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Finnish recession: How will it affect their refugee response?

Thousands of Finns protested on Friday amid government cutbacks. While the country struggles through a recession, Prime Minister Juha Sipila remains focused on the refugee crisis. 

Government cutbacks in Finland led to widespread protests Friday, leaving public transportation halted and ports closed.

After three years of recession, Finnish Prime Minister Juha Sipila鈥檚 government announced plans to revive the economy that included measures Finnish unions deemed 鈥渦nacceptable.鈥�

Holiday cutbacks, reduced housing allowances for pensioners, and reduced overtime and Sunday pay were among the measures taken.

"The Finnish state has contracted debt at a rate of almost a million euros (拢730,000) per hour for seven years, day and night, every day of the week,鈥� Mr. Sipila said in a televised broadcast on Wednesday. 鈥淲e cannot continue like this."

Upwards of 30,000 protesters responded Friday, filling city streets and gathering outside the capital鈥檚 main train station. But in total, representing nearly half of the country鈥檚 5.5 million citizens protested, reported ABC News.

In response, Mr. Sipila tweeted that he would give unions until September 30 to come forward with alternative proposals.

Finland鈥檚 issue stems from an economic downturn that has caused . The unemployment rate in July was 8.4 percent, down from near 12 percent in May, but up from 7 percent last July.

鈥淔inland, once a top performer in the eurozone, has seen its under the effects of its rapidly aging population and declines in key sectors of its economy such as forestry and technology,鈥� reported Agence France-Presse.

The Financial Times also points to the slowdown in Russia and 鈥渁 drastic compared with Sweden and Germany,鈥� as contributing factors to Finland鈥檚 recession.

This crisis is unlike what Finland has seen in the past. 鈥淣ow we have the stability provided by the euro, which gives us a false sense of safety. We shouldn鈥檛 give in to any sense of complacency,鈥� Olli Rehn, Finnish economy minister told the Financial Times.

In light of the Finnish economic news, an equally important question has arisen: will the recession have an impact on Finland鈥檚 response to the refugee crisis?

Baltic officials have been cracking down on migrants with forged documents. Estonian, Latvian, and Lithuanian officials stopped and detained groups of Afghan and Iraqi on Wednesday evening, reported ABC News. The migrants were staying illegally and attempting to enter Finland with fake documents.

Finland has seen 11,000 migrants cross its borders so far this year, up from just 3,600 last year. Most asylum seekers are Iraqi, entering from the north from Sweden. Five hundred migrants were processed on Thursday alone and close to one thousand were expected to enter the country today.

Though Finland remains opposed to mandatory quotas, the government did agree to accept 2,400 refugees, its share of the 120,000 migrant pool.

In a personal gesture early last week, Sipila in central Finland to refugees, even stating a move-in date, the first concrete proposition from a politician, reported the Independent.

"I think our economic situation has become a smaller problem than the challenge from the refugees ... We are monitoring the situation hour by hour," Sipila told a news conference.

In his televised broadcast Wednesday, the prime minister urged Finns to 鈥渢o find humanity鈥� for refugees, 鈥渄espite the economic predicament.鈥