Making the Hallitus

by NordicStorm Tue Apr 17th, 2007 at 06:46:58 AM EST

Following the Finnish parliamentary election last month (relive the election night blogging experience!), current and future Prime Minister Matti Vanhanen has been hard at work putting together a new government (hallitus in Finnish). It would appear he's almost done. (More details below - updated twice)

From the diaries - whataboutbob

The election results were as follows (Source):

Party	Votes (%)	Seats	Diff.
Centre Party (Kesk.)	640,428 (23.11%)	51	-4
National Coalition Party (Kok.)	616,841 (22.26%)	50	+10
Social Democratic Party (SDP)	594,194 (21.44%)	45	-8
Left Alliance (Vas.)	244,296 (8.8%)	17	-2
Green League (Vihr.)	234,429 (8.5%)	15	+1
Swedish People's Party (SFP)	126,520 (4.6%) 136,081 (4.9%)	9 10	+1
Christian Democrats (KD)	134,790 (4.9%)	7	+-0
True Finns (PS)	112,256 (4.1%)	5	+2

The second number for the Swedes includes the numbers for the elected MP from Åland (an autonomous, Swedish-speaking region with its own party system and exactly one seat in the Finnish parliament), who caucuses with the Swedes. Abbreviations are in Finnish or Swedish where applicable. The last column is the difference in seats compared to the last election in 2003. The Finnish parliament is unicameral and consists of 200 seats.

Based on the election results, the best bet was a coalition consisting of the Centre Party (current coalition partner) and the National Coalition Party (conservatives), most likely also the Swedes (liberals and Swedish minority party, current coalition partner) and possibly one other of the smaller parties (either the Christian Democrats or the Greens), with current coalition partner Social Democrats joining the opposition. According to an article in Hufvudstadsbladet, the largest Swedish language daily newspaper in Finland, it's going to be Centre Party + Coalition Party + Swedes + Greens, with the Centre Party and Coalition Party getting 8 ministries each, while the Swedes and the Greens get 2 ministries each, with Vanhanen (Centre) continuing as Prime Minister. The Coalition Party, coming off an extremely good election, had a great negotiating position and managed to land some heavy ministries: Finance, Foreign Affairs, Interior, Defense, Education. The Centre Party, in addition to the Prime Ministry, will also handle Environment, Business, Health, among others. The Greens got Labour and Justice, while the Swedes got Europe/Immigration and Culture.

The actual persons manning the different ministries are expected to be announced within the next few days, although a few besides Vanhanen are already known. Coalition Party chairman Jyrki Katainen will become Minister of Foreign Affairs, in addition to being vice-Prime Minister.
The proposed government program (according to an article in the same edition of Hufvudstadsbladet as above) appears to consist of lowering some taxes and benefits, while increasing others. Income, inheritance and dividend taxes, as well as VAT on food products will be lowered and new tax benefits for companies will be created. Parenting benefits, student benefits and pensions will be increased. An increase is expected on the alcohol and various energy and environmental taxes.
As for foreign policy, I would except Katainen to be a bit more US-friendly than his Social Democratic predecessor, Erkki Tuomioja. The Swedes are generally Europe-friendly (if liberal), so I reckon they will do a good job handling the Euroministry.

Update [2007-4-16 12:15:30 by NordicStorm]: The National Coalition party has announced their ministers, according to Helsingin Sanomat. Jyrki Katainen will become Minister of Finance, NOT Foreign Affairs. Ilkka Kanerva will become Minister of Foreign Affairs. Former Finance Minister, Coalition Party chairman and presidential candidate Sauli Niinistö will become Speaker of the Eduskunta (Finnish parliament). The Swedes' ministers will be party chairman Stefan Wallin (Minister of Culture and Sport) and former Member of the European Parliament Astrid Thors (Minister of Europe and Immigration).

Update [2007-4-17 11:57:21 by NordicStorm]: All parties have decided on their ministers, so the Vanhanen II cabinet is complete. As expected, Vanhanen was elected Prime Minister by the Eduskunta earlier today. Wikipedia has the complete list of new ministers. Apart from the ministers mentioned here and in the comments, one can also note that Green League chairman Tarja Cronberg, who lost her seat in the Eduskunta (while somewhat paradoxically being the second highest vote getter in her electoral district, due to the D'Hondt method of apportioning seats), will be the new Minister for Labour. The new cabinet will also be the first in Finnish history with more female ministers than male ones, 12 females and 8 males.

