Antti Juhani Rinne (; born 3 November 1962) is a Finnish politician who served as speaker of the Parliament of Finland from April to June 2019 and Prime Minister of Finland from June to December 2019. He led the Social Democratic Party from 2014 until 2020. In August 2023, he was hired as the General Secretary of SAMAK for a three-year term.

Biography

A lawyer by profession, Rinne holds a Candidate of Law degree from the University of Helsinki. He served as chair of the Union of Private Sector Professionals (ERTO) from 2002 to 2005, the Union of Salaried Employees from 2005 to 2010, as well as Trade Union Pro from 2010 to 2014.

Political activities

Rinne was elected chairman of the Social Democratic Party of Finland (SDP) on 9 May 2014, defeating Jutta Urpilainen. In 2017, he was elected for a second term as chair of the Social Democratic Party. He was Minister of Finance and Deputy Prime Minister of Finland between 2014 and 2015 and has been a Member of Parliament since 2015 until 2023. In the 2019 parliamentary election, Rinne led the Social Democrats to victory and served as Speaker of Parliament before being appointed Prime Minister on 6 June 2019.

Rinne cabinet

Rinne and his cabinet resigned on 3 December 2019, when the Centre Party withdrew its support due to the 2019 Finnish postal strike. President Sauli Niinistö asked him to continue with a caretaker government until a new government was appointed. On 10 December 2019, Sanna Marin was appointed as Prime Minister of Finland. On 11 December 2019, Rinne was elected as the First Deputy Speaker of the Parliament, replacing Tuula Haatainen, who was then named as the Minister of Employment in the Marin Cabinet. Rinne ran in the 2023 Finnish parliamentary election, but was not re-elected. In August 2023, Rinne was hired as the General Secretary of SAMAK for a three-year term.

Controversies

In 2017, Antti Rinne provoked some controversy by encouraging Finns to reproduce. Antti Rinne was convicted of organizing an illegal strike with the

trade union A trade union (British English) or labor union (American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers whose purpose is to maintain or improve the conditions of their employment, such as attaining better wages ...

Pro against the forest industry. The conviction was upheld by an appellate court with an additional decision at the end of 2018 which also ordered Rinne to pay fines and legal costs to Metsäteollisuus, and advocacy group for the forest industry. Rinne had to resign from an ACP (Automotive, Cargo and Ports worker's union, ) lawyer position, because he had charged twice for the same work-related commute. According to him, it had been the result of negligence and amounted to only about FIM 1,000 (€200). In 2005, the President of the ACP stated in an interview with the '' Suomen Kuvalehti'' that it was actually FIM 10,000 (€2,000). In a second court case discussed, Rinne was the manager of a housing company in Lohja, Finland. The '' Suomen Kuvalehti'' reported that he had failed to return the receipts for the year and had paid for his own telephone bill from the housing company's bank account. FIM 25,000 (€5,000) of damages were claimed from him by the housing company. In 2022, Rinne applied for the position of

Mayor In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a Municipal corporation, municipal government such as that of a city or a town. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilitie ...

of Lohja. Rinne's party has had a long history of governing Lohja, but 2022’s election results shifted the city council to the right. The city council started deciding on the next mayor in May 2022. The mayor's selection group was led by , but he recused himself, as Rinne is his godparent.

Recognitions

Rinne was awarded the Swedish Assembly of Finland medal of merit in 2024.

References

, - , - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Rinne, Antti 1962 births Living people Politicians from Helsinki Leaders of the Social Democratic Party of Finland Prime ministers of Finland Deputy prime ministers of Finland Ministers of finance of Finland Speakers of the Parliament of Finland Members of the Parliament of Finland (2015–2019) Members of the Parliament of Finland (2019–2023) 20th-century Finnish lawyers University of Helsinki alumni Finnish trade union leaders