Mauri Pekkarinen

Last updated
Raija Pekkarinen
​
(m. 1972)​
Mauri Pekkarinen
Mauri pekkarinen.jpg
Mauri Pekkarinen in 2010.
Minister of Economic Affairs
In office
1 January 2008 –22 June 2011
Children2
Alma mater University of Jyväskylä

Reijo Mauri Matias Pekkarinen (born 6 October 1947, in Kinnula, Finland) is a Finnish politician, currently serving as a Member of European Parliament for Finland. He is the Centre Party of Finland (Suomen Keskusta) deputy and secretary, having served in various cabinet position in the Finnish government, including as Minister of Economic Affairs, Minister of Trade and Industry, and Minister of the Interior, as well as a member of parliament. [3] He is known by the nickname "The Parliament Terrier".

Contents

Early life and education

Pekkarinen was born into a farmer's family in Kinnula, to father Niilo Matti Pekkarinen (1922–2004), and mother Hellin Inkeri (née Kinnunen, 1929–2018). [4] [5] He graduated from high school in Kannus in 1968.

Pekkarinen first became interested in politics as a student at the University of Jyväskylä in the late 1960s and early 1970s, from where he graduated with a Master's in Social Studies in 1974. [4] He had long held an interest in economics and society and began to take part in party politics at the age of 24.

Career

Early political career & Minister of the Interior

In 1979 Pekkarinen was first elected to parliament in the Central Finland constituency, after which he was re-elected with an increased vote share in 1983, 1987, and 1991.

After the 1991 election victory he was named Minister of the Interior in the Aho Cabinet. He served in this position for a full parliamentary term until 1995, when Aho's Centre Party lost the parliamentary majority to the Social Democrats in the parliamentary elections.

Minister of Trade and Industry

In 2003, Pekkarinen was named the Minister of Trade and Industry in the Jäätteenmäki Cabinet. As new Minister of Trade and Industry, he stated his goal to "promote entrepreneurship and economic growth and thus contribute to diminishing unemployment, [and] to tackle large issues in the field of energy policy such as the carbon dioxide emissions trade between companies in the EU and the building a new nuclear power reactor in Finland", [3] and has also stated an interest in preserving good relations with France. In 2008 his title was changed to Minister of Economic Affairs, a position in which he remained until 2011. [6]

During his tenure as Minister of Trade and Industry, Pekkarinen was portrayed in the Finnish political satire tv series The Autocrats in the early 2000s.

Taxes

Mauri Pekkarinen suggested higher food VAT to collect more taxes in January 2014. Reduction of the food VAT was an election theme in 2007 Finnish parliamentary election. Half of the promised food VAT reduction after the elections was implemented as a reduction of VAT on food served in restaurants. Pekkarinen's suggestion of 2014 did not include a cancellation of the reduced restaurant VAT. [7] [8]

Member of European Parliament

At the 2019 European Parliament Elections Pekkarinen was voted into the European Parliament with 68,487 votes.

Personal life

Pekkanen married his wife Raija in 1972. Together they have four children; two sons and two daughters.

In addition to politics, Pekkarinen is an avid athlete, and is a noted long distance runner. [9]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Politics of Finland</span> Political system of Finland

The politics of Finland take place within the framework of a parliamentary representative democracy. Finland is a republic whose head of state is President Sauli Niinistö, who leads the nation's foreign policy and is the supreme commander of the Finnish Defence Forces. Finland's head of government is Prime Minister Petteri Orpo, who leads the nation's executive branch, called the Finnish Government. Legislative power is vested in the Parliament of Finland, and the Government has limited rights to amend or extend legislation. The Constitution of Finland vests power to both the President and Government: the President has veto power over parliamentary decisions, although this power can be overruled by a majority vote in the Parliament.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Paavo Lipponen</span> Prime minister of Finland from 1995 to 2003

Paavo Tapio Lipponen is a Finnish politician and former reporter. He was prime minister of Finland from 1995 to 2003, and chairman of the Social Democratic Party of Finland from 1993 to 2005. He also served as speaker of the Parliament of Finland from 2003 to 2007 and was his party's nominee in the 2012 Finnish presidential election but received only 6.7% of the votes, making it the biggest defeat the Social Democratic Party had ever received in Finnish presidential elections at the time. Lipponen is currently the oldest living former prime minister of Finland.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Esko Aho</span> Prime minister of Finland from 1991 to 1995

Esko Tapani Aho is a Finnish politician who was prime minister of Finland from 1991 to 1995.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Anneli Jäätteenmäki</span> Prime minister of Finland in 2003

Anneli Tuulikki Jäätteenmäki is a Finnish politician who was the first female and 39th Prime Minister of Finland from 17 April 2003 to 24 June 2003. From 2004 until 2019, she served as a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) from Finland.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Väinö Tanner</span> Prime minister of Finland from 1926 to 1927

