Joint authorities

There is more and more cooperation between municipalities in both the provision of basic services and regional development. Inter-municipal cooperation is often the most appropriate and economically sound approach to carrying out municipal tasks. The aim is to achieve economic and above all functional benefits so that universal access to high-quality services can be secured.

At the moment, there are 228 regional joint municipal authorities producing services for more than one municipality. Health care and education are by far the most common basic services provided by these organs, even though there is also regional cooperation between municipalities in other basic services.

A joint municipal authority has the general assembly as its highest decision-making body, which provides the member municipalities with a platform for using their decision-making powers. Administration is the responsibility of a board, which is assisted by the required number of officials. Member municipalities are responsible for funding the authority, as laid down in its charter.

The 19 regional councils in Finland are statutory bodies, which are responsible for regional development and supervision of the interests of regional players. The Kainuu Regional Council is an exception as, since 2005, it has been responsible for most of the services in the region, including those that used to come under the regional State administration. Kainuu (together with Åland) is the only region in Finland that has a directly elected regional assembly, and the lessons learned from the experiment will form the basis for developing regional municipal administration elsewhere in Finland.