Making the Hallitus | 28 comments (28 topical, 0 editorial, 0 hidden)

Re: Making the Hallitus (none / 1)

Thanks for the update...this kind of detail is really interesting to me! (I guess that makes me an elections nerd!!)

"Once in awhile we get shown the light, in the strangest of places, if we look at it right" - Hunter/Garcia

by whataboutbob on Mon Apr 16th, 2007 at 06:20:41 AM EST

Re: Making the Hallitus (4.00 / 2)

That makes two of us. Dunno why I find elections so fascinating...

"The basis of optimism is sheer terror" - Oscar Wilde

by NordicStorm (m<-at->sturmbaum.net) on Mon Apr 16th, 2007 at 08:31:04 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Making the Hallitus (none / 1)

Thanks for all the information.

by afew (afew(a in a circle)eurotrib_dot_com) on Mon Apr 16th, 2007 at 04:12:03 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Making the Hallitus (4.00 / 3)

A bit of background on the issue of the alcohol tax: the previous government lowered the tax to get it closer to that of Estonia, to discourage people from buying alcohol from there instead of domestically. The proposal wasn't particularly well received by health organisations, who feared alcohol consumption would increase. Which it did, and with it all the health problems caused by alcohol consumption.

"The basis of optimism is sheer terror" - Oscar Wilde

by NordicStorm (m<-at->sturmbaum.net) on Mon Apr 16th, 2007 at 08:36:24 AM EST

Re: Making the Hallitus (4.00 / 3)

Happily, Estonia has now also increased alcohol taxes, giving Helsingfors a greater freedom of action for increasing their own taxes.

Peak oil is not an energy crisis. It is a liquid fuel crisis.

by Starvid on Mon Apr 16th, 2007 at 09:10:37 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Making the Hallitus (4.00 / 2)

This all will make Tallink and Viking Line very happy.
For those that don't know, the aforementioned autonomous region, Åland, is not a full member of the European Union, it remains outside of the EU tax zone, so that duty-free sales (on alcohol, for example) could be maintained on the cruise ships operating between Sweden and Finland (operated by Tallink and Viking Line). The sea traffic between Sweden and Finland further north took a big hit when both countries joined the EU in 1995.

"The basis of optimism is sheer terror" - Oscar Wilde

by NordicStorm (m<-at->sturmbaum.net) on Mon Apr 16th, 2007 at 09:54:26 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Making the Hallitus (none / 1)

I see Tallink are about to launch a business ship on the Tallin route. It makes sense - flying is a waste of time from a logistic point of view, the choppers are not going at the moment (but that was a fun 18 minute ride, I can tell you), and business across the Baltic is booming.

You can't be me, I'm taken

by Sven Triloqvist on Mon Apr 16th, 2007 at 12:14:47 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Making the Hallitus (O/T) (4.00 / 2)

"Business Across the Baltic is Booming" would make a great alliterate strophic-formula for a Beowulfian-style poem:

Business Across the Baltic is Booming
Booming Business Across the Baltic
Across the Baltic Business is Booming

& etc.

She believed in nothing; only her skepticism kept her from being an atheist. -- Jean-Paul Sartre

by ATinNM on Mon Apr 16th, 2007 at 12:55:24 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Making the Hallitus (O/T) (4.00 / 4)

Have you been at that peyote again?

You can't be me, I'm taken

by Sven Triloqvist on Mon Apr 16th, 2007 at 04:42:10 PM EST
[ Parent ]

kinda sucks... (none / 1)

if that means there are only going to be more drunks between Stockholm and Finland. (Wait a sec, drunk must have come into english from the swedish drown... what a funny conincidence!)

Right at the time I was considering coming for a trip over too- an architecture trip to see some more Aalto and Pietilä is long overdue.

by borkitekt on Mon Apr 16th, 2007 at 03:43:42 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: kinda sucks... (none / 1)

Let me know if you need any connections with the Aalto bit, my ex is the grand-daughter of Maire, of Villa Mairea fame.

You can't be me, I'm taken

by Sven Triloqvist on Mon Apr 16th, 2007 at 04:47:13 PM EST
[ Parent ]

one of the Gullichsen's perhaps? (none / 1)

How interesting! I guess you have some explaining to do on how you let that one slip away:)

That's actaully qunite funny too, as it turns out, there are, iirc, only a few sources that really exposed Pietilä to the US- Malcom Quantril and Roger Connah. Quantril, I think, was the dean of architecture at Texas A&M (Aggies!!!) and I studied with his daughter at UT Austin. Both he and Conna are British, and the latter is a friend of my old landlady's so I caught him lecturing a few times here in Stockholm. He also married a Swede but spends alot of his time in England writing.

