Finland’s transportation minister Sanna Marin was selected by her Social Democratic party on Sunday to become the country’s youngest prime minister in the country and, currently, in the world. She is likely to be confirmed by parliament on Tuesday, appointed by the president and sworn in before Thursday, when she is due to join her first European Council summit.
Thursday’s European Summit concludes Finland’s six-month presidency.
Marin replaces Antti Rinne who resigned last week, after losing the confidence of his coalition partners over his cabinets’ handling of a postal service strike. Rinne resignation was effectively demanded by the Center Party.
In the new cabinet, the Center Party will take over the ministry of finance. The new Finnish finance minister will be the 32-year old leader of the Center Party, Katri Kulmuni.
The 34-year-old Marin takes over the leadership of a five-party coalition, stretching for the left to the center-right. Marin came to politics as head of the city council of Tampere at the age of 27. On Monday, she vowed to rebuilt trust among coalition partners.
On Tuesday she is expected to appoint a small government of 12 female and 7 male ministers.
All party leaders will remain in the cabinet: the 34-year old Green Party leader Maria Ohisalo as interior minister, the 32-year old Left Alliance’s chairwoman Li Andersson as education minister, and the 55-year old Swedish People’s Party’s Anna-Maja Henriksson as justice minister.
The Social Democrats nominated Rinne to become deputy speaker of parliament, replacing Tuula Haatainen, who is expected to return to government as employment minister. Rinne will remain party leader until the summer of 2020.
The coalition remains committed to the stipulated government program, geared towards a speedier transition towards carbon neutrality.
Finland is currently paralysed by a wave of strikes, which the Confederation of Finnish Industries estimates the strikes will cost companies a €500 million in lost revenue.
