Greens name Niinistö and Hautala as new ministers

Christian Democratic leader Päivi Räsänen confirmed as Interior Minister

Ville Niinistö

Heidi Hautala

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The Green League has named party chairman MP Ville Niinistö and MEP Heidi Hautala as the party’s ministers in the new government.
      Hautala will serve as the Minister of Development Cooperation – a post that has been set up within the Ministry for Foreign Affairs. In a vote at a common meeting of the Green Parliamentary group and the party’s delegate council Hautala came out ahead of MP Johanna Sumuvuori 34 to 13.
      Niinistö, meanwhile, was unanimously chosen as the new Minister of the Environment.
     
Hautala takes on the position in a situation in which development cooperation funding is being frozen at EUR 115 million for 2013-2014.
      This means that reaching the goal of using 0.7 per cent of GDP for development aid by 2015 is becoming less and less likely.
      “This is not good if we want international influence”, Hautala said.
      She asked if it is realistic for Finland to get a seat on the UN Security Council if the country does not adhere to international commitments such as development aid.
      “I will do my best to increase this input. Parliament has previously taken issue with this development cooperation funding.”
     
Hautala will be separately in charge of matters related to state-owned companies.
      She has served as the chair of the Administrative Council of Neste Oil, but says that the area is still somewhat foreign to her.
      She is not in favour of selling off state property, but would like to increase the social responsibility of state companies. Hautala also supports moves to keep the salaries of the top managers of state companies at a reasonable level.
     
When she takes up her ministerial post, Heidi Hautala will be replaced in the European Parliament by former Green League chairwoman and former Minister of Labour Tara Cronberg.
      Meanwhile, the Christian Democratic Party confirmed the appointment of the party’s chairwoman Päivi Räsänen as the Minister of the Interior. In her new post Räsänen will be responsible for police and immigration matters.
     
The new government officially takes office on Wednesday, which is quite coincidentally the first birthday of the outgoing government of Mari Kiviniemi (Centre).
      Few had expected the old caretaker government would last so long, but as we have seen over the past weeks and months, the government formation talks this time around have been exceptionally complex and long-winded.


Previously in HS International Edition:
  BREAKING NEWS: Government agreement announced (17.6.2011)
  Katainen government taking shape (20.6.2011)

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