Katainen government taking shape

Urpilainen to be Minister of Finance, Arhinmäki Minister of Culture

print this

The names of the ministers in the upcoming six-party government of Jyrki Katainen (Nat. Coalition Party) are emerging.
      Katainen himself will be the next Prime Minister, while Social Democratic Party chairwoman Jutta Urpilainen, the leader of the second-largest party in the Finnish parliament, will take the post of Minister of Finance.
      Another Social Democrat, Erkki Tuomioja, is slated to be the Minister for Foreign Affairs – a post that he has held before. The Minister of Labour will be Lauri Ihalainen (SDP), the former President of the Central Organisation of Finnish Trade Unions (SAK).
      The SDP ministers also include Minister of Social Services Maria Guzenina-Richardson, Minister of Education Jukka Gustafsson and Minister of Housing and Communications Krista Kiuru.
     
The National Coalition Party’s ministerial group will be relatively male-dominated by Finnish standards, with women comprising only two out of its six ministers – Minister of Social Affairs and Health Paula Risikko and Minister of Administrative and Municipal Affairs Henna Virkkunen.
      The choice of Jari Koskinen as Minister of Agriculture and Forestry came as something of a surprise to many observers. Jyri Häkämies will take on the post of Minister of Economic Affairs, and and Alexander Stubb will be the Minister of Foreign Trade and European Affairs.
     
In a rather unexpected move, Left Alliance chairman Paavo Arhinmäki decided to take on the post of Minister of Culture.
      The other, somewhat weightier post allocated to the party, that of Minister of Transport, is going to second-term MP Merja Kylönen.
      At a press conference on Sunday, Arhinmäki cited the need for regional balance for the decision: He pointed out that Kyllönen will be the only minister from the north of Finland, and that “transport issues are especially important for Northern Finland”.
     
The Swedish People’s Party has also named its two ministers .
      Stefan Wallin will be the Minister of Defence and Anna-Maija Henriksson will be the Minister of Justice.
     
Yet to officially decide as of Monday morning on who will fill their allocated government slots are the Green League and the Christian Democratic Party.
      The Greens will hold the posts of Minister of the Environment and Minister of Development Cooperation.
      The Christian Democrats have been allocated the post of Minister of the Interior, which will also include ecclesiastical affairs, which had previously been the province of the Ministry of Education and Culture.


Previously in HS International Edition:
  BREAKING NEWS: Government agreement announced (17.6.2011)
  Government talks to resume among same parties as before (10.6.2011)

Helsingin Sanomat