EY-jäsenyyden vaikutus Suomen valtiollisten laitosten keskinäisiin toimivaltasuhteisiin

Kirjoittajat

• Jaakko Nousiainen

Abstrakti

The article endeavours to assess the impact of prospective Finnish EC membership on the position and relationships between central public institutions, Parliament, the Cabinet, and the President of the Republic. As far as the position of Parliament is concerned, the prevailing division of labour may be further sharpened to the point where the Government appears as the »prime mover», the role of parliament being restricted to supervision and, afterwards, control. Institutional means must be found to guarantee Parliament some influence in the preparation of Community legislation. The greatest problem is, however, how to reconcile the country's president-centred foreign policy and cabinet-centred domestic policies, as the border line between these two sectors will largely disappear. In a technical sense, a host of traditional domestic matters — economic, social and cultural — will change in the international decision-making system to foreign policy issues and will be transferred to the president's jurisdiction. Who will be the highest Finnish representative in the European Council, the President or the Prime Minister? The establishment of a smooth working relationship between them probably presupposes a formal reform of the Constitution.