The Finnish Parliament reconvened on Tuesday after a Christmas break of more than six weeks. The first order of business was electing new deputy speakers.
Former prime minister and Centre Party chair Matti Vanhanen continues as Speaker of Parliament.
Social Democratic Party chair Antti Rinne, who stepped down in December after half a year as prime minister, was elected as First Deputy Speaker by a wide margin. Juho Eerola of the main opposition Finns Party was chosen as Second Deputy Speaker.
The SDP is the largest group in Parliament, with 40 seats out of 200. Close behind are the Finns Party with 39 and the conservative National Coalition Party with 38. The Centre, now led by Finance Minister Katri Kulmuni, has 31.
In contrast to the all-male speakers' podium, the cabinet is female-dominated, led by Prime Minister Sanna Marin of the SDP and the women leaders of the other four government parties.
The Parliamentary Foreign Affairs Committee meets on Tuesday for a briefing on Nato issues ahead of a trip to Brussels on Thursday and Friday. There committee members will visit Nato headquarters and meet with their Belgian and European Parliament counterparts, Finnish Commissioner Jutta Urpilainen and others.
Niikko in the hot seat
On Tuesday the committee's chair, Mika Niikko of the populist Finns Party, will also face a hearing on his ties to a Chinese state-funded company whose interests he has advanced in his official capacity.
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Yle's investigative news programme MOT reported on these links last year. In January, the current-affairs magazine Suomen Kuvalehti reported that Niikko had sought to conceal his investment in the Chinese state-financed tech firm Realmax Group.
The magazine reported that Niikko and another Finns Party MP, Ville Vähämäki, were founding partners along with a Chinese man named Hang Si, but that neither MP had reported their involvement. It says that Niikko later hosted the company officials at a Parliamentary event and made trips to China at Chinese expense, which he did not report until later. Niikko has denied any wrongdoing, while Vähämäki declined to comment.
Two other MPs may also face hearings in the coming weeks.
On Thursday, MPs are to discuss the case of another Finns Party MP, Juha Mäenpää, concerning his derogatory statements about asylum seekers and immigrants while addressing Parliament last June.
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Police say there is reason to suspect him of incitement against a minority group.
State Prosecutor Raija Toiviainen has asked parliament for permission to file charges against him. After a discussion on the floor of the legislature, the issue will be taken up by the Constitutional Affairs Committee.
Foreign Minister Pekka Haavisto of the Greens may also still face further pressure over his handling of plans to repatriate Isis-linked Finnish women and children from the al-Hol detention camp in Syria.
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Following opposition criticism in December, the five government parties gave a Haavisto vote of confidence over his handling of the issue, and the Chancellor of Justice said there no grounds for a probe by his office.
However 10 MPs still wanted to investigate the matter further, so the Constitutional Affairs Committee held a hearing on the matter in mid-January and received further clarification on it from the Foreign Ministry. The committee will consider the saga when it reconvenes on Thursday, and plans to hear from experts on the issue next month.