Government of Finland
Encyclopedia
Finland
Finland
Finland , officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country situated in the Fennoscandian region of Northern Europe. It is bordered by Sweden in the west, Norway in the north and Russia in the east, while Estonia lies to its south across the Gulf of Finland.Around 5.4 million people reside...

 is a republic
Republic
A republic is a form of government in which the people, or some significant portion of them, have supreme control over the government and where offices of state are elected or chosen by elected people. In modern times, a common simplified definition of a republic is a government where the head of...

 with a representative democracy
Representative democracy
Representative democracy is a form of government founded on the principle of elected individuals representing the people, as opposed to autocracy and direct democracy...

 governed accordingly to the principles of parliamentarism. Legislative power is vested in the Parliament of Finland
Parliament of Finland
The Eduskunta , is the parliament of Finland. The unicameral parliament has 200 members and meets in the Parliament House in Helsinki. The latest election to the parliament took place on April 17, 2011.- Constitution :...

 . Executive power is exercised by the Cabinet, officially termed Council of State (Finnish: valtioneuvosto, Swedish
Swedish language
Swedish is a North Germanic language, spoken by approximately 10 million people, predominantly in Sweden and parts of Finland, especially along its coast and on the Åland islands. It is largely mutually intelligible with Norwegian and Danish...

: statsrådet), which is led by the Prime Minister
Prime Minister of Finland
The Prime Minister is the Head of Government of Finland. The Prime Minister is appointed by the President, who is the Head of State. The current Prime Minister is Jyrki Katainen of the National Coalition Party.-Overview:...

, the Head of Government. Some matters are decided by the President of the Republic
President of Finland
The President of the Republic of Finland is the nation's head of state. Under the Finnish constitution, executive power is vested in the President and the government, with the President possessing extensive powers. The President is elected directly by the people of Finland for a term of six years....

, the Head of State, in plenary meetings with the Council of State, echoing the constitutional history of a privy council
Privy council
A privy council is a body that advises the head of state of a nation, typically, but not always, in the context of a monarchic government. The word "privy" means "private" or "secret"; thus, a privy council was originally a committee of the monarch's closest advisors to give confidential advice on...

. The President is otherwise not present in the Council, but decides on issues such as personal appointments and pardons on the advice of the relevant minister. In the ministries, matters of secondary importance are decided by individual ministers, advised by the minister's State Secretary. The Prime Minister and the other ministers in the Council of State are responsible for their actions in office to the Parliament
Parliament of Finland
The Eduskunta , is the parliament of Finland. The unicameral parliament has 200 members and meets in the Parliament House in Helsinki. The latest election to the parliament took place on April 17, 2011.- Constitution :...

.

Head of Government

The Head of Government is the Prime Minister, currently Jyrki Katainen
Jyrki Katainen
Jyrki Tapani Katainen is the Prime Minister of Finland and chairman of the country's largest party, the National Coalition Party.-Career:...

, who has held the office since June 22, 2011. The Prime Minister designate is subject to election by the Parliament and, if elected, he or she —along with all the other ministers upon the nomination of the Prime Minister— are appointed by the President of Finland
President of Finland
The President of the Republic of Finland is the nation's head of state. Under the Finnish constitution, executive power is vested in the President and the government, with the President possessing extensive powers. The President is elected directly by the people of Finland for a term of six years....

.

Katainen's government is a right
Right-wing politics
In politics, Right, right-wing and rightist generally refer to support for a hierarchical society justified on the basis of an appeal to natural law or tradition. To varying degrees, the Right rejects the egalitarian objectives of left-wing politics, claiming that the imposition of equality is...

-left
Left-wing politics
In politics, Left, left-wing and leftist generally refer to support for social change to create a more egalitarian society...

 coalition of the National Coalition Party, Social Democratic Party, Left Alliance
Left Alliance (Finland)
The Left Alliance is a left-wing political party in Finland. It was founded on the basis of the Finnish People's Democratic League and the Communist Party of Finland in 1990....

, Green League
Green League
The Green League is a centrist green liberal political party in Finland. It has ten seats in the Finnish Parliament and two in the European Parliament. The current chairperson is Ville Niinistö....

, Swedish People's Party and Christian Democrats
Christian Democrats (Finland)
The Christian Democrats is a Christian democratic political party in Finland. Formerly known as the Finnish Christian League , the Christian Democrats have six seats in the Finnish Parliament and one in the European Parliament.The party was founded in 1958, chiefly from the Christian faction of...

