Finnish ministers have paid their TV licence fees

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The Finnish Communications Regulatory Authority (FICORA) produced a reply on Thursday to an enquiry by Helsingin Sanomat and verified that all the ministers in the sitting government have paid their television licence fees.
     
Every minister's TV licence payments have been taken care of correctly for a long time, most of them since 1992, the earliest date for which FICORA has such information available. The latest notification of an acquired television set was from last year by the Minister of the Environment Jan-Erik Enestam (Swedish People's Party) concerning his address in Helsinki.
      A good example of a meticulous TV licence fee payer is the Minister of Regional and Municipal Affairs Hannes Manninen (Centre Party), who said he acquired a TV licence immediately after purchasing a television set for his living quarters in Helsinki about 11 years ago. For his permanent home in the northern city of Tornio, Manninen has had a TV licence for 35 years.
      "I've always paid the fee", Manninen confirmed to Helsingin Sanomat.
      Apart from the Minister of Labour Tarja Filatov (SDP), who only has a mattress on the floor and no TV in her spartan sublet room in Helsinki, all the ministers have TV licences for both their permanent homes and their Helsinki residences. Filatov, who is from the nearby city of Hämeenlinna and has a TV licence for her home there, only sleeps over in Helsinki about once a month.
     
The Minister of the Interior Kari Rajamäki (SDP) lives in Helsinki as a tenant in quarters owned by the state, and therefore a television set under his own name has only been declared for his home address in Varkaus.
      Minister for Foreign Trade and Development Paula Lehtomäki (Centre Party), in turn spends most of her time in her Helsinki apartment, and therefore has only paid for watching TV in her home in the eastern province of Kainuu at Christmas time and during the summer break.
     
FICORA announced on Tuesday that based on the 1999 Public Record Act the office is obligated to reveal information concerning paid TV licences when asked. Since the TV licence discussion started a few days ago, FICORA has been flooded with enquiries concerning paid fees as well as purchase requests for new licences.


Previously in HS International Edition:
  PM urges ministers not to answer questions of minor tax evasion and TV licence fee dodging (16.10.2006)
  Frightened Finns rush to pay their TV licence fees (19.10.2006)
  Communications authority: TV licence records are public documents (18.10.2006)
  Journalists dumbfounded by Vanhanen´s instructions to ministers (17.10.2006)

Helsingin Sanomat