Published 27 March 2024 at 17.31
Domestic. The government rejects an application from Pajala municipality that the municipal name of Meänkieli – “Pajalan kunta” – should be adopted as a second independent name along with Pajala municipality.
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The government certainly agrees with what Pajala municipality has stated about the importance of “making minorities visible” and considers it “of great importance that they the national minorities' opportunity for influence is strengthened and the historical minority languages, including Meänkieli, are given support so that they are kept alive”.
The Cultural Environment Act states that good place name etiquette must be observed in state and municipal activities. This means, among other things, that names in Swedish, Sami, Finnish and Meänkieli must, as far as possible, be used simultaneously on maps and in signage and other markings in multilingual areas.
However, the government states that no other municipality has more than a municipality name and that it would be a departure from the current order by approving the application.
“Adopting Pajalan kunta as a parallel and independent name alongside Pajala municipality would mean a departure from the current order for municipality names. Such a decision would also require consequential changes in a number of laws and regulations,” writes the government.