. Katainen's predecessor Mari Kiviniemi
Mari Kiviniemi
Mari Johanna Kiviniemi is a Finnish politician and former Prime Minister of Finland. On 22 June 2010, as the new leader of the Centre Party, she was elected Prime Minister of Finland by the Finnish Parliament following the resignation of Prime Minister Matti Vanhanen...

 was elected Prime Minister in June 2010, after the resignation of Matti Vanhanen
Matti Vanhanen
Matti Taneli Vanhanen is a Finnish politician. He is a former Prime Minister of Finland and a former Chairman of the Centre Party. In the second half of 2006 he was President of the European Council. In his earlier career he was a journalist...

. Kiviniemi's and Vanhanen's governments both were centre
Centrism
In politics, centrism is the ideal or the practice of promoting policies that lie different from the standard political left and political right. Most commonly, this is visualized as part of the one-dimensional political spectrum of left-right politics, with centrism landing in the middle between...

-right coalitions, consisting of the National Coalition, Centre Party
Centre Party (Finland)
The Centre Party is a centrist and Nordic agrarian political party in Finland. It is one of the four largest political parties in the country, along with the Social Democratic Party , the National Coalition Party and the True Finns , and currently has 35 seats in the Finnish Parliament...

, Green League and Swedish People's Party.

Ministries

There are 12 ministries in the government. As there are more members (ministers) in the Council of State than ministries, some are headed by more than one minister.
  • Prime Minister's Office
  • Ministry for Foreign Affairs
    Ministry for Foreign Affairs (Finland)
    The Ministry for Foreign Affairs is a ministry in the Finnish Government and is responsible for preparing and implementing the government's foreign policy.-Organisation:...

  • Ministry of Justice
    Ministry of Justice (Finland)
    The Ministry of Justice is one of the 12 ministries in the Finnish Government. Headed by the Minister of Justice, it is responsible for "maintaining and developing order and legal safeguards and overseeing the structures of democracy and the fundamental rights of citizens" in Finland...

  • Ministry of the Interior
  • Ministry of Defence
  • Ministry of Finance
  • Ministry of Education and Culture
  • Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry
  • Ministry of Transport and Communications
    Ministry of Transport and Communications (Finland)
    The Ministry of Transport and Communications is a government ministry of Finland. Its head office is in Helsinki.-External links:* * *...

  • Ministry of Employment and the Economy
  • Ministry of Social Affairs and Health
  • Ministry of the Environment

See also

  • Politics of Finland
    Politics of Finland
    Politics of Finland takes place in a framework of a parliamentary representative democratic republic and of a multi-party system. The President of Finland is the head of state, leads the foreign policy, and is the Commander-in-chief of the Defense Forces. The Prime Minister of Finland is the head...

  • Parliament of Finland
    Parliament of Finland
    The Eduskunta , is the parliament of Finland. The unicameral parliament has 200 members and meets in the Parliament House in Helsinki. The latest election to the parliament took place on April 17, 2011.- Constitution :...

  • President of Finland
    President of Finland
    The President of the Republic of Finland is the nation's head of state. Under the Finnish constitution, executive power is vested in the President and the government, with the President possessing extensive powers. The President is elected directly by the people of Finland for a term of six years....

  • Government of Åland
    Government of Åland
    The Landskapsregering is the government of Åland, an autonomous territory of Finland. The government is led by a Lantråd, the premier of Åland, who is elected by the Lagting, the parliament of Åland.-List of Premiers of Åland :...

  • Municipalities of Finland
  • Government Agencies in Finland
  • Comprehensive Income Policy Agreement
    Comprehensive Income Policy Agreement
    Finnish national income policy agreements or comprehensive income policy agreements are tripartite agreements between Finnish trade unions, employers' organizations, and the Finnish government. They are policy documents covering a wide range of economic and political issues, such as salaries,...

  • Elections in Finland
    Elections in Finland
    Elections in Finland gives information on election and election results in Finland.On national level Finland elects a head of state — the President of the Republic — and a legislature. The president is elected for a six-year term by direct popular vote...

  • Senate of Finland
    Senate of Finland
    The Senate of Finland combined the functions of cabinet and supreme court in the Grand Duchy of Finland from 1816 to 1917 and in the independent Republic of Finland from 1917 to 1918....


External links

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