Matti Vanhanen will be deputy prime minister

On Tuesday 9 June, the President of the Republic Sauli Niinistö appointed Member of Parliament Matti Vanhanen as a member of the Government and Minister of Finance. He will also be deputy prime minister, according to a statement released by the Government Communications Department.

Vanhanen, 64, is a political heavyweight from the Center Party (Keskusta, in Finnish) with a long experience in top government responsibilities. He served as Prime Minister of Finland between 2003 and 2010.

On the same occasion the President of the Republic released Katri Kulmuni from her responsibilities as Minister of Finance and a member of the Government. Kulmuni resigned last Friday as a result of the scandal of large payments with taxpayers' money to the company Tekir Oy for coaching services.

The police are looking into the facts after receiving requests to investigate if there was a misuse of public funds.

Following the presidential session, the government plenary session made decisions on the changes to the division of responsibilities, ministers’ deputies and the composition of ministerial committees and working groups in which Vanhanen will replace Kulmuni.