Piia-Noora Kauppi (born 7 January 1975, in

Oulu Oulu ( , ; sv, Uleåborg ) is a city, municipality and a seaside resort of about 210,000 inhabitants in the region of North Ostrobothnia, Finland. It is the most populous city in northern Finland and the fifth most populous in the country after: ...

) is the managing director of the (2008) and a former

Member of the European Parliament A Member of the European Parliament (MEP) is a person who has been elected to serve as a popular representative in the European Parliament. When the European Parliament (then known as the Common Assembly of the ECSC) first met in 1952, its ...

(MEP) of the

European People's Party The European People's Party (EPP) is a European political party with Christian-democratic, conservative, and liberal-conservative member parties. A transnational organisation, it is composed of other political parties. Founded by primarily Ch ...

(1999-2008). Kauppi has a

Master of Laws A Master of Laws (M.L. or LL.M.; Latin: ' or ') is an advanced postgraduate academic degree, pursued by those either holding an undergraduate academic law degree, a professional law degree, or an undergraduate degree in a related subject. In mos ...

degree. She also studied economics at 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 ...

and took some post-graduate studies at Harvard and Yale in the United States.

Political activities

In gymnasium, Kauppi joined the National Coalition Party because it supported Finland joining the

European Communities The European Communities (EC) were three international organizations that were governed by the same set of institutions. These were the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC), the European Atomic Energy Community (EAEC or Euratom), and the ...

. 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. 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. 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, 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. Kauppi was also 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. Kauppi was president of the European Parliamentary Financial Services Forum, vice-president of the SME Union, and a member of the

European Internet Foundation The European Internet Foundation (EIF) is an independent, non-profit body supporting Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) in their efforts to shape policy and regulation relating to the internet. The organization exists to promote understandi ...

(EIF). In 2000 she was involved with founding the Campaign for Parliamentary Reform together with other members such as Sweden's current commissioner Cecilia Malmström, Denmark's prime minister Helle Thorning-Schmidt and the UK deputy prime minister Nick Clegg. The group was joined in 2004 by Finland's current Minister for Foreign Affairs Alexander Stubb. The group campaigned e.g. for a single seat for the Parliament,http://www.europarl.europa.eu/meetdocs/2004_2009/documents/dv/peti20080225_sir630-06_/peti20080225_sir630-06_en.pdf 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.

Federation of Finnish Financial Services

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 The Worst or Worst may refer to: * ''The Worst'', a 1997 album by Sarcófago, or its title track * ''The Worst'', a 2000 album by Tech N9ne, or its title track * ''The Worst'', a 2004 EP by Lower Class Brats, or its title track * "The Worst" (On ...

". According to the organisers she had for a long time been advocating interests of the European banking industry as an

MEP MEP may refer to: Organisations and politics * Mahajana Eksath Peramuna, a political party in Sri Lanka * Mahajana Eksath Peramuna (1956), a former political alliance in Sri Lanka * Maison européenne de la photographie, a photography centre ...

by working against regulations for the sector. For example, in 2005 she was reported by ''

The Wall Street Journal ''The Wall Street Journal'' is an American business-focused, international daily newspaper based in New York City, with international editions also available in Chinese and Japanese. The ''Journal'', along with its Asian editions, is published ...

'' to have supported the

banking lobby The banking lobby refers to the representatives from various firms and organizations seeking favorable terms from governments for big banks and other financial service companies through lobbying and advocacy groups. The banking lobby generally o ...

with watering down regulations against money-laundering.Wall Street Journal (2005) In Europe, Finance Lobby Sways Terror-Funding Law
The organisers of the awards question her qualification to continuously participate in regulation efforts for a sector she would later be lobbying for.Website of the organisation including their description of her work

References

External links

Homepage

Piia-Noora Kauppi (piianoora)
on

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Kauppi, Piia-Noora 1975 births Living people People from Oulu MEPs for Finland 1999–2004 MEPs for Finland 2004–2009 20th-century women MEPs for Finland 21st-century women MEPs for Finland National Coalition Party MEPs Harvard Kennedy School alumni Aalto University alumni