On 1 April, the Speaker's Council set up a parliamentary coordination group, whose task is to ensure the flow of information between the various actors during the time when Parliament is considering a government report on changes in the current security environment.
The coordination group is chaired by Speaker Matti Vanhanen and it includes Vice-Speakers as well as party leaders and chairpersons of parliamentary groups elected to Parliament.
The Government is preparing a report for Parliament assessing the changes in the current security environment and their implications for Finland following Russian invasion of Ukraine in February. Once the Government has submitted the report, Parliament will handle the government report in normal order from the referral debate to the committee reading and single reading in a plenary session.
Vanhanen expects that the government report will be sent to the Foreign Affairs Committee for a committee report and that several other parliamentary committees will issue statements to the Foreign Affairs Committee.
Vanhanen told that the schedule for the parliamentary handling of the government report will not limit what the President and the Government do. They can make new concrete proposals to Parliament during the handling of the government report.
Handling of government reports in Parliament
Government reports are submitted by the Government to Parliament dealing with the governance of the country or with international relations. Parliament handles government reports in three phases:
- referral debate in a plenary session after which the matter is sent to a parliamentary committee
- committee reading
- single reading in a plenary session
At the end of the single reading, the plenary session adopts an opinion on the matter. Parliament will then notify the Government of its opinion in a parliamentary communication.
Ministry for Foreign Affairs press release 17 March: The Government prepares new report on changes in the current security environment, led by Minister for Foreign Affairs Haavisto