Timo Soini

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Soini with US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo Secretary Pompeo Meets With Finnish Foreign Minister Soini in Helsinki (43402126152).jpg
Soini with US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo

He has frequently visited the United States and received invitations to several establishment meetings, such as National Prayer Breakfast hosted by President Barack Obama. [25] [26] [27] He has also commented on European affairs in the American conservative media, for example on Fox News. [28] [29] In Finland Soini has also been seen hosting senior American politicians, such as the conservative former presidential candidate Michele Bachmann in April 2014. [30]

Views

Climate change

In January 2011, Soini called for Finland to quit all international climate change agreements. According to him, emission trading is a major financial crime in Europe. The European Union Emission Trading Scheme was introduced in 2005. Soini wanted to cancel all recent additions to the energy and environmental taxes. He used the expression: "Green taxes are like shooting yourself in the foot". Soini was criticised for acting as a brake on climate change solutions by MP Oras Tynkkynen, a Green focusing on climate policy, and for calling Finland the North Korea of climate policy by MP Miapetra Kumpula-Natri, a Social Democrat. [31]

According to Soini, he worked on the party's climate policy program for one and a half years. The published program was copied almost word by word from a year old document of the Metal Union written by Matti Putkonen, a former Metal Union employee now working for the Finns Party. [32]

Religion

Soini is a practising Catholic. His views on religious and moral issues include opposition to abortion, homosexuality and the ordination of women as priests. [33] Soini converted to Roman Catholicism from Lutheranism in 1988. [34] Catholicism is a religious minority in Finland, with only about 0.3% of residents identifying as Catholic.

Abortion

Timo Soini in 2018 Finnish Foreign Minister Timo Soini Signs Secretary Pompeo's Guestbook (44997597875).jpg
Timo Soini in 2018

In May 2018, Soini, as a Catholic, criticized the Irish abortion referendum, despite the Sipilä Cabinet and the official position of the Finnish government to support abortion rights. [35]

