South Karelia well-being region broke the law, top court rules

The Supreme Administrative Court has ruled that South Karelia’s well-being region violated the law by approving a budget and financial plan that failed to cover its deficit within the required timeframe, Yle reports.

The court’s preliminary ruling, issued this week, states that the regional council should not have approved the 2025 budget and the 2025–2028 financial plan, as they contravened legal requirements for deficit coverage. The decision aligns with an earlier ruling by the Eastern Finland Administrative Court, which also deemed the plan unlawful in late 2024.

Two council members, both police officers, left the meeting before the vote, stating they did not want to knowingly break the law. The region had argued it was caught between cutting services—which could violate constitutional rights—or failing to meet legal deficit obligations.

The Supreme Administrative Court clarified that the well-being region law explicitly requires deficits to be covered and leaves no discretion. Compliance with the law would not have conflicted with constitutional rights, the court said.

South Karelia will begin an assessment procedure this autumn after failing to reduce its deficit quickly enough. The Ministry of Finance initiated the process in June.