Peter Johan Östman (born 16 December 1961) is a member of 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 ...

and is the Chairman of the

Christian Democratic Christian democracy (sometimes named Centrist democracy) is a political ideology that emerged in 19th-century Europe under the influence of Catholic social teaching and neo-Calvinism. It was conceived as a combination of modern democratic ...

Parliamentary Group.

Early life

Ostman was born in 1961 in

Larsmo Larsmo ( fi, Luoto) is a municipality of Finland, located in the Ostrobothnia region. ''Larsmo'' is also the name of one of the villages in the municipality of Larsmo. The municipality is bilingual with Swedish as the majority language and Finn ...

, Ostrobothnia. His family comes from Larsmo and

Kronoby Kronoby ( fi, Kruunupyy) is a municipality of Finland. It is located in the province of Western Finland and is part of the Ostrobothnia region. The municipality has a population of () and covers an area of of which is water. The population dens ...

Career

Östman has been a Member of Parliament representing the Constituency of

Vaasa Vaasa (; sv, Vasa, , Sweden ), in the years 1855–1917 as Nikolainkaupunki ( sv, Nikolajstad; literally meaning "city of Nicholas),

since 2011. He is a member of the Grand Committee, the Working Subcommittee of the Grand Committee, the Legal Affairs Committee and the Finnish Delegation to the Nordic Council. Previously, he was a member of the Finance Committee and the Agriculture and Forestry Committee. He has also been Secretary General and Vice Chairman of the Christian Democrats. In 2004, he was a candidate for the Chair of the Christian Democrats, losing to

Päivi Räsänen Päivi Maria Räsänen, née Kuvaja (born 19 December 1959, in Sonkajärvi, Finland), is a Finnish politician. The chairwoman of the Christian Democrats from 2004 to 2015, she was the Minister of the Interior of Finland between 2011 and 2015. A ...

. Since 2013, Östman is president of the

European Christian Political Movement The European Christian Political Movement (ECPM) is the only European political party explicitly working on promoting Christian values. The party unites national parties and individuals from across Europe who share policies influenced by Chris ...

, a political party in the

European Parliament The European Parliament (EP) is one of the legislative bodies of the European Union and one of its seven institutions. Together with the Council of the European Union (known as the Council and informally as the Council of Ministers), it adopts ...

. Östman supports the maintenance of

bilingual Multilingualism is the use of more than one language, either by an individual speaker or by a group of speakers. It is believed that multilingual speakers outnumber monolingual speakers in the world's population. More than half of all E ...

status. He has been given support by Swedish-speaking organizations. Ostman supports a

ban Ban, or BAN, may refer to: Law * Ban (law), a decree that prohibits something, sometimes a form of censorship, being denied from entering or using the place/item ** Imperial ban (''Reichsacht''), a form of outlawry in the medieval Holy Roman ...

swastikas The swastika (卐 or 卍) is an ancient religious and cultural symbol, predominantly in various Eurasian, as well as some African and American cultures, now also widely recognized for its appropriation by the Nazi Party and by neo-Nazis. It ...

in Finland and has voiced concern over the status of

antisemitism in Finland The history of the Jews in Finland goes back to the 1700s. Finnish Jews are Jews who are citizens of Finland. The country is home to some 1,800 Jews, of which 1,400 live in the Greater Helsinki area and 200 in Turku. Most Jews in Finland have Fi ...

. He has also pressured the Finnish government to outlaw

Holocaust denial Holocaust denial is an antisemitic conspiracy theory that falsely asserts that the Nazi genocide of Jews, known as the Holocaust, is a myth, fabrication, or exaggeration. Holocaust deniers make one or more of the following false statements: ...

References

, - , - 1961 births Living people People from Larsmo Christian Democrats (Finland) politicians Members of the Parliament of Finland (2011–15) Members of the Parliament of Finland (2015–19) Members of the Parliament of Finland (2019–23) {{Finland-politician-stub