Piia-Noora Kauppi (born 7 January 1975 in Oulu) is a Finnish former politician who currently serves as the managing director of the Federation of Finnish Financial Services. She served as a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) [1] of the European People's Party from 1999 to 2008.
Kauppi has a Master of Laws degree. She also studied economics at the Helsinki School of Economics and took some post-graduate studies at Harvard University and Yale University in the United States.
In gymnasium, Kauppi joined the National Coalition Party because it supported Finland joining the European Communities. She was actively involved in the Coalition Party Youth League and was its Oulu region president in 1993–1994, and the League's vice president in 1996–1997. [2]
After graduating as LL.M., Kauppi acted as deputy group secretary and legislative secretary for the National Coalition Party parliamentary group in 1997–1999. At the same time she was involved in local politics in Oulu as member of the city council and city board in 1996–1999. She was also the vice president of the North Ostrobothnia chapter of the National Coalition Party in 1998–2006.
Kauppi was elected in the European Parliament twice: first in 1999, and again in 2004 with 62,995 votes. [3] She was and still is the youngest Finnish person to have been elected as MEP.
In the Parliament in 2004–2006 Kauppi was a member in the Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs, the Committee on Legal Affairs, and the Committee on Women's Rights and Gender Equality. She was focused especially on legislatory projects that concerned the financial market.
In addition to her committee assignments, Kauppi was a member in the Parliament's Delegation with the United States, and during her second period was also a member of the Inter-Parliamentary Delegation with China. [4] She was also the president of the European Parliamentary Financial Services Forum, vice-president of the SME Union, and a member of the European Internet Foundation (EIF). [5] In 2000 she was involved with founding the Campaign for Parliamentary Reform, together with Cecilia Malmström, Helle Thorning-Schmidt and Nick Clegg; the group was later joined in 2004 by Alexander Stubb. The group campaigned e.g. for a single seat for the Parliament, [6] transparency in the compensation of travel expenses, the option of electronic signing of legislatory proposals, and a reform of the Parliament's interpretation policy.
During her political career, Kauppi focused especially on the constitutional development of the EU. She was e.g. the Parliament's representative in the European Convention to draft new treaties. She supported further opening the single market, transatlantic co-operation, seizing the possibilities of the European information society, and single supervision of European banking.
Kauppi left the European Parliament on 1 January 2009 to become managing director of the Federation of Finnish Financial Services, a lobbying group. For this move she received an award for "Worst conflict of interest" at the "Worst EU lobbying Awards". According to the organisers she had for a long time been advocating interests of the European banking industry as an MEP by working against regulations for the sector. For example, in 2005 she was reported by The Wall Street Journal to have supported the banking lobby with watering down regulations against money-laundering. [7] The organisers of the awards question her qualification to continuously participate in regulation efforts for a sector she would later be lobbying for. [8]
Heidi Anneli Hautala is a Finnish politician and Member of the European Parliament (MEP) from Finland. She is a member of the Green League, part of the European Green Party.
Anna Cecilia Malmström is a Swedish politician who served as European Commissioner for Trade from 2014 to 2019. She previously served as European Commissioner for Home Affairs from 2010 to 2014 and Minister for European Union Affairs from 2006 to 2010. She was a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) from Sweden from 1999 to 2006.
Eija-Riitta Korhola is a Finnish politician and former Member of the European Parliament (MEP). She served three terms, first with the Finnish Christian Democrats between 1999–2003 and then with the National Coalition Party from 2004 to 2014, being part of the European People's Party the whole time. During her years as a MEP, Korhola served on the Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety. She was also a member of the ACP–EU Joint Parliamentary Assembly, and acted as a deputy both in the Committee on Budgetary Control and in the Committee on Foreign Affairs.
Patrizia Toia is an Italian politician and member of the European Parliament for North-West with Democratic Party, part of the group of the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats.
Alexander Sebastian Léonce von der Wenge Graf Lambsdorff, commonly known as Alexander Graf Lambsdorff is a German politician of the Free Democratic Party of Germany (FDP), part of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe, who has been serving as the German ambassador to Russia since 2023.
Kathleen Van Brempt is a Belgian social-democratic politician and member of Vooruit. She currently serves as Member of the European Parliament (MEP) as part of the Party of European Socialists and is leader of the local branch of her party in Antwerp.
Jacqueline Kay Swinburne, Baroness Swinburne is a British politician and life peer. She was a member of the European Parliament (MEP) for Wales between 2009 and 2019, representing the Conservative Party, and became a member of the House of Lords in 2023. She was appointed Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Housing and Communities from 1 March 2024 for Baroness Penn as a Minister on Leave.
Sirpa Pietikäinen is a Finnish politician and Member of the European Parliament (MEP) from Finland. She is a former member of the National Coalition Party, part of the European People's Party.
Rasa Juknevičienė is a Lithuanian politician and paediatrician, who has been serving as a Member of the European Parliament since 2019. She served as Minister of Defense of Lithuania since 2008 to 2012. She is a member of center right Homeland Union.
Ingeborg Helen Gräßle is a German politician of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) who has been serving as a member of the German Bundestag since the 2021 elections, representing the Backnang – Schwäbisch Gmünd district. She previously served as a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) from 2004 until 2019, where chaired of the Budgetary Control Committee.
Franziska Katharina Brantner is a German politician of the Green Party who has been serving as a member of the German Parliament since 2013. Since 2024, she has also been serving as co-leader of Alliance 90/The Greens, alongside Felix Banaszak.
Sven Giegold is a German politician of the Alliance 90/The Greens who has been serving as the party's deputy chair since 2024, under co-chairs Franziska Brantner and Felix Banaszak.
Kati Piri is a Hungarian-born Dutch politician serving as a member of the House of Representatives since 2021. A member of the Labour Party (PvdA), she previously was a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) within the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats from 2014 until 2021.
Dita Charanzová is a Czech politician, consultant and former senior civil servant, focusing on European Union issues. She had been a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) from July 2014 to July 2024 and its vice-president from July 2019 to July 2024.
Miapetra Kumpula-Natri is a Finnish politician who currently serves as a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) from Finland. She is a member of the Social Democratic Party, part of the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats. She has been a Member of the European Parliament since 2014.
Merja Kyllönen is a Finnish politician and Member of the European Parliament (MEP) from Finland. She is a member of the Left Alliance, part of The Left in the European Parliament – GUE/NGL. She was the Minister of Transport in Katainen Cabinet 2011–2014. From 2014 to 2019 she was a Member of the European Parliament (MEP), representing Finland.
Eva Konstantinova Maydell is a Bulgarian politician who is a Member of the European Parliament (MEP). A member of the GERB party, she also served as the president of the European Movement International from 2017 to 2023.
Željana Zovko is a Bosnian and Croatian diplomat and politician. Since 2016, she has been serving as a member of the European Parliament from Croatia.
Jutta Paulus is a German politician Bündnis 90/Die Grünen and natural scientist, as well as former managing director of the laboratory LAUS GmbH in Kirrweiler/Pfalz. Since 2019, she is a Member of the European Parliament for Greens/EFA. Politico Europe magazine ranks Paulus among the most important politicians and policy makers in the European Union in the implementation of the European Green Deal.
Hannah Neumann is a German politician of the Alliance 90/The Greens who has been serving as a Member of the European Parliament since 2019.
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| People | |
