Experts divided over secrecy policy of Vanhanen government

Civil servants worried about stifling of debate

Matti Vanhanen

print this

Prime Minister Matti Vanhanen (Centre) staunchly defended his policy line on Wednesday. Vanhanen has said that government projects should be kept out of the public eye while they are still under preparation.
      "I do not represent the kind of management style in which ministers would engage in political arguments in public columns; the negotiations are held within the government", he said.
      In Tuesday's edition of the Tampere-based newspaper Aamulehti, a number of legal experts criticised Vanhanen's view according to which a proposal for the elimination of free day care for low income families should not have been made public. According to the professors, the law requires that officials speak publicly about matters that are incomplete.
     
"I have followed exactly the same policy line for four years. I do not believe that anyone will claim that I would have acted somehow in violation of legislation on public disclosure", Vanhanen said.
      In his view, the professors have possibly not understood that the secrecy line primarily involves the the government's own internal rules. "I understand that many would be interested in seeing what kind of a cockfight is going on, but it would not promote consistent management in the government."
      Vanhanen's arguments do not convince Teuvo Pohjalainen, Professor of Law at the University of Joensuu, who emphasises that the law and its spirit should be observed.
      In Pohjalainen's view, watching internal government cockfights has nothing to do with the public's right to know what plans the government has in important political questions.
     
Minister of Labour Chief of Staff Markku Wallin notes that open debate is an important part of the work of government ministries.
      "Ministries have an absolute responsibility on the quality of the preparation of legislation. It is often linked with the need to be able to debate the matter in public as well", Wallin says.
      In his view there should be a rule that a civil servant has the right to talk about matters that he or she considers important. Wallin feels that the present situation gives cause for concern, as far as openness is concerned.
     
Supporting Vanhanen's point of view on public access to information is Markku Temmes, professor of Public Administration at the University of Helsinki.
      Professor Temmes feels that activities of state administration have become more open in the long term. As examples, he mentions the secrecy in which state budgets used to be prepared. The secrecy policy was maintained into the 1980s.
      "Since then, it has been opened a little, and the systems have changed quite a bit. The budgets at that time had a huge amount of details, and their preparation would not have worked if they had been spread out in public in advance."
      According to Temmes, ministers preparing the issues need to make independent decisions on whether or not to give out public information on matters that are incomplete. He feels that civil servants should respect the wishes of the ministers in the matter.


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Minister Katainen: Free day care will be kept up for certain groups (29.5.2007)
  Government proposal to encourage home care for children raises storm (25.5.2007)

Helsingin Sanomat