Government pulls contorversial crisis management bill out of Parliament

Prime Minister and President criticise Constitutional Law Committee's decision

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The government decided on Friday afternoon to pull its controversial bill for a new law on crisis management out of Parliament for new preparation.
      The decision was announced by Prime Minister Matti Vanhanen (Centre) after the Parliament’s Constitutional Law Committee had concluded that the government’s proposed wording violated the constitution. Vanhanen also informed President Tarja Halonen about the decision.
     
The committee felt that the proposal would have unconstitutionally increased the President’s powers.
      Under the government’s proposal, the President would make a final decision on deploying Finnish forces for crisis management missions. The Constitutional Law Committee feels that the decision should be with the government, if missions instituted by the European Union are involved.
      This view is based on the fact that under the Finnish constitution, EU affairs are the province of the government, led by the Prime Minister.
     
Prime Minister Vanhanen took the view that the committee was trying to reduce Presidential powers from the present level. Under present law, the President, as commander-in-chief of the Defence Forces, has authority to make all final decisions on deploying forces for crisis management missions.
      In the Prime Minister’s view, instead of interpreting the constitution, as it is supposed to do, the committee took a political stand that the government could not accept.
      As Vanhanen sees it, the Defence Forces must remain united, and under the authority of the commander-in-chief. The committee, meanwhile, feels that there would be little impact on the position of the President as commander-in-chief, considering that the rapid reaction forces would have a maximum troop strength of 2,000.
     
The bill is to be rewritten soon. According to Prime Minister Vanhanen, the government will try to find a solution that takes committee’s points of view into consideration, while leaving the powers of the President unchanged.
      The new bill must also get the approval of the Constitutional Law Committee, which is unlikely to change its stand in just a few months.
      Vanhanen would not say how the views of the government and the committee might be accommodated. He nevertheless referred to the government’s view, that decision-making is twofold: first the EU is to decide on setting up a mission, and Finland would then make a decision at the national level to take part.
      However, the Constitutional Law Committee rejected this view on Friday, saying that the decision-making process was a single EU matter.
     
Vanhanen would not say anything certain about a timetable. For instance, he did not say if a revised bill would be introduced before or after the Presidential elections in January. On Saturday he said that the Constitutional Law Committee had turned the President "from a commander-in-chief into an aide-de-camp."
      Time is running short. Defence Minister Seppo Kääriäinen (Centre) said that a new model needs to be found by the end of February; a new law replacing present peacekeeping legislation should be in force in time to begin recruiting the rapid deployment forces, whose training begins in July, and who should be ready for action at the beginning of 2007.
     
President Tarja Halonen briefly commented on the situation on a television newscast. She shared Vanhanen’s views on the existing procedure, noting that EU forces have deployed on a couple of occasions through Parliamentary decisions, without any conflicts.
     
In the political aftermath of the move, Social Democratic Party Chairman, Minister of Finance Eero Heinäluoma, accused the Constitutional Law Committee of playing politics, and trying to change the Finnish constitution on its own.
      Heinäluoma said on Sunday that the committee’s view of the bill on the crisis management forces would split the Defence Forces into two - into those of the government, and those of the President.
      He emphasised that the bill was prepared exceptionally carefully, also from the constitutional point of view, and that the aim was to respect the balance of power of the present branches of government.
     
Sauli Niinistö, the Presidential candidate of the National Coalition Party, said on Sunday that he supported the government’s proposal, and was surprised at the stand taken by the Constitutional Law Committee.
      Green League Presidential candidate Heidi Hautala said that she was surprised at the President Halonen and Prime Minister Vanhanen lacked faith in the constitution, whose implementation is determined by the Constitutional Law Committee.
      She said that Vanhanen’s decision to withdraw the bill from Parliament stopped a Parliamentary decision-making process that had been proceeding well.


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Dispute on new crisis mangement law escalates in Parliament (25.11.2005)
  New wording for crisis management authorisation (21.11.2005)

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