Political Risk:
Low
Score:
69/100
Defence and Security Policy and Policy Transparency
Q1
100/100
Is there formal provision for effective and independent legislative scrutiny of defence policy?
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Laws on defence and security are enacted in a normal legislative process: 1. Government proposal or a legislative motion is submitted by a Representative.…
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The formal procedures are followed consistently. To confirm that procedures are followed, anyone can read the Parliamentary documents available on the Parliament’s website or…
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The Constitution of Finland, Chpt 3, Section 28: a person holding military office cannot be elected as a Representative (in Parliament); Section 29: a…
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Q2
92/100
Does the country have an identifiable and effective parliamentary defence and security committee (or similar such organisations) to exercise oversight?
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The Constitution of Finland, Chpt 4 states: Section 35: For each electoral term, the Parliament appoints the Grand Committee, the Constitutional Law Committee, the…
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The Committees consists of Parliamentarians (of different Parties) of which some have a long experience with defence related matters while others do not. However,…
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The task of the Defence Committee is to deal with matters concerning conscription, the Defence Forces, legislation concerning exceptional circumstances (unless the matter belongs…
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The Committees meet on the basis of their workload (in general, 2-4 times a week) and issue reports and statements, which are aferwards publicly…
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The Committees operate as long as the Parliament sits – that is, for four years. Committee work on a matter may take days, weeks,…
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The Committees constitute part of the parliamentary work – legislation as well as political, legal, and budgetary oversight. When a matter related to defence…
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Q3
81/100
Is the country’s national defence policy or national security strategy debated and publicly available?
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The Government’s Defence Report is publicly available on the website of the Ministry of Defence. [1] In Finland, defence policy is part of the…
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Discussion on security threats is ongoing, but becomes clearer when any of the national strategies (the Security Strategy for Society, the Government’s Defence Report,…
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No formal public consultation on defence policy has taken place, but a public consultation on Security Strategy for Society occured in 2017. In addition,…
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The documents are publicly available, but often only after being published or when submitted as Government proposals to the Parliament. Sometimes, even if the…
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Q4
42/100
Do defence and security institutions have a policy, or evidence, of openness towards civil society organisations (CSOs) when dealing with issues of corruption?
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There is no formal or informal policy that requires openness towards CSOs in the defence sector. However, such openness is generally expected of all…
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CSOs in general are able to operate openly and without intimidation from the Government, including CSOs working on security and defence related issues and/or…
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Different forms of corruption are considered as a criminal offence and, thus, if suspected, the Police, the disciplinary supervisor of a unit, or the…
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Q5
63/100
Has the country signed up to the following international anti-corruption instruments: UNCAC and the OECD Convention?
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Q6
75/100
Is there evidence of regular, active public debate on issues of defence? If yes, does the government participate in this debate?
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Public discussion on defence matters intensifies, when e.g. the Government’s Defence Report is published, major procurement projects or structural reorgnisations are on the way,…
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The Government attends events more likely than co-organises them. The Ministries have their websites on which information is shared rather widely and the Ministers…
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Q7
25/100
Does the country have an openly stated and effectively implemented anti-corruption policy for the defence sector?
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There is a draft of anticorruption strategy produced by an anticorruption cooperation network operating under the mandate of the Ministry of Justice. The strategy…
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This indicator is marked ‘Not Applicable’. As noted in 7A, there is a draft of anti-corruption strategy produced by an anti-corruption cooperation network operating…
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Q8
75/100
Are there independent, well-resourced, and effective institutions within defence and security tasked with building integrity and countering corruption?
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Act on State Budget, chpt 4, section 24 b: All state agencies and institutions must ensure that compliance arrangements are appropriate in its own…
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According to a written response of the Headquarters of the Defence Forces, anti-corruption activities have not been specifically allocated to any unit in the…
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There is not enough evidence to score this indicator, as no publicly available data that would enable coring was found through research. As such,…
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Q9
NS/100
Does the public trust the institutions of defence and security to tackle the issue of bribery and corruption in their establishments?
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This indicator is not assigned a score in the GDI. There are no specific surveys concerning public trust towards the institutions of defence and…
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Q10
0/100
Are there regular assessments of the areas of greatest corruption risk for ministry and armed forces personnel, and are the findings used as inputs to the anti-corruption policy?
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According to a written response of the Headquarters of the Defence Forces, anti-corruption activities have not been specifically allocated to any unit in the…
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This indicator is scored ‘Not Applicable’, given that there is no evidence that risk assessments are conducted.
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This indicator is scored ‘Not Applicable’, given that there is no evidence that risk assessments are conducted.
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Defence Budgets
Q11
92/100
Does the country have a process for acquisition planning that involves clear oversight, and is it publicly available?
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Justifications for major acquisitions are publicly given in the Government’s Defence Report (around 5 years’ timeframe), which again is streamlined with the Government Report…
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The public has access to information about acquisition planning. For example, the Government’s Defence Report, budget proposals and state budgets and budget amendments, the…
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The Parliament and its Parliamentary Committees are involved in many different stages of the acquisition cycle, starting from the discussion and approval of the…
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Q12
75/100
Is the defence budget transparent, showing key items of expenditure? And it is provided to the legislature in a timely fashion?
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Public information available about defence expenditure in the state budget provides only an aggregated figure for the administrative branch broken down into (in the…
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The Ministry of Defence’s budget suggestion for the following year is provided annually (in May/June) to the Ministry of Finance, which pulls the state…
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Q13
100/100
Is there a legislative committee (or other appropriate body) responsible for defence budget scrutiny and analysis in an effective way?
