Ville Matti Niinistö (born 30 July 1976) is a

Finnish Finnish may refer to: * Something or someone from, or related to Finland * Culture of Finland * Finnish people or Finns, the primary ethnic group in Finland * Finnish language, the national language of the Finnish people * Finnish cuisine See also ...

politician who has been serving as a

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 ...

since

2019 File:2019 collage v1.png, From top left, clockwise: Hong Kong protests turn to widespread riots and civil disobedience; House of Representatives votes to adopt articles of impeachment against Donald Trump; CRISPR gene editing first used to experim ...

. He is a former member of

parliament In modern politics, and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...

, former chairperson of the

Green League The Green League (VIHR, fi, Vihreä liitto , sv, Gröna förbundet), shortened to the Greens ( fi, Vihreät, sv, De Gröna), is a green political party in Finland. Ideologically, the Green League is positioned on the centre-left of the polit ...

and served as Minister of the Environment from 2011 to 2014, and a member of the city council of

Turku Turku ( ; ; sv, Åbo, ) is a city and former capital on the southwest coast of Finland at the mouth of the Aura River, in the region of Finland Proper (''Varsinais-Suomi'') and the former Turku and Pori Province (''Turun ja Porin lääni''; ...

Early life and education

Niinistö has a

master's degree A master's degree (from Latin ) is an academic degree awarded by universities or colleges upon completion of a course of study demonstrating mastery or a high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional practice.

political science Political science is the scientific study of politics. It is a social science dealing with systems of governance and power, and the analysis of political activities, political thought, political behavior, and associated constitutions and la ...

from the

University of Turku sv, Åbo universitet , latin_name = Universitas Aboensis , image_name = University of Turku.svg , motto = ''Vapaan kansan lahja vapaalle tieteelle'' , established = 1920 , type ...

. Before being elected to the parliament in 2007 he worked as a doctorate student in political history (Finnish foreign policy) at the University of Turku in

Finland Finland ( fi, Suomi ; sv, Finland ), officially the Republic of Finland (; ), is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It shares land borders with Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of B ...

Political career

Career in national politics

Niinistö first became a member of the Finnish Parliament in the

2007 elections The following elections occurred in the year 2007. * Electoral calendar 2007 * Elections in 2007 * 2007 United Nations Security Council election Africa * 52nd National Conference of the African National Congress * 2007 Algerian legislative el ...

. From 2011 until 2014, Niinistö served as Minister of the Environment in the governments of successive

Prime Ministers A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is not ...

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 ...

and

Alexander Stubb Cai-Göran Alexander Stubb (born 1 April 1968) is a Finnish politician who served as Prime Minister of Finland from 2014 to 2015. He rose to politics as a researcher specialized in the affairs of the European Union and was elected to the European ...

. During his time in office, Niinistö reignited a long-running debate about Finland's relationship with Russia in 2014 by saying his own government's decision to approve a Russian-built nuclear reactor invoked “ a sense of

Finlandization Finlandization ( fi, suomettuminen; sv, finlandisering; german: Finnlandisierung; et, soomestumine; russian: финляндизация, finlyandizatsiya) is the process by which one powerful country makes a smaller neighboring country refrai ...

”. Shortly after, he quit in protest at the project, accusing the government of favouring Russia. As a consequence, his Green League equally quit the five-party Finnish coalition government. By 2017 Green League party congress, Niinistö had served two full terms as the chairman and stepped down according to the rules of the party. He was followed by MP

Touko Aalto Touko Juhani Aalto (born 1 April 1984) is a Finnish politician. He was chairman of the Green League from 2017 to 2018. He represented the electoral district of Central Finland in the Parliament of Finland 2015–2019. Life Aalto was born in Sa ...

, who won the

leadership election A leadership election is a political contest held in various countries by which the members of a political party determine who will be the leader of their party. Generally, any political party can determine its own rules governing how and when a l ...

on 17 June 2017. In October 2018, Niinistö announced that he would not seek another term in the parliament in the 2019 election.

Member of the European Parliament, 2019–present

Since becoming a

, Niinistö has been serving on the

Committee on Industry, Research and Energy The Committee on Industry, Research and Energy (ITRE) is a committee of the European Parliament. Its areas of responsibility relate to industry, especially technology-intensive manufacturing, information technology, and telecommunications. It also ...

, where he is his parliamentary group's coordinator. In addition to his committee assignments, Niinistö is part of the European Parliament Intergroup on Climate Change, Biodiversity and Sustainable Development, the European Parliament Intergroup on Seas, Rivers, Islands and Coastal Areas, the European Parliament Intergroup on Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises (SMEs), and of the European Parliament Intergroup on the Welfare and Conservation of Animals.

Other activities

* Finnvera, Member of the Supervisory Board (since 2016)

Personal life

Niinistö is the nephew of

Sauli Niinistö Sauli Väinämö Niinistö (; born 24 August 1948) is a Finnish politician who has served as president of Finland since March 2012, the 12th person to hold that office. A lawyer by education, Niinistö was Chairman of the National Coalition Part ...

, the

president of Finland The president of the Republic of Finland ( fi, Suomen tasavallan presidentti; sv, Republiken Finlands president) is the head of state of Finland. Under the Constitution of Finland, executive power is vested in the Finnish Government and the p ...

. He was married to

Maria Wetterstrand Ingrid Maria Wetterstrand (born 2 October 1973) is a Swedish politician. She was one of the spokespersons of the Green Party alongside Peter Eriksson between 2002 and 2011. Between 2001 and 2011 she was a member of the Riksdag. Wetterstrand ...

, former spokesperson of the

Swedish Swedish or ' may refer to: Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically: * Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland ** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...

Green Party A green party is a formally organized political party based on the principles of green politics, such as social justice, environmentalism and nonviolence. Greens believe that these issues are inherently related to one another as a foundation ...

; they separated in 2012. They have a son, Elias, who was born in 2004, and a daughter, Linnea, born 2007. In his free time Niinistö enjoys reading,

role-playing game A role-playing game (sometimes spelled roleplaying game, RPG) is a game in which players assume the roles of player character, characters in a fictional Setting (narrative), setting. Players take responsibility for acting out these roles within ...

s, and

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

. In 2013 it was revealed that he drove his Swedish wife's car with Swedish number plates in Finland on minor occasions, while she was absent. The Finnish customs imposed a €4800 tax on him. The Finnish tax code does not allow Finnish citizens to drive a foreign car in Finland without it being thus considered an imported car and therefore under Finnish car tax.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Niinisto, Ville 1976 births Living people People from Turku Finnish Lutherans Green League politicians Minister of the Environment of Finland Members of the Parliament of Finland (2007–11) Members of the Parliament of Finland (2011–15) Members of the Parliament of Finland (2015–19) University of Turku alumni Articles containing video clips MEPs for Finland 2019–2024