The Ministry of Education is surprised by the project to combine the Department of Culture and Arts and the Department of Youth and Sports. Antti Kurvinen, the former Minister of Science and Culture, presented a plan to merge the departments just a few days before he became Minister of Agriculture and Forestry.
For the Ministry of Education officials, the plan to merge the culture and sports departments came as a complete surprise. Officials reached by , who appear to be anonymous, say that the Minister of Science and Culture Antti Kurvinen (center) announced the project at a remote meeting thought to be a farewell event in its last working week at the end of April.
In 2014, the Culture and Sports Departments were separated from the then Minister of Culture and Sports Paavo Arhinmäki (left).
– The division of one department into two was welcomed and was widely welcomed. This combination is surprising and, in my view, no one’s interest, not in culture and the arts, nor in sports and youth. The department will be huge, and its general manager will not be able to focus properly on all areas, Arhinmäki comments.
One of the officials interviewed by describes that the organizational reform would not have been needed on top of the additional burden of the corona and the war in Ukraine.
– It seems an original solution that the Minister makes such a solution and in a way leaves smoky ruins. It seems that such an activity is not very correct for a follower either, Professor Emeritus of Sociology of Exercise Hannu Itkonen says.
Follower of Antti Kurvinen Petri Honkonen (center), however, is driving the project forward. Kurvinen, who became Minister of Agriculture and Forestry, refused to be interviewed by .
– Let’s see if there would be better synergy benefits from having the departments together. This is also partly related to the possibility, now that Veikkaus’ financial package will change, that there will be no separate Veikkaus cash items. Let’s see if our funding base and certain processes are sufficiently consistent, comments the Chief of Staff of the Ministry of Education. Anita Lehikoinen.
In the future, Veikkaus’ gambling revenues will be transferred to the state budget without any earmarking. The reform is scheduled to take effect from the beginning of 2024.
Ministry of Education officials are worried about how the money will be distributed, ie whether exercise will be left in the footsteps of culture. The budget for the Department of Culture and Arts Policy is EUR 600 million, and that of the Department of Youth and Sport EUR 150 million, after deducting student grants.
Estimates have also been made in the public eye that by merging the departments, the position of Director General would be handed over to Kurvinen’s Secretary of State. Tuomo Puumala.
Professor Itkonen does not talk about names, but he is worried about the state of trust.
– It inevitably seems to have a taste for politics in the sense that such solutions are likely to erode trust. I have read my sociology homework that if we do long-term activities in terms of content and take big projects forward, then trust is a key factor, Itkonen says.
And what does the sports community say about the project?
– This society needs more exercise and culture in this time and if this organizational reform accelerates it and what is it, the chairman of the Olympic Committee Jan Vapaavuori says.