Pemstuslakikomitea 2000

Valtiosäännön kokonaisuudistuksen haasteita ja hahmottelua

Authors

• Martin Scheinin

Abstract

The Finnish Constitution has been a subject for frequent amendments in recent times. Before 1981, single provisions of the 1919 Constitution Act had been amended 16 times and provisions in the 1928 Parliament Act 34 times. Since 1981, 55 articles of the Constitution Act and 129 articles of the Parliament Act have been amended before the various amendments that are pending in Parliament in December 1994. The Constitutional Law Committee of Parliament has proposed »a codification» of Finnish Constitutional Law, through replacing the four separate constitutional texts with one single Constitution. The author discusses the challenges to and possibilities of such a reform. According to the author, the elaboration of »a theory of accountability» is the primary theoretical challenge to a constitutional reform. How to ensure the democratic accountability of constitutional institutions that are not within the scope of parliamentary decision-making or parliamentary accountability? The problem can be analyzed in connection with various forms of international norm-giving, the changing role of courts, »the pulverization» of public administration and the growing independence of monetary policy. According to the author, accountability can be achieved through a proper combination of open and rational reasoning, expertise, statutory objectives, publicity, »customer democracy» and respect for fundamental rights, in regard to each institution or sector. The article ends with a tentative draft for a mandate to a Government Commission entrusted with preparing a proposal on a new Constitution.