04.10.2021
Speech by Matias Ojalehto, President of the the Board of the Regional Regional Assembly 2017-2021, at the Assembly on 4 October 2021
Welcome to the Assembly.
Congratulations on the election success. Most of you will be elected provincial councillors. Twelve and a half years ago I sat as a young representative at a similar meeting and now it's safe to retire when you see new faces in the hall. I don't usually give long opening speeches, but now it's been over a year and a half since I've been able to talk live to a larger group of people.
A lot can happen in four years. That was the case during the previous provincial council, and it will be the case during the next term. We were sure that the new counties and provincial elections would have been held long ago. We were preparing multidisciplinary counties in good speed and with good cooperation across party lines, but suddenly a couple of years ago came to a complete halt.
Now the regional elections are knocking at the door, but the regional councils will continue to operate at least from the foundations that are familiar for the time being. The Regional Council remains responsible for regional development and spatial planning, such as tasks related to EU funding and regional planning.
One of the most important tasks of the region is to act as the voice and guardian of the interests of the municipalities in the region and Northern Finland as a whole in national and EU-level decision-making. We just completed a major advocacy project when Minister of Economic Affairs What Lintilä made his decision regarding the national allocation criteria for structural funds. You cannot be completely satisfied with the outcome, even if you can be in absolute euros – but we do not lose money, which was a threat floating in the air throughout the process.
The next major effort will be the investment programme for the fairway network. At the moment, it seems disastrous for Northern Finland. In fact, the actual investment programme does not support the Strategic Transport 12 plan in any way. There would be no major investment for us in the next ten years, with the exception of the repair of the Oulu-Kontiomäki railway line. Based on the facts, we would have earned more infrastructure money to the north.
There is a tremendous amount of work to be done to change this, and in this context, it is good to think about a strategy for how interest representation will be handled in the province in the future? Has the world changed so much that only in an extremely powerful and confrontational way can lobbying succeed? Policy making has become more superficial and the content is increasingly changing in the direction things look. In the past, the federation has always strived for very factual justifications and proper working methods, but is there a change of strategy to be made here?
We have recently heard positive news about the utilisation of the Haapavesi bioenergy plant and the Pyhäjärvi mine for energy production and storage. Thanks to Minister Lintilä, we received EUR 65 million in national funding for these projects. In the future, affordable and clean energy will be an even more important part of attracting industrial investment in the region. Northern Ostrobothnia has been built during the century, first with hydropower by harnessing rivers and then with peat. Now we are investing in wind power and perhaps nuclear power will also be available in Pyhäjoki in the near future. Own electricity production plays a crucial role in attracting data centres or hydrogen-based and other energy-intensive sectors to our region.
The third advocacy matter and the next major legislative amendment concerning the province may be the reform of the Land Use and Building Act. In its preparation, it is absolutely necessary to highlight the positive aspects of the provincial plan. Large-scale projects that cross municipal boundaries, such as wind farms, would have been very difficult to implement without the provincial contribution. The best know-how and knowledge of the area is here, not in Helsinki or the Ministry of the Environment. The transfer of decision-making power to the Ministry of the Environment is not in the least in the interest of Northern Finland. That is why it is important that future decision-makers are awake as the preparations progress and keep Northern Finland on the side.
The Regional Council of Northern Ostrobothnia is celebrating its anniversary this year, we are turning round. In honour of the 90th anniversary, we are organizing a variety of celebrations during this autumn, starting with the Oulu regional holidays and culminating in the provincial holidays. Enter the county days already in the calendar! The events are not only focused on Oulu, but also around the region.
We have had one unified North Ostrobothnia party for four years. With a few exceptions, the budgets have also moved forward in unanimity and compromises have been found on even the most difficult issues. The debate has not been avoided, but there are disputes. The success of the sparsely populated Northern Finland depends on the ability to cooperate. I hope from the bottom of my heart that you will find a common tone across party, municipal and provincial borders.
