The responsibilities of the Cabinet Committee on Foreign and Security Policy to be extended

Government Communications Unit

Press release 394/2005
29 December 2005




The duties of the Cabinet Committee on Foreign and Security Policy will be extended to cover important internal security issues which are connected with external relations and security policy. On Thursday, 29 December, the Government issued a statute on the amendment of the Government Rules of Procedure. The amendment changes the composition of the Cabinet Committee on Foreign and Security Policy and makes the Minister of the Interior a permanent member of the Committee.

The Cabinet Committee on Foreign and Security Policy is chaired by the Prime Minister. Other members include the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Minister of Defence, Minister of the Interior and a maximum of three other ministers designated by the Government. If any other minister has been designated to consider matters that fall within the mandate of the Ministry for Foreign Affairs, he/she will also be a member of the Committee.

The name of the Government Information Unit was changed to the Government Communications Unit on 1 June 2005. In the Government Rules of Procedure, the term Government information, that falls within the mandate of the Prime Minister's Office, will be replaced by Government communications.

The statute will enter into force on 1 January 2006.

Further information: Heikki Aaltonen, Permanent State Under-Secretary, tel. +358 9 160 22007, Prime Minister's Office