Väinö Alfred Tanner was a leading figure in the Social Democratic Party of Finland, and a pioneer and leader of the cooperative movement in Finland. He was Prime Minister of Finland in 1926–1927.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Left Alliance (Finland)</span> Finnish political party

The Left Alliance is a socialist political party in Finland.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Centre Party (Finland)</span> Agrarian political party in Finland

The Centre Party, officially the Centre Party of Finland, is an agrarian political party in Finland.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Finns Party</span> Finnish political party

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Johannes Virolainen</span> Prime minister of Finland from 1964 to 1966

Johannes Virolainen was a Finnish politician and who served as 30th Prime Minister of Finland, helped inhabitants of Karelia and created Mandatory Swedish in Finnish basic schools.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jyrki Katainen</span> Prime minister of Finland from 2011 to 2014

Jyrki Tapani Katainen is a Finnish politician who served as the European Commission's Vice-President for Jobs, Growth, Investment and Competitiveness from 2014 until 2019. Katainen was previously Prime Minister of Finland from 2011 to 2014 and chairman of the National Coalition Party from 2004 to 2014. He was succeeded by Alexander Stubb as chairman of Finland's National Coalition Party. After stepping down as Prime Minister, Katainen was elected as European Commission Vice-President in July 2014.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Eero Heinäluoma</span> Finnish politician

Eero Olavi Heinäluoma is a Finnish politician who has been serving as Member of the European Parliament since 2019. A former chairman of the Finnish Social Democratic Party, he was replaced in the party's leadership by Jutta Urpilainen in June 2008. He was Speaker of the Parliament of Finland 2011–2015.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Antti Kalliomäki</span> Finnish athlete, politician

Antti Kalliomäki is a Finnish politician and former athlete. Kalliomäki is a member of the Social Democratic Party of Finland (SDP) and was a member of the Parliament of Finland from 1983 until 2011. He retired from politics in 2011.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Timo Soini</span> Finnish politician

Timo Juhani Soini is a Finnish politician who is the co-founder and former leader of the Finns Party. He served as Deputy Prime Minister of Finland from 2015 to 2017 and Minister of Foreign Affairs from 2015 to 2019.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mari Kiviniemi</span> Prime minister of Finland from 2010 to 2011

Mari Johanna Kiviniemi is a Finnish politician, who served as the 41st and second female Prime Minister of Finland from 2010 to 2011.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Väinö Leskinen</span> Finnish politician

Väinö Olavi Leskinen was a Finnish politician, minister and a member of the parliament from Social Democratic Party of Finland. He is perceived as one of the major Finnish social democratic politicians of the 1950s and 1960s.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Antti Rinne</span> Prime Minister of Finland in 2019

Antti Juhani Rinne is a Finnish politician who served as Speaker of the Parliament of Finland from April to June 2019 and Prime Minister of Finland from June to December 2019. He led the Social Democratic Party from 2014 until 2020.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sipilä Cabinet</span> 74th government of Finland

The cabinet of Juha Sipilä was the 74th government of Finland, from 2015 to 2019. It was formed following the parliamentary election of 2015 and formally appointed by President Sauli Niinistö on 29 May 2015. From June 2017, the cabinet consisted of a coalition formed by the Centre Party, Blue Reform and the National Coalition Party. The cabinet's Prime Minister was Juha Sipilä.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Arto Satonen</span> Finnish politician

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tytti Tuppurainen</span> Finnish politician

Tytti Tuppurainen is a Finnish politician.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ville Skinnari</span> Finnish politician and ice hockey player

Ville Skinnari is a Finnish politician of the Social Democratic Party who has been serving as Minister for Development Cooperation and Foreign Trade in the cabinet of Prime Minister Antti Rinne and then in the cabinet of Prime Minister Sanna Marin from 2019 to 2023.

References

  1. ↑ "Finnish Government - Ministers of Trade and Industry". Valtioneuvosto.fi. Retrieved 30 March 2018.
  2. ↑ "Council of State - Ministers of Interior". Valtioneuvosto.fi. Retrieved 27 December 2017.
  3. 1 2 Finpop.net interview, Vincent LeFrancois , 2003, accessed July 3, 2007
  4. 1 2 Eduskunta. "Mauri Pekkarinen". eduskunta.fi (in Finnish). Eduskunta. Retrieved 22 June 2021.
  5. ↑ "Inkeri Pekkarisen kuolinilmoitus" (in Finnish). Keskisuomalainen. 30 December 2018. p. 44.{{cite web}}: Missing or empty |url= (help)
  6. ↑ Minister of Economic Affairs – Finnish Government
  7. ↑ VAT won't increase next year, says Finance Ministry yle 27.1.2014
  8. ↑ VM:n Pekkarinen: Yleinen alv ei nouse ensi vuonna yle 27.1.2014
  9. ↑ "Mauri Pekkarinen".
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.