At any rate, Mariea is of course one of Aalto's finest works, we'll quite possibly try to see it. And, again, iirc, if she is related to Gullichsen, perhaps one of her parents or uncles is an architect too?

by borkitekt on Mon Apr 16th, 2007 at 05:47:52 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: one of the Gullichsen's perhaps? (none / 1)

Precisely. Some of my inclement comments upon architects here at ET, are based on discussions during long raucous family Sunday dinners with the in-laws ;-)

You can't be me, I'm taken

by Sven Triloqvist on Mon Apr 16th, 2007 at 05:53:29 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Oh loverly (4.00 / 3)

Another randy Finnish politician will be our new Foreign Minister. Ilkka Kanerva, the current deputy speaker, is a long serving, and time-serving conservative (or kortsu) politician who could just about run a small Finnish baseball club in Lapland without assistance. As a minister, we can expect to be embarassed by him. He is vulgar.

His troubles have been many: he had a rough relationship with the Aging Queen of Finnish music schlock, Paula Koivuniemi, but capped himself later with some entirely inappropriate text messages in 2005, sent to female C-List celebrities - with nothing to celebrate - who had shown a penchant for scantily-clad appearances in the tabloids. Why on Earth he should imagine that unsolicited messages to obvious publicity seekers would remain out of the public eye, I have no idea. Anyway, we in the advertising industry were treated to the texts, which were passed round from mobile to mobile like biros.

The man is an idiot.

The other ministers are not too bad. There was a sigh of relief from the artistic community that Stefan Wallin (RKP) got the culture slot. Anyway - I've seen a worse bunch.

You can't be me, I'm taken

by Sven Triloqvist on Mon Apr 16th, 2007 at 12:03:46 PM EST

Re: Oh loverly (none / 1)

Possibly our salvation will come from the brilliant Sauli Niinistö who, apart from getting more votes than anyone else, will take the Speaker's post and be able to bring the idiots into line.

I feel that this is just a waiting game for Sauli - keeping out of the public dirty work, having a perfect overview of the entire parliament, and sitting pretty for the next Presidential elections.

You can't be me, I'm taken

by Sven Triloqvist on Mon Apr 16th, 2007 at 12:09:50 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Oh loverly (none / 1)

Niinistö, I think, is married to the leader of the Swedish Green party.

Political class and all that.

Peak oil is not an energy crisis. It is a liquid fuel crisis.

by Starvid on Mon Apr 16th, 2007 at 03:12:35 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Oh loverly (4.00 / 3)

That's Ville Niinistö (nephew of Sauli), recently elected Green League MP.

"The basis of optimism is sheer terror" - Oscar Wilde

by NordicStorm (m<-at->sturmbaum.net) on Mon Apr 16th, 2007 at 03:17:58 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Oh loverly (4.00 / 2)

Could be worse. Not like he's the son-in-law of a former South American dictator...

"The basis of optimism is sheer terror" - Oscar Wilde

by NordicStorm (m<-at->sturmbaum.net) on Mon Apr 16th, 2007 at 03:37:19 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Oh loverly (none / 1)

HBL was wrong on Katainen becoming Foreign Minister then. Thought it seemed a bit odd.
I think Astrid Thors will be good as EU-minister.

"The basis of optimism is sheer terror" - Oscar Wilde

by NordicStorm (m<-at->sturmbaum.net) on Mon Apr 16th, 2007 at 12:20:19 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Oh loverly (none / 1)

She has her enemies at home, but I agree, she'll be good as EU minister. She's tough, intellectual and, of course, media-savvy.

You can't be me, I'm taken

by Sven Triloqvist on Mon Apr 16th, 2007 at 12:39:56 PM EST
[ Parent ]

The sigh of relief (4.00 / 2)

was for the exit of Tanja, our ex-beauty queen, who swept through Finnish culture like the Mongol hordes, laying waste to any chance that Finland might adopt a more tolerant copyright policy.

Ilkka missed his chance there - he being obsessed by busty beauties. Tanja's had her share of political romances, roller-blading downtown with Our Sauli in his early widowhood, playing footsie with the PM, and then getting married to a film director with a loose mouth. I think they have matching motorcycles. On second thoughts, black leather is probably not Ilkka's scene. He's more into skimpiness, mock satin and cheap lacework.

