Members of the Centre Party across Finland are fearing that as a result of the recent proposal initially made by the City of Helsinki to alter the municipal between Helsinki and Sipoo, other provincial centres in Finland will start swallowing the lands of their neighbouring municipalities, according to party secretary Jarmo Korhonen.
The planned border shift has caused a serious conflict within the Centre Party.
Minister of Trade and Industry Mauri Pekkarinen (Centre) has disqualified himself from taking part in the decision on the proposal, saying that he disapproves of such border shifts.
However, the chairman of the party, Prime Minister Matti Vanhanen said already a year ago that he is in favour of the shift. Hence his decision to disqualify himself from the decision-making has caused a good deal of astonishment.
Some people say that the pressure from the field is behind Vanhanen’s move to declare a conflict of interest in the Sipoo question.
"One cannot always please everybody", charges the chair of the Helsinki City Council Rakel Hiltunen (SDP). She feels that these people are just trying to avoid their responsibility.
Deputy Chancellor of Justice Jaakko Jonkka noted that by disqualifying themselves, the ministers also make sure that no conflict of interest that they might have could cause a decision for changes in the border to be overturned by the Supreme Administrative Court.
Until now six ministers of the total of 20 have disqualified themselves from taking part in the decision on the Sipoo border shift.
