Orpo made Defence Committee Chair

​ The opposition Kansallinen Kokoomus (National Coalition Party-NCP) Chairman, Petteri Orpo on Tuesday has been elected chairman of the Parliamentary Defense Committee, said the parliament in a press release.

Orpo was elected unanimously at a meeting of the Defense Committee following the death of Ilkka Kanerva on 14 April.

Kanerva had been discharging his duty as the Chair of the committee until death since 2019, although he had been on sick leave for some time.

Main opposition Perussuomalaiset (Finns Party) lawmaker Jari Ronkainen was elected to continue as vice chairman of the Committee.

On April 22, plenary session elected Mika Kari, Kimmo Kiljunen, Riitta Mäkinen, Erkki Tuomioja of the ruling Suomen Sosialidemokraattinen Puolue (Social Democratic Party of Finland-SDP)), Jari Ronkainen, Juha Mäenpää, Veijo Niemi of Perussuomalaiset, Petteri Orpo, Timo Heinonen, Jukka Kopra of Kokoomus, Eeva Kalli, Tuomas Kettunen, Joonas Könttä of Suomen Keskusta (Centre Party of Finland) , Atte Harjanne, Hanna Holopainen of Vihreä Liitto (Green League), Markus Mustajärvi of Vasemmistoliitto (Left Alliance) and Anders Adlercreutz of Suomenruotsalainenkansanpuolue (Swedish People’s Party of Finland-RKP) as members of the Defence Committee.