If I have been giving the impression that Finnish politicians are oversexed, I am wrong. They are quite normal. They are like everybody else - not some special breed who apparently have no bodily functions whatsoever. Our world is full of ilkkas and tanjas, people without image consultants, sciptwriters and spinmeisters - normal people.

So even though I might ridicule Ilkka's talents, I am still grateful that he is a prime example of WYSIWYG - always a healthy feature in politics. A lot of people have voted for him in many elections. I have not. But that is democracy.

You can't be me, I'm taken

by Sven Triloqvist on Mon Apr 16th, 2007 at 05:15:23 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Oh loverly (4.00 / 3)

The other ministers are not too bad.

No? What about Suvi Linden, who will be communications minister, and who used to be culture minister - until she had to resign, when it was published that she had granted 170000 euros to a golf center in which she herself owned shares..

Or Jan Vapaavuori, who has convictions for assault, theft, and drunk driving. OK, the first two are from his youth, but the drunk driving one is more recent. Now he will be the housing minister.

Didn't the self-described "ability party" or "talent party" really have anything better to offer?

And now YLE (the Finnish Broadcasting Corporation) is airing rumors that tomorrow will bring a minister post to Paavo Väyrynen..

You have a normal feeling for a moment, then it passes. --More--

by tzt (tzt) on Mon Apr 16th, 2007 at 06:35:25 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Oh loverly (none / 1)

It's in the news - Paavo Väyrynen is the new foreign trade minister. We're back in the eighties I guess.

You have a normal feeling for a moment, then it passes. --More--

by tzt (tzt) on Tue Apr 17th, 2007 at 09:09:22 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Oh loverly (4.00 / 2)

Who's that?

by Colman (colman at eurotrib.com) on Tue Apr 17th, 2007 at 09:12:55 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Oh loverly (4.00 / 5)

A guy from the era of Kekkonen and Soviet Union. I remember his doctoral thesis from 1989 - he claimed that the role of Soviet Union will always be hugely important in Finland's politics, and we have to concentrate on keeping the Soviets happy instead of trying to work with Europe.

He's also critical of the EU and has a reputation of being an egocentric, power-hungry player. Here's what he did this time to get his ministerial post:

from Newsroom.finland.fi

Paavo Väyrynen (centre), a former minister and current MEP, said Tuesday that he would not allow the Finnish Parliament to check his mandate, as protocol demands all elected MPs to do before claiming their seat.
Mr Väyrynen's unprecedented refusal leaves Parliament with only 199 MPs and brings his Centre Party down to 50 seats, on par with the National Coalition.
Mr Väyrynen himself remains in limbo having neither renounced his seat nor claimed it.
"In order to be able to accept a seat in Parliament this spring I should have at least as influential an appointment as I do in the European Parliament," Mr Väyrynen said, expressing disappointment for not being given a promise of a portfolio in the cabinet, or a place as one of the Speakers of Parliament.

Well, his blackmail worked and he got his portfolio. There's a joke in Finnish which goes: Paavo Väyrynen on niin kiero, että kun hän kuolee, hänet pitää ruuvata maahan. Bad translation: Paavo Väyrynen is so crooked that when he dies, he'll have to be screwed into the earth.

You have a normal feeling for a moment, then it passes. --More--

by tzt (tzt) on Tue Apr 17th, 2007 at 11:02:49 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Oh loverly (none / 1)

Sounds charming.

by Colman (colman at eurotrib.com) on Tue Apr 17th, 2007 at 11:08:37 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Making the Hallitus (none / 1)

Fun fact of the day: after the redistribution and addition of two new ministries, will be the largest Finnish government ever (20 ministers). Quite literally big government...

"The basis of optimism is sheer terror" - Oscar Wilde

by NordicStorm (m<-at->sturmbaum.net) on Tue Apr 17th, 2007 at 05:40:49 AM EST

Re: Making the Hallitus (none / 1)

Second fun fact of the day: if I ever bothered to proof-read what I've written, I might be able to post comments that are half-way comprehensible. Let's try this again:

Following the redistribution of assignments between the ministries and the addition of two new ones, the new Finnish government, with its 20 ministers, will be the largest ever. Quite literally big government...

"The basis of optimism is sheer terror" - Oscar Wilde

by NordicStorm (m<-at->sturmbaum.net) on Tue Apr 17th, 2007 at 05:47:01 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Making the Hallitus | 28 comments (28 topical, 0 editorial, 0 hidden)

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Making the Hallitus

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