Germany and France will on Monday seek to revive the long-delayed EU financial transaction tax by proposing that member states be allowed to use the revenues to reduce their EU budget contributions, a German newspaper reported.

Finland and Russia have signed an agreement to close their northern border crossings to migrants, blocking off the Arctic route into the European Union, Helsinki said on Wednesday.

"Only citizens of Finland, Russia and Belarus... can use the border crossings of Salla and Raja-Jooseppi located in northern Finland," the Finnish government said in a statement.

Volunteer street patrols calling themselves the Soldiers of Odin and claiming to protect locals from asylum seekers walked the streets of several Norwegian towns this weekend, as the group founded in Finland branches out across northern Europe.

Dozens of men, some wearing black bomber jackets emblazoned with the group's Viking helmet logo, gathered on Saturday night in the streets of Stavanger, Drammen and Kristiansand, the group said Monday.

Finland expects to expel around 20,000 of the 32,000 asylum seekers it received in 2015, the country's interior ministry said on Thursday.

"In principle we speak of about two- thirds, meaning approximately 65 percent of the 32,000 will get a negative decision (to their asylum application)," Paivi Nerg, the ministry's administrative director told AFP.

The United Nations voiced alarm on Wednesday over moves by European countries to cut development aid in a bid to free up funds to support the large influx of refugees.

Finland, Norway and Sweden -- traditionally generous aid donors -- are all preparing major cuts in aid to poor countries in budgets now before their parliaments, while Denmark has approved a major decrease in foreign aid.

Finland on Wednesday temporarily froze its decisions on Iraqi and Somali asylum claims, to assess whether more applicants could be sent back home following a surge in arrivals from the two restive countries.

"The Finnish Immigration Service freezes its decision-making on Iraqi and Somali asylum claims for the time being. This is due to the ongoing assessment of the security situation in Iraq and Somalia," the service in charge of handling the applications said in a statement.

As Europe continues to grapple with an unprecedented refugee crisis, Finnish Prime Minister Juha Sipila on Saturday offered to host refugees at his country home.

Speaking on state television the centrist premier said the house, which is situated over 500 kilometers north of the capital Helsinki in the Kempele area, was "not being used much at the moment".

Vandals smashed windows at Finnish Finance Minister Alexander Stubb's private residence in the early hours of Tuesday as he and his family slept, the government said.

"The police are investigating the incident, which involved intruders entering Stubb's premises and breaking windows," the head of government security Jari Ylitalo said in a statement.

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko on Monday accused his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin of wanting to take over the "whole of Europe" and potentially aiming his sights next at Finland and the Baltics.

"Putin wants to go as far as we allow him -- not only Ukraine, but the whole of Europe," Poroshenko said in an interview with French radio station RFI. 

Finnish police said Saturday around 30 people were arrested after violence erupted at a Neo-Nazi march in central Finland.

The small protest by the Finnish Resistance Movement, a national socialist group, was relatively peaceful until some participants began targeting passersby and hindering police work,  police said in a statement.