Sun, 08 Nov, 2015 12:00:39 AM 3-party alliance government survives FTimes-STT-Xinhua Report, Nov 8  Prime Minister Juha Sipilä spoke on the sote reform negotiations at the PM´s official residence in Helsinki on Saturday. Photo Lehtikuva. The ruling Suomen Keskusta (Centre Party) and Kansallinen Kokoomus (National Coalition Party) on Saturday finally reached an understanding on the social and healthcare reforms (Sote), and thus the current coalition government will continue to operate.
After two days of intense discussion, the three-party government found a solution to the long-planned, and the threatened dissolution of the government was finally avoided.
The government decided that there will be 18 autonomous regions in Finland. Among the total, 15 will be responsible for taking care of their own social and healthcare services and the rest will organise the services in cooperation with other regions.
Prime Minister Juha Sipilä on Saturday, however, said that it has not yet been decided which provinces will be without own social and healthcare services.
The Finnish language news consortium Lännen Media reported earlier that Kainuu, central Pohjanmaa and south Savo will remain without their own social and healthcare services.
Sipilä, also chief of the Keskusta, told STT that the number of social and healthcare areas have been finalised but that it’s unknown how or whether provinces are obliged to cooperate with each other.
The prime minister pointed out that these regions are currently among the smallest hospital districts, which have allowed them to be subjects of speculation.
“The areas have not yet been decided,” Sipilä said.
Kokoomus Chairman and Finance Minister Alexander Stubb on Saturday said he is satisfied with the Sote solution. He praised in particular the freedom of choice in the legislation, which allows a patient to choose services from public, private or third-sector providers.
The Kokoomus initially hoped for a smaller number of social and healthcare areas than the Centre party. The intention now is to establish 15 areas. He said if any of the 15 Sote areas cannot bear responsibility, then the number can be reduced.
The Chairman of the Kokoomus and Finance Minister Alexander Stubb said that party council approved the sote reforms on Saturday. Photo Lehtikuva. Earlier, crisis prevailed among the government when the Keskusta and the Kokoomus failed to reach understanding on the number of Sote regions, which threw the government into uncertainty regarding its survival.
Another component of the ruling alliance, the Perussuomalaiset (Finns Party), accepted the reform proposal made by the Keskusta earlier.
The prime minister also said if a common ground could not be found, he would “go to the president” for solution. The expression means that a new government would have to be formed.
The entire arrangement of the reforms will be published on Monday.
At present, these services have been managed by more than 150 municipal-level authorities, so the changes are expected to bring substantial savings to the public finance.
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