President and government at odds over appointment of ministry official
Halonen wants to keep incumbent
The Office of the President informed the Prime Minister’s Office on Wednesday that President Tarja Halonen is opposed to the appointment of Ilkka Laitinen as the new Chief of Staff for the Ministry of the Interior.
Helsingin Sanomat has learned that Halonen wants to appoint the present Chief of Staff, Social Democrat Ritva Viljanen, for a new five-year term term.
Nevertheless, Minister of the Interior Anne Holmlund (Nat. Coalition Party) is putting Laitinen’s name forward at meeting of the government on Thursday.
The government is expected to support Holmlund on the matter, which means that the President is likely to be presented with Laitinen’s appointment to the post on Friday.
Holmlund has informed the other government parties on the appointment, and the other parties have nothing against the idea, and the government’s proposal is likely to be unanimous.
If the view of the government is at odds with that of the President, the matter will be sent back for more consideration by the government.
If the government does not change its mind, and continues to support Laitinen, the President is legally entitled to appoint any one of the applicants to the post who meet the requirements of the job.
Of the ten applicants for the post of Chief of Staff, only four met all of the requirements set forward. Three of them were thoroughly tested by an outside consultant, and Laitinen was seen to be the best.
Viljanen, the current holder of the post, was among the applicants.
The Ministry of the Interior emphasises that the application process has been marked by openness, and that the appointment is not “partisan”.
For an incumbent Chief of Staff not to be appointed for another term requires exceptionally weighty reasons. For that reason, the preparation of the decision in the ministry has taken longer than usual, as the deadline for applications was already in mid-May.
President Halonen has a record of having her own way on major appointments.
In 2000 Halonen went against all official proposals and named Sinikka Salo to the Board of the Bank of Finland.
In 2001 the process was repeated when Halonen named Pentti Hakkarainen to the Board.
In both cases there were differing views on who should be appointed. If the government is unanimous on the appointment of the top civil servant at the Ministry of the Interior, it will be harder for the President to deviate from the proposal.
A major factor in the Interior Ministry’s proposal to replace its current top civil servant is the changes that have taken place in the job description. The ministry is dealing less with municipal and regional issues, focussing more on security.
The ministry’s favoured candidate, Ilkka Laitinen, is the head of the FRONTEX, the border security authority of the European Union. He also has extensive experience in the Finnish Border Guard.
Helsingin Sanomat
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| 7.8.2008 - TODAY |
 President and government at odds over appointment of ministry official |
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