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The Parliament and the Parliamentary Committees approve and also supervise the defence budget (Parliamentary Defence Committee and Parliamentary Intelligence Oversight Committee) as well as…
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Since there are no off-budget expenses, defence budgets and their amendments need to be accepted by the Parliament, and the report of the respective…
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Q14
42/100
Is the approved defence budget made publicly available? In practice, can citizens, civil society, and the media obtain detailed information on the defence budget?
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The Ministry of Defence’s budget proposals are publicly available. [1] However, those provide information in an aggregated manner, following the rules set out in…
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The defence budget is available to the media and civil society in the aforementioned aggregated format. The budget and its amendments are approved by…
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Citizens, media and civil society can request information from the authorities with or without a reference to the Act on the publicity of authorities…
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Q15
67/100
Are sources of defence income other than from central government allocation (from equipment sales or property disposal, for example) published and scrutinised?
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Income sources other than annual appropriations are disclosed in budget proposals, budgets, and in the final state accounts. These are indicated in a highly…
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Each state agency or institution is obliged by law to organise compliance and internal audit. The financial administration units carry out self-monitoring on top…
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As little detailed information about the non-central government sources of funding is published (only the aggregated revenue figure), there is no public scrutiny over…
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Q16
75/100
Is there an effective internal audit process for defence ministry expenditure (that is, for example, transparent, conducted by appropriately skilled individuals, and subject to parliamentary oversight)?
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Both the MoD and FDF have internal auditors, separated from the line-organisation, as according to the Decree on State Budget, chpt 9, section 70…
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The Defence Forces puts together a public financial statement and a public management report on its activities and use of resources annually. The achievement…
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The National Audit Office has access to all material from the MoD when they do audit; this includes classified material.[1] They also can (and…
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The MoD addresses audit findings, with the best example being the follow-up report published in 2020 of two separate audits; the NAO notes that…
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Q17
88/100
Is there effective and transparent external auditing of military defence expenditure?
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The National Audit Office audits the final accounts of the accounting entities in the Ministry of Defence’s branch of administration, which include the defence…
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The National Audit Office is an independent institution with its own budget that cannot be modified during the budget year e.g. by the Government.…
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Audit reports of the National Audit Office are available on its website and the office also provides information on its upcoming reports. [1] The…
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According to the National Audit Office’s performance inspection reports, e.g. report 18/2017 on the planning and direction of the Defence Forces material acquisition, the…
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Nexus of Defence and National Assets
Q18
100/100
Is there evidence that the country’s defence institutions have controlling or financial interests in businesses associated with the country’s natural resource exploitation and, if so, are these interests publicly stated and subject to scrutiny?
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The Constitution, other legislation and other regulation on both the Defence Forces and the Ministry of Defence clearly define the roles, tasks, mandates, powers,…
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The defence institutions have neither business ownerships nor influence over natural resources exploitation. For example, the operational mines and their ownership are listed on…
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As private individuals, members of the defence establishment may e.g. own shares in corporations. However, the higher the rank and the more important position…
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There is indicator is marked ‘Not Applicable’, as there is no evidence of defence institutions’ interests in controlling or financial interests in businesses associated…
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There is indicator is marked ‘Not Applicable’, as there is no evidence of defence institutions’ interests in controlling or financial interests in businesses associated…
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Organised Crime
Q19
75/100
Is there evidence, for example through media investigations or prosecution reports, of a penetration of organised crime into the defence and security sector? If no, is there evidence that the government is alert and prepared for this risk?
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Q20
100/100
Is there policing to investigate corruption and organised crime within the defence services and is there evidence of the effectiveness of this policing?
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In the national police, there is no unit specialising in crimes within the Defence Forces, but the units that investigate organised crime and corruption…
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The police functions are under the Ministry of Interior and so, by default, is independent from the MoD and FDF in terms of both…
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There is no evidence of undue political influence or its attempts in the investigatory processes. However, the former Commander of the Air Force, Sampo…
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Control of Intelligence Services
Q21
75/100
Are the policies, administration, and budgets of the intelligence services subject to effective and independent oversight?
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The Military Intelligence community is an integrated part of the FDF, and the civilian intelligence community (functionally SUPO) is completely separate and sits under…
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The Parliamentary Intelligence Oversight Committee meets on a weekly basis and has access to classified information, for which reason its documentation is classified by…
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Q22
83/100
Are senior positions within the intelligence services filled on the basis of objective selection criteria, and are appointees subject to investigation of their suitability and prior conduct?
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According to a written response of the Headquarters of the Defence Forces, the filling of positions in the Defence Forces is carried out according…
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In the military, political affiliation is discouraged and participation in party politics forbidden, so for Military intelligence party affiliation or links to governing party…
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The vetting process in terms of candidate selection for a future round is done based on guidance from the Ministry of Finance, and completed…
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Export Controls
Q23
58/100
Does the government have a well-scrutinised process for arms export decisions that aligns with Articles 7.1.iv, 11.5, and 15.6 of the Arms Trade Treaty (ATT)?
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Finland signed the ATT on June 3, 2013 and ratified it on April 2, 2014 [1,2].
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It can be considered that Finland has complied with article 11.5., but failed to do this with regard to articles 7.1.iv and 15.6. The…
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Military equipment exports permissions are granted by the Ministry of Defence and, when the question is evaluated as significant enough to require the approval…
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Lobbying in Defence
The country has not enacted regulation or any kind of general ethical guidance on lobbying. Regulation is based on the general legislative framework, for…
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This indicator is marked ‘Not Applicable’ as there is no legislation regulating lobbying of defence institutions in Finland. The country has not enacted regulation…
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This indicator is marked ‘Not Applicable’ as Finland has no legislation regulating lobbying and no lobbyist registration system. Further, the country has not enacted…
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This indicator is marked ‘Not Applicable’ as there is no legislation regulating lobbying of defence institutions in Finland.
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