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Joonas Widlund, Niina Mäntylä, Kristian Siikavirta
The aim of this article is to analyse the traditional role of Municipalities and the reform at the regional level in the Finland. In all the Nordic countries, the role of municipalities is typically very important, and this is the The aim of this article is to analyse the traditional role of Municipalities and the reform at the regional level in the Finland. In all the Nordic countries, the role of municipalities is typically very important, and this is the starting point in the Finnish system as well. However, the role of Regions is changing and now, through health and social services reform, there has been a transfer of the responsibility for organizing health and social services from Municipalities to Regions. The Regions will also be responsible for organizing rescue services. In Finland, in general, access to municipal services, and satisfaction with these services, has been perceived better in a 2020 survey than in previous reviews. However, promoting efficiency in the public sector is not an easy task and the impact of an aging population is forcing the government to restructure the current system, especially in the social and health sector. In this field, access to services has not been completely equal and some geographic and socioeconomic disparities exist. From the viewpoint of the reform, it is important to notice that it has bring new elements on the discussion of participation and democracy. Despite the Constitutional Law Committee stated that the proposed legislation fulfills the constitutional obligations from the viewpoint of democracy and participatory rights, it also wanted to draw attention to the self-government of Regions and its significance for democracy. According to the Committee, the chosen funding model and a strong monitoring role of the state will diminish the power of regional councils. Additionally, the development of voter turnout at the regional level needs to be followed up, since it might be challenging to encourage citizens to participate in decision-making at the regional level. There are also some other challenges in the Finnish system, such as an increasing trend towards privatization and outsourcing
