The Finnish Constitutional Doctrine on Regional Self-Government

Abstract

This chapter examines the development of regional self-government in Finland from the perspective of the constitutional legal doctrine. The focus is on the recently implemented healthcare and social welfare reform, as it signified constructing a novel self-governing regional administrative level. The fundamental provision of regional self-governance is Section 121(4) of the Constitution of Finland, according to which provisions on self-government in administrative areas larger than a municipality are laid down by an act. This provision has provided an unclear basis for the development of regional self-government. Its application, especially in connection to healthcare and social welfare reform, has clarified the constitutional doctrine on regional self-governance. In particular, the Constitutional Law Committee of Parliament has drawn up guidelines on the principles of regional self-governance. On these bases, the scholarly doctrine views a self-governing regional unit as a democratic entity of its own kind under public law, with its own tasks, institutions and finances. This study calls for the constitutional provision on regional self-governance to be amended to correspond with the content and precision of the section on municipal self-governance. This would form a solid constitutional basis for the future development of Finnish regional self-governance.