Finland’s Centre Party has proposed a restructuring of public administration that would end the current ministry structure, transfer state powers to municipalities and regions and expand the role of wellbeing services counties.
The opposition party presented its “local model” on Tuesday. Under the plan, Finland would have three elected levels of government: municipalities, regions and the state. The party wants to remove or combine administrative bodies operating between those levels.
Centre Party leader Antti Kaikkonen said the proposal aims to move decision-making away from ministries and central government agencies in Helsinki.
“Our public administration needs to be made lighter, bureaucracy reduced, and more decision-making power transferred closer to people and regions,” Kaikkonen told reporters.
The party would abolish Finland’s ministries in their current form and reorganise their functions under the prime minister, drawing on Sweden’s administrative structure. Responsibilities would shift between departments according to government priorities.
Centre MPs Petri Honkonen and Mika Riipi, who worked on the proposal, said the party would also review Finland’s central government agencies and transfer some of their responsibilities to regional authorities.
The plan would reshape the wellbeing services counties created through Finland’s social and healthcare reform. Rather than ending regional administration altogether, the Centre Party wants most counties to develop into broader self-governing regions.
These regions would retain responsibility for health and social services while taking on duties now handled by regional councils and economic development bodies. Riipi said that the party was “not dismantling” the wellbeing services counties but moving towards regions with wider self-government.
The Centre Party does not propose giving the regions their own taxing powers.
Municipalities would receive greater freedom over local services and cooperation. They would decide whether to work with neighbouring municipalities or merge with them. The party opposes compulsory municipal mergers but supports financial incentives for voluntary mergers.
Riipi also proposed expanding municipal tax bases, including changes involving property taxation.
Some regulatory powers would move from the state to regions. The proposal would require constitutional changes to give regional authorities powers to issue regulations in specified areas, including some environmental matters.
The party estimates that restructuring central administration would save at least €500 million. Honkonen and Riipi said further savings would come from the use of artificial intelligence and the removal of overlapping functions.
Kaikkonen wants the next government programme to include commitments to the reform. He has said implementation would start during the next parliamentary term, although the full restructuring would take longer.
HT