EU and the Sub-national Government of Finland: Half-shut Windows of Opportunities

Author begins with a delineation of the Finnish system and thereafter moves on to analyze the dynamics of the system. The main research task is to assess the status of the regional councils in relation to the prevailing organizational structure. Although Finland has during the centuries divided into distinct regions these have not been used as a basis for either political or administrative structure. However, with the EU membership in 1995 the sub-national arena began to change, albeit within the limits of the prevailing organizational structure. The impact of the EU on the Finnish sub-national governance is considerable, but the impact intermingles with a number of domestic factors. Author is concluding that the tradition of sub-national governance in Finland is relatively weak. Therefore, the regions were more cultural entities than politico-administrative actors per se.