Distinguished Deputy Secretary General, Ministers, President, your Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen,

First of all, I would like to express my thanks to GRECO for organizing this conference. The theme of this session is important and highly topical for Finland both for the better and the worse.

The themes selected for the third evaluation round were the transparency of political financing and incriminations. By selecting this theme for evaluation, GRECO showed great courage and its decision underlines the importance of fighting corruption in political decision-making. As a subject of evaluation, the choice of political financing is unique: GRECO is the first international monitoring body to address the issue.

The importance of transparency in political financing cannot be over-emphasized. A democratic society is based on trust - a lack of transparency may, therefore, raise suspicions of misconduct. Even though some may think that political financing is basically a national matter, it has proved to be an issue where the concerns are shared and where we have much to learn from one another.

I believe that GRECO's role in the national debate is great, as Finland's example will show.

Deputy Secretary General, Ladies and Gentlemen,

Traditionally, Finland has scored very high in Transparency International's Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI). Therefore it came as a surprise for many when we in 2008 dropped to fifth in rank from the top position. The drastic drop in the score was considered to result from shortcomings in the transparency of campaign financing and unclarities in political financing in general.

Finland has very little or no corruption in the sense that a judge, a policeman or civil servant could be bought.

This may be one of the reasons why Finland has in the past pursued a policy in which regulation of election financing has been light. The first law concerning the transparency of a candidate's election financing - the Act on the Disclosure of a Candidate's Election Financing - was enacted in 2000. However, except for the past year or two, public debate on political financing has been fairly lame in Finland. Yet election expenditure is relatively high, which increases the need for funding, both among individual candidates and the political parties.

Finland was the first country in which the third evaluation round concerning political financing was carried out. It attracted extensive media coverage and GRECO became well known in Finland as a result of the process.

In December 2007, GRECO gave Finland ten recommendations regarding increased transparency of party funding and greater efficiency in its monitoring, and seven recommendations regarding incriminations.

A lively public debate ensued in Finland during the spring of 2008 concerning candidates' campaign funding. It transpired that some MPs had not disclosed their sources of funding as required by the regulations then in force. The debate on campaign and party funding is still intense.

In spring 2008, the Finnish Ministry of Justice appointed a committee to prepare the reform of campaign and party funding legislation in order to implement the recommendations issued by GRECO.

A new law on candidates' election funding was enacted in spring 2009, containing far stricter provisions than the previous piece of legislation. For one thing, the threshold of donations above which the identity of the donor is to be disclosed, were lowered and supervision was tightened by introducing substantial supervision in addition to the earlier formal control.

As far as party funding and incriminations are concerned, the preparations for a legal reform are still underway. Another committee was appointed in autumn 2008 to prepare the implementation of the recommendations concerning incriminations. The key issue in the legal reform is stricter provisions concerning bribery of members of the Finnish Parliament. Both committees are making good progress with the proposals for legal amendments and proposals are expected before the end of this year.

It may well be said that the 18-month timetable set for the implementation of the recommendations is ambitious. But then, it is the imposition of deadlines that makes GRECO's work dynamic.

It is safe to say, already at this stage, that political financing in Finland has become clearly more transparent. The implementation of GRECO's recommendations has had - and will have - a lasting impact on Finnish political culture.

However, it is clear that all issues cannot be resolved through legislation. We must not think that everything that is not specifically forbidden is permissible. The significance of a political culture and morals cannot be ignored in the efforts to secure the transparency of funding. Of equal importance is that extra caution is taken in decision-making when the interests of the financiers are involved.

Recusal is an option that should possibly be exercised more often. Here, the old rule applies - the judge must not only be impartial but also appear so. For one thing, the debate currently being waged in Finland and the foreseen future developments will certainly see to it that decision-makers will not be - and will not seem to be - too closely tied to parties that have an interest for example in city planning.

The media has played a central part in the debate in Finland. Without the media's active role, many an important point could have been missed.

Deputy Secretary General, Ladies and Gentlemen,

GRECO's unique monitoring system based on peer review is something that we can be truly proud of. Hopefully, GRECO's extensive experience can be drawn upon in monitoring the implementation of the United Nations Convention Against Corruption.

The financing of a wider circle of political actors will be made more transparent in Finland than in the past. Aside from the funding received by political parties and candidates, more information is required on donations given to local party associations or campaign trusts. We will establish a threshold - say 2,000 Euros - for funding that needs to be disclosed in an online register accessible to the public. This will apply not only to political parties but also to associations established for the purpose of raising campaign funding.

At the same time, we will also intensify efforts to recognize structural corruption built into the system. For example, anonymous donations to political parties will be banned. Additionally, measures are being taken by the Ministry of Justice in close co-operation with the Ministry of Interior to improve capabilities for fighting economic and financial crimes.

Deputy Secretary General, Ladies and Gentlemen,

I am happy that I had this opportunity to share Finland's experiences from reforming legislation on political financing. My belief is that GRECO will continue to play a vital role in the debates being conducted in the member states and that it will serve as an important forum for highlighting major issues.