Study trip to Kajaani, Finland: Geopolitics (subject 3)

Finland is a parliamentary republic since the change of constitution of 2000.

(Source: goo.gl/o1TFCY)

The executive power:

It is held by the president of the Republic and the government.

The president of the Republic is M. Sauli Niinistö (conservative party), he was elected on February 5th, 2012. The president is elected in the direct universal suffrage for a six-year term, renewable only once. The direct universal suffrage exists since 1906, dates in which the women also received the voting right (they were the first ones to the world to benefit from it). The Finns citizens can vote from 18 years.

Photo of M. Sauli Niinistö

(http://yle.fi/aihe/artikkeli/2012/01/31/miten-minusta-tuli-mina-sauli-niinisto)

He will handle to name the Prime Minister chosen by the parliament.

The current Prime Minister is M.Juha Sipilä (Center).

Photo of M.Juha Sipilä

The prime Minister can pronounce the dissolution of the Parliament and promulgate laws on which he has a right of veto.

The ministers component the current government are:

The Finnish government is also called the government Sipilä (in Finnish: Sipilän hallitus).

This government was formed following the legislative election of April 19th, 2015. It is established and supported by a coalition of the Centre Party (Kesk), the Finns Party (PS) and the National Coalition Party (Kok). Together, they have 124 members of parliament on 200, that is 62 % of the seats of the parliament.

The 4 main political parties are:

The Center Party (in Finnish: Suomen Keskusta, kesk): it is a centrist, social-liberal, liberal and agrarian party. The current Finnish Prime Minister is its president.

The Finns Party or True Finns (in Finnish: Perussuomalaiset, ps): it is a populist and extreme right party. They defend a Eurosceptic line. The chairman of the party is Timo Soini.

The National Coalition Party (in Finnish: Kansallinen Kokoomus, kok): it is a conservative and liberal party. It is ranked center right. Petteri Orpo is the current president of the party.

The Social Democratic Party of Finland (in Finnish: Suomen Sosialidemokraattinen Puolue, SDP): It is a left-wing social-democratic party. It is a member of the European Socialist Party and the Socialist International. Its president is Antti Rinne, Minister of Finance until May 2015.

The legislative power:

It is only held by the parliament also called national diet (Eduskunta in Finnish). It includes 200 members of parliament elected in the proportional representation for a mandate of 4 years. They vote the laws and modify the constitution.

If you want more information about the parliament of Finland: goo.gl/wMgEKz

The last election took place April 19th, 2015 and next election will take place in April, 2019 but it can be made before if the Prime Minister decides to dissolve the parliament.

Picture of the Parliament of Finland. (Source: https://goo.gl/xf5bKI)

The judiciary power:

It is held by the Chancellor of Justice (Oikeuskansleri in Finnish). It ensures the legality of the actions of ministers and functionary, as well as respect for human and civic rights. The Office of the Chancellor of Justice cooperates closely with the Government.

Finland is a member of the EU since 1995 and is part of the Eurozone.

Finland is a member of three organizations authorized to conduct peace operations: the United Nations (1955), the OSCE (1973), and the EU (1995).

On the internal plan, Finland is a country taking advantage of a low criminality and an absence of political conflict and social. The political life is strictly framed and the rights and the liberties are protected there.

The level of corruption is very low in Finland, according to the Corruption perception index 2016 of Transparency International, Finland is 3/175 in terms of corruption with a note of 89/100.

Since the end of the Cold war at the end of the 80s, Finland is under the threat of no conflict with its neighbours.

Finland is a neutral state, it does not thus take a stand during conflicts between nations and possesses good relations with the both parties.

However, since the annexation of Crimea and the occupation of a part of the Ukrainian territory, the army "could be interested " from now on in other borders: those with Finland, but also with Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. Thus, Finland as well as other Scandinavian countries considerably improved their defence policy as well as their alliances.

The Baltic States are members of the NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization), this organization aims at assuring the common defence of the member countries of the outside threats as well as at assuring the stability of Europe. But it is not not the case of Finland.

The Finnish government would like to get closer to a status of full member, but the population is rather against, very too much frightened by the recent developments of the Russian side. Between 60 % and 70 % of the citizens oppose for 20 years the entrance of the country to the NATO. Furthermore, the Russian President did not hesitate to threaten his Finnish neighbor of reprisals if the latter dared to join the international organization during an official visit in Finland, in July, 2016. The Russian military base the closest to the Finnish border is indeed only 60 kilometers of this one… That is why Finland put on a bigger cooperation with the NATO "except membership", in particular by creating an international center of defence against said attacks "hybrids" (that is attacks in a frontal way, official military aggression by a foreign armed force and attacks in a more furtive way, dissimulation of a military presence on a territory by making it be thought of as a humanitarian convoy, for example, as it was the case for Ukraine).

Furthermore, to defend its territory, Finland has an important army and one of the most modern of Europe. In peacetime, a body of 8 000 professional officers and non-commissioned officer pull every year 20 000 male draftees and 400 feminine draftees, putting the bases of a strength of reservists which in wartime counted approximately 230 000 soldiers, for the only ground troops.

Finland as well as Denmark, Iceland, Norway and Sweden is a member of the NORDEFCO (Nordic Defence Cooperation). The purpose of the organization is to strengthen the capacities of defense of member countries by identifying the domains of cooperation and to promote effective solutions.