Finnish Foreign Minister appoints experienced political state secretary

Teija Tiilikainen

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Finland’s Foreign Minister Ilkka Kanerva (National Coalition) has appointed Teija Tiilikainen, Dr.Pol.Sc., to become his political state secretary. Dr. Tiilikainen confirmed the information to Helsingin Sanomat on Wednesday.
      European affairs expert Tiilikainen, 43, is an experienced scholar specialised in foreign and security policy as well as in EU integration. Since 2003, she has been the director for the network for European studies at the University of Helsinki.
      The non-politically affiliated Tiilikainen was not willing to comment on the contents of her new job on Wednesday.
     
The nomination is likely to be confirmed today, Thursday, when Kanerva is presenting the new political state secretary and her tasks in the afternoon. On Wednesday, Kanerva was unwilling to comment on the appointment, either.
      The political state secretary will be the Minister’s most important assistant, and her commitment period is to cover no longer than the minister’s term of office.
     
In the period from 2002 to 2003, Teija Tiilikainen was the representative of the then Prime Minister Paavo Lipponen in the Convention on the Future of Europe, which drafted a constitutional treaty for the European Union.


Links:
  Ministry for Foreign Affairs
  University of Helsinki: Network for European Studies

Helsingin Sanomat