Party leader and Finland’s Prime Minis­ter Jyrki Katai­nen is not seeking anot­her term as chair­man of the Natio­nal Coali­tion Party (NCP). Mr Katainen?s fifth two-year term ends on the 14^th of June when the NCP Party Congress elects a new Chair­per­son. The new party leader will be NCP?s candi­date to assuke Prime Minis­ter’s duties soon after the June party congress.

PM Katai­nen made the announce­ment tonight at the launch of NCP?s Euro­pean elec­tion campaign.

The Katai­nen Govern­ment will resign but in prac­tice the same five-party coali­tion is expec­ted to conti­nue under the new Prime Minis­ter. The coali­tion govern­ment currently holds a 112/​200 seat majo­rity in Parlia­ment. The change of Prime Minis­ters will not auto­ma­tically affect minis­ters repre­sen­ting the other coali­tion parties, Social Democ­rats, The Greens, Swedish People?s Party and the Chris­tian Democ­rats.

?I have been Party Leader for ten years now. I have served Finland for 15 years as Member of Parlia­ment, four years as Finance Minis­ter and three years as Prime Minis­ter. With just one year to go before next parlia­men­tary elec­tions, I strongly felt this was the right time to hand party leaders­hip to someone new?, PM Katai­nen said.

“During the past three years my govern­ment has imple­men­ted a series of far-reac­hing reforms to set Finland on the right course. A reform to strengt­hen Finnish munici­pa­li­ties is in imple­men­ta­tion. A histo­rical over­haul of Finnish social and healthcare services, with support from all Parties repre­sen­ted in the Parlia­ment, will be presen­ted to the Parlia­ment this spring. Ongoing nego­tia­tions for a pension reform will be closed next fall”, PM Katai­nen said.

“During the past three years we have agreed on fiscal conso­li­da­tion worth more than 3,5% per GDP. Finland is an AAA-rated country with a steady outlook. At the same time we have made signi­ficant invest­ments to strengt­hen econo­mic growth and create new jobs: We have increa­sed invest­ments in educa­tion and research, cut the corpo­rate tax rate by 6 percen­tage points, increa­sed labour market partici­pa­tion and crea­ted a series of incen­ti­ves for SME’s. I feel I can leave Finland to my succes­sor in a better shape than it was three years ago when I assu­med office”, PM Katai­nen said.

PM Katai­nen says he is inte­res­ted in Euro­pean or other inter­na­tio­nal posi­tions, should the oppor­tu­nity rise. In the mean­time he will focus on serving Finland as a Member of Parlia­ment.

?I am passio­nate about Euro­pean and inter­na­tio­nal coope­ra­tion. I would be very moti­va­ted to serve Finland and Europe in any capacity that Finnish and other govern­ments deem appropriate?, PM Katai­nen said.

Lisää sisältöä samassa kategoriassa