Collaboration of information policy actors from all Finnish parliamentary parties
Digitalisation is a force for change that broadly shapes our society, with implications ranging from the legitimacy of governance and justice, employment, services, public sector sustainability, the environment, competitiveness, skills and fundamental human rights. It thus affects everywhere and changes the behavior of people, business and market dynamics. Information policy is the most potential of the political sectors as we seek solutions to the most vicious challenges facing humanity, and that is why collaboration between political parties is essential. For these reasons, we have set up a parliamentarian collaborative group on information policy in early 2020, with members from all parliamentary parties.
The purpose of the group is to create prepared views on current information policy issues and, at the same time, increase the visibility, understanding, competence and importance of information policy in the parties, as well as jointly in the Finnish field of political debate.
Background
In December 2019, actors from several parliamentary parties familiar with information policy issues came together. It was stated at the meeting that the cross-party discussion on the topic should be continued and the group was supplemented by inviting members from all parties.
The organizing took place in early 2020. It was agreed that the group would be free-form and non-political. The chosen name was the collaborative group of information policy actors from all parliamentary parties, in short, the collaborative group on information policy.
The way of working is an agile dialogue, in which a common vision is sought. All guidelines are approved by all group members, no qualified majority decisions are made and no votes are taken in the collaborative group. The members of the group are each active in their own political party, however, the policies of the group are not the policies of the parties. The policies of the group are openings for discussion, behind which the group members stand with their own names – they may, of course, also form the basis for party positions.
The group tackles topics of interest that come up for discussion both nationally and internationally. The first publication of the group was completed in early April 2020 to open a “non-paper” discussion on the principles of data use in the fight against the corona virus.
The group is also happy to receive ideas and topics from outside political parties, thus seeking to serve as a low-threshold link to the information policy debate for all those who have an idea, be it a company, an individual or an organization.
Principles of the group:
- Parliamentarism: participants from all parliamentary parties
- Transparency: issues within the goal of the group can be talked about openly and freely
- A common agenda: addressing issues that are not politically controversial
- Trust: it is safe for everyone to be part of and talk in the group – we follow the Chatham House rule
- Sharing information: learning together by sharing