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| - Finland's new finance minister warned of the coronavirus pandemic's "large bill" on Tuesday, and hinted he shares his government's opposition to the EU's current plans for a rescue package. "It is extremely important for us that our principal market area, Western Europe, remains well functioning," Matti Vanhanen told a press conference after earlier being sworn in, adding that he would join the monthly summit of EU finance ministers later Tuesday. However, Vanhanen, a former prime minister, suggested he would not seek to change his country's opposition to EU plans for a 750-billion-euro ($845bn) rescue fund for member states. Last week the Finnish government repeated its demands to scale down the bailout plan and replace the slated grants to member states with loans. "The question is to what extent the EU recovery package will rely on EU-level measures and national measures, and finding a suitable balance between the two is the issue here," Vanhanen said. But the veteran Centre Party politician said that international cooperation and a shared rescue plan are key to helping states recover from the impact of COVID-19. "We would be doing extreme wrong if we created a climate in which each country has to take care of its own recovery by itself," he said. Finland, a net contributor to the EU, has long been a vocal opponent of bailouts to other member states, becoming the only EU country to secure collateral against the rescue package for Greece in 2011. However, Finnish leaders have recently been at pains to point out that the country is taking a less hardline approach on the coronavirus rescue package than the so-called "frugal four" countries of Austria, Denmark, Sweden and the Netherlands, stressing that Finland is prepared to explore other ways of funding the measures. Vanhanen's predecessor, Katri Kulmuni, stepped down as finance minister last week following revelations that she spent 50,000 euros ($56,000) of taxpayers' money on public-speaking lessons. Kulmuni garnered international attention when she was appointed to the post last December as the youngest member of Finland's all-female coalition government in which four of the five party leaders were aged under 35. Vanhanen's austere, no-nonsense manner saw him dubbed "the most boring man in Finnish politics" while prime minister between 2003 and 2010, an image which often went down well in Finland where politicians deemed as too outgoing are met with mistrust. sgk/po/cdw
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