HS concludes.Freeing the logjamEconomic recovery is also on the agenda in Tampere, where local newspaper Aamulehti reports that the city board is set to debate a comprehensive employment package aimed at reducing long-term unemployment.There were over 21,000 jobseekers in the city during the month of March, of whom 8,200 were considered long-term unemployed, and last year the city paid nearly 50 million euros in unemployment benefit contributions — 10 million euros more than had been budgeted for.There is now a big push in Tampere to get long-term unemployed people in particular back into the workforce. Among a host of other measures, the city is planning to obligate its own group companies to ensure that 2-3 percent of their staff would be people who have been unemployed for over 400 days.The results are difficult to predict, Aamulehti writes, and any benefits will be slow burners — with the situation not expected to improve until at least 2028, in the best case scenario.But the employment problems in Tampere are reflected everywhere else in the country, and new ways of tackling them are welcome.Yle News recently reported on an innovative pilot project in Tampere that aims to get highly educated, long-term unemployed people back into the workforce.An icy exchangeFinland have now played six, won six in the men's ice hockey world championship finals following Sunday evening's 5-2 victory over Austria.While Monday's papers are generally pleased with another victory for the Lions, one of the most-read articles on tabloid Iltalehti's pages involves a frosty English-language interview between an IL reporter and Austria captain Peter Schneider.Mikael Granlund scores Finland's first goal in the 5-2 win against Austria on Sunday evening. Image: IMAGO/Beautiful Sports International/ All Over PressThe interview doesn't get off to a great start, with Schneider clearly annoyed by the first question about the 5-2 defeat not being the result he would have wanted."I don't know what result you were expecting," he replies. "We're playing 15 NHL guys. It's kinda delusional to think we're going to win the game."The atmosphere then turns from icy to subzero when Schneider is asked why his team warmed up in the media zone before the game."What kind of questions are these, honestly," he says. "This seems like a pretty hostile interview. Are you trying to rattle us?"Finland faces hosts Switzerland in the final group stage game on Tuesday, before the knock-out phase begins on Thursday.