Mari Rantanen | |
---|---|
Member of the Finnish Parliament for Helsinki | |
Assumed office 17 April 2019 | |
Minister of the Interior | |
Assumed office 20 June 2023 | |
Prime Minister | Petteri Orpo |
Preceded by | Krista Mikkonen |
Personal details | |
Born | 29 March 1976 |
Political party | Finns Party |
Mari Rantanen (born 29 March 1976) is a Finnish politician of the Finns Party currently serving in the Parliament of Finland for the Helsinki constituency. As a Member of Parliament,she has served as a member of the Committee on Legal Affairs in 2019-2022. Rantanen was elected Chairman of the Committee on Administrative Affairs in November 2022. [1] Before her political career,Rantanen worked as a nurse and as a police officer. [1] [2]
In June 2023,she was appointed Minister of the Interior in the Orpo Cabinet. [3]
After her appointment,Rantanen's past remarks came under scrutiny,as she has continuously written about the Great Replacement,even using the hashtag #väestönvaihto (Finnish for the Great Replacement) repeatedly on Twitter. After story was published,Rantanen said on Twitter that he did not believe in conspiracies. - The demographic pressure on Europe and the resulting demographic change that statistics show is a fact,Rantanen added. Prime Minister Orpo says in an interview "Above all,I evaluate how the minister does his job". According to Orpo,this means that the Minister does his job in a way that the Minister of the Interior follows the principles of the government programme and the principles that everyone has signed up to. In its 2020 Yearbook,the Finnish Security Police have identified demographic change as one of the notable ideological drivers of far-right terrorism. It also noted that views based on the theory of population turnover have been highlighted in a number of far-right terrorist attacks. [4]
Ahead of the 2023 Finnish parliamentary election,Rantanen wrote a candidate brief on her website in which she remarked on immigration:"we must not be so blue-eyed (a Finnish term for "naive") that soon we will not be blue-eyed (a feature often associated with white people)". [5]
In an interview with Iltalehti ,Rantanen was asked what she meant by no longer being blue-eyed,and she replied:"I mean exactly what it says." She denied referring to racial theories,and when asked if she believed in the Great Replacement,she replied:"I believe in statistics." When asked what kind of statistics,Rantanen answered "demographics," instructed the interviewer to look at demographic changes in Sweden and suggested trying to avoid such changes in Finland. Rantanen then ended the interview. [5]
In 2016,Rantanen wrote on social media that the boats of asylum seekers crossing the Mediterranean Sea should be stopped or otherwise "there will be a war". She also liked a comment that stated that refugees should be left to drown and another that called refugees parasites.The Interior Minister commented on his actions on Twitter on after STT reported on the tampering. Iltalehti has found and seen the post with comments on Facebook. - I have written a lot about politics over the years and I may have inadvertently liked a post whose content I did not agree with. I am a nurse and a police officer. People in distress at sea,or in any distress,will be helped,always," Rantanen writes. [6]
The Finns Party,formerly known as the True Finns,is a right-wing populist political party in Finland. It was founded in 1995 following the dissolution of the Finnish Rural Party.
Jussi Kristian Halla-aho is a Finnish politician,currently serving as the Speaker of the Parliament of Finland since 2023. Halla-aho has served as a member of the Parliament of Finland from 2011 to 2014 and again since 2019,and as the leader of the Finns Party from 10 June 2017 to 14 August 2021. Previously,between 2014 and 2019,he was a member of the European Parliament,where he was part of the Identity and Democracy group.
The minister of the interior is one of the ministerial portfolios in the Finnish Government. The minister of the interior is in charge of the Ministry of the Interior.
Teuvo Hakkarainen is a Finnish politician and former member of the European Parliament. Before being elected to the European Parliament in the 2019 election,he had been a member of the Finnish Parliament since 2011.
A 2011 poll showed that 66% of Finnish respondents considered Finland to be a racist country but only 14% admitted to being racist themselves. Minority groups facing the most negative attitudes were Finnish Kale,Somalis,and ethnic groups mostly consisting of Muslims. Many Finnish people believe that Finns played little or no role in colonialism,a view known as "Finnish exceptionalism". However,Finns did settle while not an independent people the Sámi land in the north and were involved in European colonial projects in Africa and North America. Finns at the time were subjects of Sweden and later the Russian Empire,which has been used to excuse their participation in colonialism.
Antti Petteri Orpo is a Finnish politician currently serving as the prime minister of Finland since 2023 and as the leader of the National Coalition Party since 2016. He briefly served as speaker of the Parliament of Finland after the 2023 parliamentary election.