See also

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References

  1. "Vapaa vennamolainen". Timo Soini. 11 June 2023. Retrieved 11 July 2023.
  2. "Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finland – Ministers of Foreign Affairs". Valtioneuvosto.fi. Archived from the original on 14 February 2012. Retrieved 30 January 2018.
  3. "Helsingin Sanomat – International Edition – Home". Archived from the original on 23 April 2011. Retrieved 10 December 2009.
  4. "Nationalist Finns Party make gains in Finland vote". BBC News. 18 April 2011.
  5. 1 2 "Helsingin Sanomat, April 18 2011, 'SUNDAY EVENING : ELECTION SPECIAL'". Archived from the original on 10 August 2011. Retrieved 3 October 2017.
  6. 1 2 "Soini nousi äänikuninkaaksi". Yle Uutiset. 17 April 2011. Retrieved 24 February 2015.
  7. "Vaalit 2011". Yle Uutiset. Archived from the original on 28 May 2013. Retrieved 24 February 2015.
  8. 1 2 "Helsingin Sanomat, April 18 2011, 'EDITORIAL: Timo Soini rewrote the electoral history books'" . Retrieved 3 October 2017.
  9. Soini announces he will not continue at Finns Party helm Yle News on 5 March 2017. Retrieved on 12 March 2017.
  10. "Sannfinländare bryter sig loss – delar partiet – DN.SE". Dagens Nyheter. 13 June 2017. Retrieved 3 October 2017.
  11. "Jussi Halla-aho hämmentävän viikon jälkeen: "Ystävyyssuhteet kovalla koetuksella"". 16 June 2017. Retrieved 3 October 2017.
  12. Pekonen, Juha-Pekka (18 April 2019). "Timo Soini jättää politiikan". Helsingin Sanomat. Retrieved 18 April 2019.
  13. 1 2 "Eduskunta – edustajamatrikkeli" . Retrieved 24 February 2015.[ permanent dead link ]
  14. Note: Finland has universal male conscription, with most men serving either six, nine or twelve months and then transferring to the Reserve.
  15. "Political elite have 'abandoned ordinary people'". Offaly Express. Johnston Publishing Ltd. 23 September 2009. Archived from the original on 6 September 2012. Retrieved 14 July 2011.
  16. IS. "Timo Soini: Naispappeus ajoi minut katolilaiseksi". Ilta-Sanomat. Archived from the original on 26 May 2012. Retrieved 24 February 2015.
  17. http://areena.yle.fi/video/1301603590451 Vaalit 2011: Neljä suurta tentissä Archived 5 April 2011 at the Wayback Machine
  18. Jackson, Patrick (17 April 2011). "Profile: Finland's Timo Soini". BBC News. Retrieved 14 July 2011. Massive gains for a massive man – the nationalist Finns Party's shock election result in the 2011 Finnish general election befits the burly figure of their leader, Timo Soini. And there is much brain to go with the brawn, according to journalists who have followed his party's advance from the margins of politics – from just 4.1% of the vote in 2007 to about 19% four years later. "He draws a crowd like flypaper catches flies," one voter, who planned to keep her vote for the mainstream Social Democrats, told AFP news agency after watching him at the stump in the industrial town of Pori. "He is a very good talker in a way that speaks to common people and makes complicated things look very easy," according to Jan Sundberg, a professor at Helsinki University.
  19. Patrick Jackson (17 April 2011). "Profile: Finland's Timo Soini". BBC.
  20. 1 2 "BBC News – Profile: Finland's Timo Soini". BBC News. 17 April 2011. Retrieved 24 February 2015.
  21. "Kolmen ässän humppa – seuraa hallitusohjelmavääntöä Smolnassa hetki hetkeltä". Yle. 8 May 2015. Retrieved 9 May 2015.
  22. Tanner, Jari (29 May 2015). "EU-Skeptic Finns Party Joins Cabinet for 1st Time". Associated Press. Retrieved 29 May 2015.
  23. "Timo Soini's official biography". European Parliament . Retrieved 8 April 2011.
  24. "Eduskunta – edustajamatrikkeli". Archived from the original on 11 June 2011. Retrieved 24 February 2015.
  25. "Soini inbjuden till bönefrukost med Obama". Hbl.fi – Finlands ledande nyhetssajt på svenska. Retrieved 24 February 2015.
  26. Anna Nuutinen. "Timo Soini sai kutsun Obaman rukousaamiaiselle – "Voi saada uutta ideaakin"". Ilta-Sanomat. Archived from the original on 28 January 2014. Retrieved 24 February 2015.
  27. "Finns Party picks newcomer as parliamentary chair". Yle Uutiset. 3 February 2014. Retrieved 24 February 2015.
  28. Helsingin Sanomat, 4 November 2011, 'Soini esitteli Kreikka-kantojaan Fox Newsin haastattelussa'
  29. "Video: Finns Timo Soini on Fox News, talks about EU Bank bail out for Greece". Archived from the original on 6 November 2011. Retrieved 24 February 2015.
  30. "Erikoisen mukava päivä". Timo Soini. 24 April 2014. Retrieved 24 February 2015.
  31. Soini vaatii energia- ja ilmastopolitiikkaan täysremonttia yle 28.1.2011 (in Finnish)
  32. Soini: Nyt ei parane miettiä, mikä on noloa ja mikä ei yle 4.2.2011
  33. Timo Soini: Naispappeus ajoi minut katolilaiseksi Ilta-Sanomat. 24.9.2009. Sanoma News Oy (in Finnish)
  34. "Kustannus Oy Uusi Tie". Archived from the original on 25 May 2012. Retrieved 5 January 2012.
  35. NCP MPs chide foreign minister’s criticism of Irish abortion vote YLE TV NEWS 28.5.2018
Timo Soini
Timo Soini 2015.JPG
Minister for Foreign Affairs
In office
29 May 2015 6 June 2019
Party political offices
Preceded by Leader of the Finns Party
1997–2017
Succeeded by
Political offices
Preceded by Deputy Prime Minister of Finland
2015–2017
Succeeded by
Preceded by Minister for Foreign Affairs
2015–2019
Succeeded by