Government evening session discussed Declaration of the Children’s Will and ways to improve local government finances

At its evening session on 27 November, the Government was presented with a summary of the matters dealt with at the children’s session and workshops held a week ago at the Government Palace. The workshops and the session were organised as part of the ‘Children take over the Government’ event. A total of 13 ministers worked with children and young people during the day.

Chancellor of Justice Tuomas Pöysti presented the thoughts and ideas of children and young people and the Declaration of the Children’s Will to the ministers.

At the workshops, four themes stood out:
combating climate change
taking care of the mental health of children and young people
ensuring diverse recreational opportunities for children and young people so that children and young people themselves would get to decide what is needed to achieve this goal
children wish that politics would be based on interaction and listening to one another

In addition, the children's session that convened at the Government Palace decided, for example, that social media-free lessons should be introduced at schools. Children and young people also wished that adults would set them a good example in the world of social media.

Prime Minister Antti Rinne accepted the children's declaration on behalf of the Government.

"I attended one of the workshops myself, the one held in my office that was taken over by children. The day was valuable in many different ways. The messages conveyed by children and young people are important, and we will take them forward in the Government,” Prime Minister Rinne promised.

At the evening session, the Government approved indicators for monitoring the implementation of the Government Programme. The indicators will be published on the Government website, where they can be followed throughout the government term.

In addition, the Government had a detailed and wide-ranging discussion on how to improve the stability and sustainability of local government finances. The Government also defined the main priorities for the forthcoming EU Structural Funds period at the evening session.

Inquiries: Matti Hirvola, Special Adviser to the Prime Minister in Political Affairs, tel. +358 295 160 984,
Päivi Anttikoski, Director of Government Communications, tel. +358 40 536 4821.