Sanni Grahn-Laasonen is a Finnish politician and a member of the National Coalition Party. She was the Minister of Education and Culture 2015-2019. She was the Minister of the Environment in Alexander Stubb's cabinet between 2014 and 2015. Before her career in politics she has worked as a journalist in the Finnish afternoon newspaper Iltalehti.
Wille-Werner Rydman is a Finnish politician serving as Minister of Economic Affairs,representing the Finns Party and formerly the National Coalition Party. Rydman was elected to the parliament in 2015,gaining 4,524 votes in the elections. He has also been a member of the City Council of Helsinki since 2012. He received a Masters of Social Sciences from the University of Helsinki in 2008,after which he worked as a parliamentary assistant. On 6 July 2023,Rydman was appointed Minister of Economic Affairs in the Orpo Cabinet.
Soldiers of Odin is an anti-immigrant group which was founded in Kemi,Finland,in October 2015. The group was established in response to the thousands of migrants who were arriving in Finland amidst the European migrant crisis. They call themselves a "patriotic organisation that fights for a Finland" that wants to scare away "Islamist intruders" they say cause insecurity and increase crime.
Elina Maria Valtonen is a Finnish politician who has served as Minister for Foreign Affairs under Prime Minister Petteri Orpo since 2023. A member of the National Coalition Party (NCP),she has represented the constituency of Uusimaa in the Parliament of Finland since 2014. In the 2021 municipal election she collected the second-highest number of votes in Helsinki and was elected a member of its city council.
Arto Olavi Satonen is a Finnish politician and a member of the Finnish Parliament,representing the National Coalition Party. He was first elected to the Parliament in the 2003 parliamentary election. Satonen served as the vice-chairman of the parliamentary group of the National Coalition Party 2012–2014 and chairman 2014–2016. In June 2016 Satonen was chosen as the second deputy speaker for the Parliament and served in the position until the reshuffle of the seats in February 2018.
Sanna Mirella Marin is a Finnish former politician who served as prime minister of Finland from 2019 to 2023 and as the leader of the Social Democratic Party of Finland (SDP) from 2020 to 2023. She was a Member of Parliament from 2015 to 2023. She was re-elected as member of parliament in April 2023 but resigned to become a strategic adviser on political leaders' reform programmes in the Tony Blair Institute in September 2023.
The 2017 Finnish government crisis followed the Finns Party leadership election held on 10 June 2017. Prime Minister Juha Sipiläand Minister of Finance Petteri Orpo announced on 12 June that they would no longer cooperate in a coalition government with the Finns Party after Jussi Halla-aho was elected party chairman. The crisis resolved on 13 June when twenty MPs defected from the Finns Party's parliamentary group,forming what would eventually become the Finnish Reform Movement party. Sipilä's government retained a majority in Finland's parliament as the Finnish Reform Movement continued as a member of the coalition.
Leena Kristiina Meri is a Finnish politician,representing the Finns Party in the Parliament of Finland. She has served in the Parliament since 2015 and in the City Council of Hyvinkääsince 2013.
Anders Erik Gunnar Adlercreutz is a Finnish architect and politician. He has represented the Swedish People's Party of Finland in the Parliament of Finland since 2015,and has served as the party's chair since 2024. He has served as Minister of Education in the Orpo Cabinet since July 2024,having previously served as Minister of European Affairs and Ownership Steering.
Ville Tapani Tavio is a Finnish politician and member of the Parliament of Finland (MP). He became the chairperson of the Finns Party Parliamentary Group in April 2019. He has been Minister for Development Cooperation and Foreign Trade since June 2023.
Riikka Katriina Purra is a Finnish politician,serving as the Deputy Prime Minister of Finland,and Finance Minister,since 2023. She is also a member of the Parliament of Finland for the Finns Party for the Uusimaa constituency. In August 2021 she was elected the new leader of the party,after Jussi Halla-aho.
Presidential elections were held in Finland on 28 January 2024,with a second round held on 11 February. Voters elected a president of the Republic for a six-year term. Incumbent president Sauli Niinistöwas term-limited and ineligible to run for re-election,having served the maximum two terms,ensuring that the president elected would be the country's thirteenth.
Events in the year 2023 in Finland.
The Orpo Cabinet is the 77th government of Finland. It was formed following the 2023 Finnish parliamentary election and succeeds the Marin Cabinet led by the Social Democrats and was formally appointed by President Sauli Niinistöon 20 June 2023. The cabinet is headed by Petteri Orpo and is a coalition between the National Coalition Party,Finns Party,the Swedish People's Party,and the Christian Democrats.