The impact of EU membership on Finnish constitutional law

Abstract:

The Constitution of Finland reflects a minimalist approach to the regulation of the European Union (EU). Nowhere is membership directly acknowledged, and one also looks in vain for a constitutional provision that permits limitations of sovereignty or the transfer of sovereign powers to international institutions in general, not to speak of the EU in particular. It is only in Chapter 8 that one finds any constitutional provisions touching upon the EU. These provisions are about regulating the domestic distribution of powers in EU affairs (Section 93, subsection 2), as well as the concrete forms through which the participation of Parliament in EU affairs is managed (Sections 96 and 97).