Finland's four main opposition parties – the Finns Party, National Coalition Party (NCP), Christian Democrats and Movement Now – have submitted a request to Parliament for an interpellation debate on the government's planned reforms of healthcare and social services, known as sote.
"[Prime Minister Sanna] Marin's (SDP) government is hastily implementing the sote reform and pushing it through as if the reform itself were more important than the outcome of the administrative turmoil," the chair of the Finns Party's parliamentary group, Ville Tavio said.
Sote refers to long-running attempts by successive governments to reform Finland's social and healthcare services, by handing over responsibility for their provision from Finland's 293 municipalities to 21 regional authorities plus the city of Helsinki.
The government’s proposed model crossed one significant threshold on Friday when the Constitutional Law Committee unanimously stated that there were no significant constitutional obstacles to the adoption of the reform. Previous versions of the reform have become bogged down by constitutional issues, and even led to the collapse of Juha Sipilä's (Cen) government in 2019.
The proposal is now with Parliament's Social Affairs and Health Committee, with a government goal of Parliament approving the reform before summer recess in July.
"Contrary to established practice, the government is pushing for reform in the committees with little regard for the shortcomings raised by the expert opinions. This is therefore an interpellation question," Finns Party MP Arja Juvonen said.
Juvonen also sits on the Social Affairs and Health Committee.
Opposition: Sote model will not improve access to services
The opposition parties charge that the government’s current model does not adequately address the problems of social and healthcare reform, as the proposed bill will not reduce costs or speed up access to treatment.
"We cannot look away as the government pushes forward with a reform that does not bring improvement to the status quo. In addition, the government threatens to scrap the economy and investment capacity of municipalities and cities," NCP deputy chair Anna-Kaisa Ikonen said.
According to Päivi Räsänen, chair of the Christian Democrats' parliamentary group, a reform of the current model is needed, but not one that does not achieve the goals set out.
"Now the Marin model even threatens to break those parts that are currently working well, such as the broad partnership between the public, private and tertiary sectors. The biggest problem is the financing model, which does not bring sustainability to secure future services," Räsänen said.
Movement Now leader Harry Harkimo added that the current proposal will not solve problems with healthcare provision.
"We have a clear shortage of resources, as funding for health services is 30 percent lower than in other Nordic countries. Now the focus is on the wrong things and it will not solve this problem," Harkimo said.