Pertti Edvard Salolainen

CBE The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...

(born 19 October 1940

Helsinki Helsinki ( or ; ; sv, Helsingfors, ) is the capital, primate, and most populous city of Finland. Located on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, it is the seat of the region of Uusimaa in southern Finland, and has a population of . The city ...

) is a Finnish politician. He has served as MP from the

National Coalition Party sv, Samlingspartiet , leader1_title = Chairman , leader1_name = Petteri Orpo , leader2_title = Deputy chairs , leader2_name = Antti HäkkänenElina ValtonenAnna-Kaisa Ikonen , merger = Finnish Party, Young Finn ...

(1970–1996, 2007–2019) and party chairman (1991–1994) and Minister (1987–1995).Pertti Salolainen
Parliament of Finland (in Finnish). Retrieved 29 December 2016. Salolainen worked before the MP career in

Finnish Broadcasting Company Yleisradio Oy ( Finnish, literally "General Radio Ltd." or "General Broadcast Ltd."; abbr. Yle ; sv, Rundradion Ab, italics=no), translated to English as the Finnish Broadcasting Company, is Finland's national public broadcasting company, found ...

between 1962–1969 as a journalist and producer. Between 1996 and 2004, he was the Finnish Ambassador in London.

Career

Salolainen was born on 19 October 1940 in Helsinki during the

Interim Peace The Interim Peace ( fi, Välirauha, sv, Mellanfreden) was a short period in the history of Finland during the Second World War. The term is used for the time between the Winter War and the Continuation War, lasting a little over 15 months, from 1 ...

period to the family of sergeant Edvard Salolainen and the shopkeeper Ella Salolainen (née ''Lundqvist'') He graduated as Master of Science in Economics from the

Helsinki School of Economics The Aalto University School of Business ( fi, Aalto-yliopiston kauppakorkeakoulu; sv, Aalto-universitets handelshögskola), is the largest business school in Finland. Founded in 1911, it is the second oldest business school in Finland and one of ...

in 1969. Salolainen began his career as a

's television newsreader and editor in 1962–1965. He was a producer of Finnish Broadcasting Company's financial programs from 1965 to 1966, BBC World Service

Finnish language Finnish ( endonym: or ) is a Uralic language of the Finnic branch, spoken by the majority of the population in Finland and by ethnic Finns outside of Finland. Finnish is one of the two official languages of Finland (the other being Swedis ...

editorial editor in London in 1966 and Finnish Broadcasting Company's correspondent in London from 1966 to 1969.

Politics

Salolainen was elected to the

Parliament of Finland The Parliament of Finland ( ; ) is the unicameral and supreme legislature of Finland, founded on 9 May 1906. In accordance with the Constitution of Finland, sovereignty belongs to the people, and that power is vested in the Parliament. The ...

for the first time in the 1970 parliamentary elections. In Parliament, he served as Deputy Chairman of the Social Committee (1970–1975) and Chairman of the Finance Committee (1979–1987). Salolainen was also a member of the

Helsinki City Council The City Council of Helsinki (, ) is the main decision-making organ in the local politics of Helsinki, Finland. The City Council deals with issues such as city planning, schools, health care, and public transport. The 85-seat Council's members a ...

between 1972 and 1984. Salolainen served as Minister for Foreign Affairs in the Holkeri Government, and Minister of Trade and Industry (Foreign Trade Minister) in 1987–1991. He was a questioned publicity in 1989, being visiting China as the first Western official guest after the massacre of Tiananmein Square. The decision to travel to China was made by the government and had the approval from President

Mauno Koivisto Mauno Henrik Koivisto (; 25 November 1923 – 12 May 2017) was a Finnish politician who served as the ninth president of Finland from 1982 to 1994. He also served as the country's prime minister twice, from 1968 to 1970 and again from 1979 to 1 ...

. Salolainen continued as Foreign Trade Minister and

Deputy Prime Minister of Finland The Deputy Prime Minister of Finland (, , ''Finland's Prime Minister's Substitute''), officially titled the Minister deputising for the Prime Minister, is a member of the Finnish Government who becomes the acting Prime Minister if the Prime Minis ...

between 1991 and 1995 in the Aho Government In the early 1990s, he was responsible for the Finnish membership negotiations in the

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been de ...

. Salolainen was Chairman of the

European Economic Area The European Economic Area (EEA) was established via the ''Agreement on the European Economic Area'', an international agreement which enables the extension of the European Union's single market to member states of the European Free Trade As ...

's negotiating delegation from 1990 to 1993 and chairman of the Finnish EU negotiating delegation and negotiating minister 1993–1995. Salolainen has later told that he and other ministers had gotten death treats at the time, when Finland negotiated the membership in the EU. He has told later that he was under the protection of Finnish Security Intelligence Service because the death threats were considered serious. In 1991 Salolainen was elected as the Chairman of the National Coalition Party after Ilkka Suominen. He was in charged until 1994 when he was succeeded by Sauli Niinistö. Salolainen left the Parliament in October 1996 after he was appointed as the Finland's Ambassador to London. He Ambassador under 2004. He was replaced in Parliament by Pirjo-Riitta Antvuori.

Return to politics in 2004

In the 2007 parliamentary elections, Salolainen became a candidate, by the wish from party's chairman

Jyrki Katainen Jyrki Tapani Katainen (born 14 October 1971) 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 fr ...

, from Helsinki, even though he had already refused the candidacy He returned to the Parliament from Helsinki as National Coalition Party's candidate with the fourth highest number of votes (8,621 votes) In his previous election, Salolainen had been the highest vote getter. In the 2011 parliamentary elections, Salolainen was elected for a further term of 6, 205 votes

Confessions

Salolainen has long been involved in the WWF. He served as the Supervisory Board of the WWF's Finnish Fund and the Vice-Chairman of the Fund from 1972 to 1989. London City granted Salolainen the Honorary Freemen of the City of London status in 1998. In Finland, he was awarded the Minister honorary title in 2004. Salolainen has also been awarded

Order of the Lion of Finland The Order of the Lion of Finland ( fi, Suomen Leijonan ritarikunta; sv, Finlands Lejons orden) is one of three official orders in Finland, along with the Order of the Cross of Liberty and the Order of the White Rose of Finland. The President ...

and the

Finnish Association for Nature Conservation The Finnish Association for Nature Conservation (FANC) (in Finnish: ''Suomen luonnonsuojeluliitto (SLL'') is the largest non-governmental organization for environmental protection and nature conservation in Finland with over 34,000 members. It ...

's golden badge In the

2017 Special Honours As part of the British honours system, Special Honours are issued at the Monarch's pleasure at any given time. The Special Honours refer to the awards made within royal prerogative, operational honours and other honours awarded outside the New Yea ...

, Queen Elizabeth II awarded Salolainen as

Honorary Commander of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established ...

(CBE).

Allegation of anti-Semitism

In 2012, Salolainen said on a television program that the United States cannot take a neutral stance on the Israeli–Palestinian conflict due to the influence of the American Jews. The

Simon Wiesenthal Center The Simon Wiesenthal Center (SWC) is a Jewish human rights organization established in 1977 by Rabbi Marvin Hier. The center is known for Holocaust research and remembrance, hunting Nazi war criminals, combating anti-Semitism, tolerance educat ...

demanded him to be removed from office because of this comment. According to the Center, Salolainen reiterated "an anti-Semitic story about Jewish secret societies. Salolainen denied that his comment was anti-Semitic.Suomalaispoliitikon kommentti suututti juutalaiset
'' Iltalehti'' on 1 December 2012. Retrieved 29 December 2016.

References

External links