Disease control and border lockdown at the EU’s internal borders during Covid-19 pandemic: the case of Finland

Abstract

The article discusses the lockdown of the EU’s internal borders during the Covid-19 pandemic in Finland. Special attention is paid to bordering as a means of disease control and the governments’ aim to “protect the population and secure functions of society”. Not only did the government restrict flights and ‘non-essential’ travel from non-Schengen countries such as Russia, China and Thailand but, with some exceptions, it also restricted travel-to-work commuting and everyday cross-border encounters between Finland and its Schengen neighbours of Sweden, Norway and Estonia. The restrictions hampered tourism and migrant-dependent industries as well as complicated the lives of migrants’ families. While the lockdown of the Estonian and Russian border does not cause any debates in Finnish society, the closure of the Finnish-Swedish border that has been completely open since the 1950s and the new regime led to a debate of citizens’ constitutional rights and to civil disobedience that materialised in semi-legal border crossings.