H.E. Ms Raili Lahnalampi:

Finland was one of the first countries in the world to stand for equality, and I see no reason why we would stop now. The Commission is an important player in the EU, and we believe no part of society should be excluded from giving its knowledge to the future of both the Commission and the EU. I do not want to comment directly on the 50-50 split, but Finland has put forward a female Commissioner where it had previously only nominated male Commissioners. It was time we did so. There are very capable women and men in every member state so I am sure we will end up with a balanced, merit-based outcome.