24.5.13
On Friday 24 May, the President of the Republic appointed Susanna Huovinen as Minister of Health and Social Services and Pia Viitanen as Minister of Housing and Communications. Krista Kiuru was appointed as the Minister of Education and Science.
24.5.13
On Friday 24 May, the President of the Republic and the Cabinet Committee on Foreign and Security Policy discussed Finland's participation in international crisis management.
At the moment, Finland has some 400 soldiers deployed to military crisis management operations, almost half of them in the Middle East. Currently, of the 110 Finnish experts deployed to civilian crisis management tasks, 40 % are women. In civilian crisis management, Finland will continue to place strong emphasis on the EU's police operation in Afghanistan.
24.5.13
The EU Foreign Affairs Council will convene in Brussels on 27 May. The items on the meeting agenda are the EU Southern Neighbourhood, the EU's Common Security and Defence Policy, the Middle East peace process and Mali. Finland's representative in the meeting will be Foreign Minister Erkki Tuomioja.
As regards the EU Southern Neighbourhood, the main topic of discussion at the Foreign Affairs Council will be the current situation of Syria. The Ministers will discuss particularly the situation of the Syrian opposition and the steps the EU could take to alleviate the situation in Syria.
23.5.13
The obstacles to wind power construction arising from possible disturbances in the operation of surveillance radars can be eliminated in specifically defined areas by developing the surveillance systems of the Finnish Defence Forces, for example through an additional radar.
