Finland's Sanna Marin to become world's youngest PM

[spaminator]

Finland's Sanna Marin to become world's youngest PM
Reuters
Published:
December 9, 2019
Updated:
December 9, 2019 9:53 AM EST
Sanna Marin of Finland's Social Democrates is pictured after she was elected to the post of Prime Minister in Helsinki, Finland, on December 8, 2019. (Photo by VESA MOILANEN/Lehtikuva/AFP via Getty Images)
HELSINKI — Finland’s new prime minister – the world’s youngest premier – will have a finance minister two years her junior in a new women-led coalition cabinet after a political shake-up, party officials said on Monday.
Sanna Marin, 34 from the dominant Social Democrats, was nominated on Sunday. Center Party chief Katri Kulmuni, 32, will get the finance post when the full new cabinet is announced this week, party members said.
Finland’s government resigned last week after the Centre Party said it had lost confidence in Social Democrat Prime Minister Antti Rinne over his handling of a postal strike.
Finland’s Members of Parliament, Katri Kulmuni (L) and Sanna Marin participate in the A-studio talk show in Helsinki, Finland December 3, 2019. Lehtikuva/Roni Rekomaa/via REUTERS
The five parties in power – four of them led by women – decided to stay in coalition and continue with the same programs, but said there would be a reshuffle.
“We want to make the axis between the prime minister and the finance minister work,” Kulmuni said. “That is the foundation for this new generation of collaboration (between the Social Democrats and the Centre Party),” she added.
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There was no immediate comment from Marin, the former transport minister.
She has had a swift rise in Finnish politics since becoming head of the city council of her industrial hometown of Tampere at the age of 27.
Sanna Marin of Finland’s Social Democrates is pictured after she was elected to the post of Prime Minister in Helsinki, Finland, on December 8, 2019 (Photo by VESA MOILANEN/Lehtikuva/AFP via Getty Images)
She will take over in the middle of a wave of strikes, which will halt production at some of Finland’s largest companies from Monday. The Confederation of Finnish Industries estimates the strikes will cost the companies a combined 500 million euros ($550 million) in lost revenue.
Kulmuni, who previously held the more junior position of Minister of Economic Affairs, replaces Mika Lintila. She took over as the head of the Centre Party from ex-prime minister Juha Sipila in September.
Green Party leader Maria Ohisalo, 34, will continue as interior minister, the Left Alliance’s chairwoman Li Andersson, 32, as education minister and the Swedish People’s Party’s Anna-Maja Henriksson, 55, as justice minister.
Rinne will remain the Social Democrats leader at least until he chairs the party’s conference in June.

http://torontosun.com/news/world/finlands-sanna-marin-to-become-worlds-youngest-pm

 

[spaminator]

Estonia apologizes after minister taunts Finnish PM as 'sales girl'
Reuters
Published:
December 16, 2019
Updated:
December 16, 2019 12:57 PM EST
Finland's Prime Minister Sanna Marin during an interview with Reuters after a European leaders summit in Brussels, Belgium, Dec. 13, 2019. (REUTERS/Yves Herman)
HELSINKI/TALLINN — Estonia apologized to Finland on Monday after Estonia’s interior minister mocked Finland’s new prime minister — the world’s youngest-serving government leader — as “a sales girl” and questioned her ability to run the Nordic country.
Mart Helme, 70, Estonian interior minister and leader of the populist far-right party Ekre, on Sunday ridiculed Finnish Prime Minister Sanna Marin, 34, and her government, in which four out of five coalition leaders are women under 35.
“Now we see how one sales girl has become a prime minister and how some other street activists and non-educated people have also joined the cabinet,” Helme said on his party’s radio talk show.
Estonia’s Interior Minister Mart Helme of far-right EKRE Party speaks to media after the swearing-in of the incoming coalition government in Tallinn, Estonia April 29, 2019. (REUTERS/Ints Kalnins/File Photo)
His comments prompted the opposition to call for his resignation, while Estonian President Kersti Kaljulaid asked Finland’s President Sauli Niinisto to pass on her apologies to Marin and her government.
Social Democrat Marin, who has spoken about growing up in a disadvantaged family, worked as a cashier before studying at university and embarking on a political career.
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“I’m extremely proud of Finland. Here a poor family’s child can educate themselves and achieve their goals in life. A cashier can become even a prime minister,” Marin wrote on Twitter.
Helme, a former Estonian ambassador to Russia, is known for outspoken statements that regularly embarrass Prime Minister Juri Ratas and his Centre Party, Ekre’s coalition partner.
Ekre was accepted for the first time into a government coalition in April, after Ratas lost parliamentary elections but clinched a deal with Ekre to stay in power.
Estonian opposition leader Kaja Kallas said on Monday the opposition would organize a no-confidence vote in parliament if Helme does not resign after his comments about Finland’s new leaders. Previous such attempts have failed.
“The interior minister has offended the Finnish government and personally attacked the newly-appointed Finnish prime minister,” she said in a statement.

http://torontosun.com/news/world/estonia-apologizes-after-minister-taunts-finnish-pm-as-sales-girl

 

[Danbones]

Are you sure?...she doesn't look like any late night comedians I know of.

 

[Blackleaf]

Pitt the Younger was only 24 when he became British PM in 1783.