Prime Minister Petteri Orpo and Interior Minister Mari Rantanen have disagreed over a review of the Finnish Security and Intelligence Service, Supo, after Rantanen said she learned only this week that the process had already started.
Helsingin Sanomat reported that the Prime Minister’s Office decided in June to launch the review and that its mandate began at the start of August.
Rantanen told the newspaper that she was informed of the process only on Tuesday.
She described the procedure as improper and called for the government to discuss its internal rules.
Rantanen said a review concerning an agency under another ministry should not have started without informing the ministry’s political and senior civil service leadership.
“This has been an extremely inappropriate way of operating,” she told Yle.
Helsingin Sanomat reported that the decision establishing the review states that the Interior Ministry knew about the project. Rantanen said neither its political leadership nor its top civil service leadership had been aware of it.
Orpo rejected her criticism.
“As prime minister, I have every right to commission reviews concerning the division of responsibilities within the government,” he told Yle in a written statement.
He said discussions had taken place at civil service level and that the Interior Ministry’s permanent secretary had known about the review. According to Iltalehti, Orpo also said Supo’s director had taken the initiative in the matter.
Orpo told Iltalehti that Rantanen should “put some ice in her hat”, a Finnish expression meaning she should calm down, and said the Interior Ministry should examine why information had not reached her.
Rantanen responded in Imatra that she had expected Orpo to contact her before the review began. Ilta-Sanomat quoted her using an expletive to describe her reaction when she learned about the process.
She also questioned whether the outcome of the review had already been decided, given Orpo’s earlier support for moving Supo under the Prime Minister’s Office.
Rantanen wants Supo to remain under the Interior Ministry. She has cited costs and cooperation between security authorities as reasons for keeping the current structure.
The dispute follows a proposal this week by outgoing Foreign Ministry State Secretary Jukka Salovaara to transfer Supo to the Foreign Ministry.
Foreign Minister Elina Valtonen backed that proposal, arguing that Supo and Finland’s foreign intelligence functions increasingly work on overlapping issues.
Orpo has instead supported examining whether Supo should operate under the Prime Minister’s Office, an arrangement used in some other countries.
Yle first reported on Tuesday that the government was preparing to publish a review of Supo’s position. According to Yle, the work will be carried out by Petri Knape, head of the Interior Ministry’s national security unit and a former Supo deputy director, and Jyri Rantala, a deputy government communications director and former Supo chief of staff.
The review will examine Supo’s governance and position under changed security conditions. A steering group made up of ministry permanent secretaries will oversee the work.
Orpo said the current government would not decide on any transfer. He said the review would provide options for negotiations after the next parliamentary election.
According to Helsingin Sanomat, the review is due to end in March, making its findings available for the next government formation talks.
Rantanen said the issue should now be discussed during the government’s budget negotiations next week.
HT