Prime Minister Matti Vanhanen (Centre) denies the allegations that President Tarja Halonen is unwilling to appoint people serving as politically-appointed secretaries of state in Finnish ministries to high state posts.
The information was published by Helsingin Sanomat on Friday.
Vanhanen commented to the Finnish broadcasting company YLE that he had discussed the issue with Halonen on Friday. The PM and the President had then had an unanimous opinion that the position of a secretary of state can neither be a shortcut nor an obstacle to high state positions. Candidates would simply be judged on their merits.
Halonen had expressed her views to one of the leaders of the government parties, but she had not discussed the issue with the government itself. Nevertheless, the information had reached the media.
The matter first came up when Perttu Puro (SDP), a political secretary of state at the Ministry of Transport and Communications, applied for a post as chief of staff at the ministry. Instead of Puro, a civil servant with no party affiliation was appointed to the post.
Also Minister of Finance Eero Heinäluoma (SDP) confirmed that the government has not discussed the political appointments of secretaries of state.
