The government has abandoned plans to apply the two provisions on emergency power announced earlier on Monday along with the declaration of a state of emergency.
"Sections 106 and 107 of the Emergency Powers Act will not be applied in any way until the conditions for their use have been clarified and the matter has been legally clarified again," prime minister Sanna Marin (SDP) wrote on Twitter on Monday night.
Marin announced at a press conference earlier in the afternoon that Finland was in an emergency due to a worsening coronavirus epidemic. At the same time, the Prime Minister noted that there is no immediate need to adopt emergency powers that restrict the fundamental rights of citizens.
However, the government considered it necessary "partly" apply sections 106 (” Notice of State Administration in Emergencies ”) and Section 107 (” Powers in Emergencies ”) of the Act as soon as the emergency has entered into force.
The departments were to be set up without the government’s approval by Parliament.
However, this is "illegal use"by article (external link in Finnish) published by a jurist Martin Scheinin is Constitution blog (‘Constitutional Log’) website.
"Regulation [for parliamentary approval] has not been adopted, so that the application of sections 106 to 107 of the Emergency Powers Act is illegal and therefore the application of the Emergency Powers Act in its entirety is also illegal," Scheinin wrote.
Marin had said this afternoon that the partitions could be partially deployed "if necessary", but not completely. Therefore, Parliament’s consent is not required.
Chairman of the National Coalition Party Petteri Orpo also demanded that the decision to introduce an emergency law be brought to Parliament.
"The government operates on the basis of a parliamentary mandate. All exceptional powers must be referred to Parliament. This matter needs to be clarified as a matter of urgency," Orpo wrote on Twitter.
Source: The Nordic Page