Two Finnish Centre party MPs said Friday they backed direct government funding of the country's public broadcaster.
Tuomo Puumala, a deputy leader of the Centre party, said in a statement that a lump-sum tax had been the wrong way to go in the first place.

"In that case Nalle Wahlroos as well as somebody living on a basic pension would have paid the same amount," Mr Puumala said, citing the managing director of Sampo Bank.

Two Finnish lawyers said in a report Friday that the country's head of state or prime minister could issue a statement labelling postwar trials of Finnish leaders as a breach of the rule of law.

The 1946 trials, which most Finns prefer to call "war responsibility trials" instead of the less palatable heading used by the allies, saw Risto Ryti, president in 1940-4, six wartime cabinet members and an ambassador jailed for waging war against the Soviet Union in 1941-4, a conflict known as the Continuation war in Finland.

Matti Vanhanen (centre), Finland's prime minister, said Thursday that leaders of the ruling parties had settled a row over the decision-making process pertaining to crisis mangement troop deployment.

Mr Vanhanen said the secretariat of the constitutional committee had found a solution that satisfied all ruling party leaders.

But he refused to disclose any details about the agreement.

Suvi Lindén (cons), the Finnish transport minister, announced Thursday she would not carry forward the government's plan to replace the licence fee with a tax, citing a lack of backing in Parliament.

The minister said the matter would be postponed to the next legislative period, meaning after next year's general election.

The government had planned to fund the Finnish Broadcasting Company (YLE) with a lump-sum tax it prefers to call the media fee.

The Finnish government said in a statement Thursday it had decided to change the name of the education ministry to "the ministry of education and culture".

Pending Parliament's approval of the change, the new name will enter into force in May.

"Finnish ministries have been named in a way that best describes the key mandate of each ministry," the statement added.

"Cultural policy is a broad social policy area coordinated by the ministry of education. It covers areas such as cultural heritage, cultural exportation, multiculturalism and international cooperation."

STT

Finnish national daily Helsingin Sanomat on Thursday quoted a Taylor Nelson Sofres poll as indicating that the National Coalition party remained the country's biggest party with a rating of 23.1 per cent, down by a tenth of a percentage point from a similar poll carried out in November last year.

The poll gave the opposition Social Democrats 21.3 per cent, up by eight-tenths of a point, with the Centre party in third place with 19.9 per cent, down by a tenth of a point.

All changes fit in the margin of error, stated as two percentage points either way.

Commissioned by the paper, TNS interviewed about 2,900 people in February and March.

STT

Finnish Christian newspaper Kotimaa on Thursday quoted its poll as indicating that a slim majority of the country's lawmakers opposed same-sex marriage.

Kotimaa said it had asked all 200 MPs whether the Marriage Act, which dates back to 1929, should be amended to be sex-neutral.

The paper added that 54 per cent of the 126 MPs who took part in the poll had said they were opposed to a sex-neutral Marriage Act.

Matti Vanhanen, Finnish Centre party leader and the country's prime minister, and Timo Kalli, the Centre party's parliamentary group leader, have sent a statement to the justice minister saying that the president should continue to have the power to veto crisis management troop deployments, the Finnish Broadcasting Company (YLE) reported Wednesday.

A cross-party committee led by Christoffer Taxell had proposed amending the constitution to read that Parliament and the government could decide to deploy troops with no say for the head of state.

Finland's Green League, part of the country's centre-right -led ruling coalition, said Tuesday that Finland should consider investment into energy efficiency and renewable sources as an alternative to new nuclear power stations.

The party added that "a nought option" should be on the table alongside the main ruling parties' plans to grant approval to between one and three new nuclear power stations.

The Finnish government said in a statement Tuesday it would close eight emergency response centres, with the remaining seven based in Kerava, Kouvola, Kuopio, Oulu, Pori, Turku and Vaasa.

Anne Holmlund (cons), the interior minister, took the decision on which emergency response centres would be axed.
The eight centres are to be closed by 2015.

The government decided to reduce the number of emergency response centres in 2007.