Eero Olavi Heinäluoma (born 4 July 1955) is a Finnish politician who has been serving as

Member of the European Parliament A member of the European Parliament (MEP) is a person who has been Election, elected to serve as a popular representative in the European Parliament. When the European Parliament (then known as the Common Assembly of the European Coal and S ...

since 2019. A former chairman of the Social Democratic Party of Finland, he was replaced in the party's leadership by Jutta Urpilainen in June 2008. He was Speaker of the Parliament of Finland from 2011–2015. Member of the Finnish parliament, Eveliina Heinäluoma, is Eero Heinäluoma's daughter.

Early life and education

Heinäluoma studied

political science Political science is the scientific study of politics. It is a social science dealing with systems of governance and Power (social and political), power, and the analysis of political activities, political philosophy, political thought, polit ...

, but did not finish his degree.

Political career

Career in national politics

Heinäluoma was elected chairman in June 2005, succeeding former

Prime Minister A prime minister 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. A prime minister is not the head of state, but r ...

Paavo Lipponen. He was the Minister of Finance of

Finland Finland, officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It borders Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of Bothnia to the west and the Gulf of Finland to the south, ...

from 2005 to 2007. Heinäluoma held various posts in the Central Organisation of Finnish Trade Unions (SAK) from 1983 to 2003. He was a director in SAK from 2000 to 2003. Heinäluoma was appointed as party secretary in 2002 and in the 2003 elections, he was elected as a Member of Parliament from the Electoral District of

Uusimaa Uusimaa (; , ; both lit. 'new land') is a region of Finland. It borders the regions of Southwest Finland, Tavastia Proper (Kanta-Häme), Päijänne Tavastia (Päijät-Häme), and Kymenlaakso. Finland's capital and largest city, Helsinki, alo ...

. Ever since he took up the post of Party secretary, he had, according to many, been groomed as Lipponen's heir. He won on the first ballot, getting 201 of 350 votes. His rivals were Foreign Minister Erkki Tuomioja, with 138 votes, and Minister of Education

Tuula Haatainen Tuula Irmeli Haatainen (born 11 February 1960) is a Finnish politician and a member of the Finnish Parliament, with the Social Democratic Party of Finland, Social Democratic Party. She was the Minister of Education 2003–2005 and the Minister of ...

, with 11 votes. As party chairman, Heinäluoma ordered a reshuffle of SDP cabinet ministers and assumed the position of Minister of Finance on 23 September 2005. In the 2007 elections, the party led by Heinäluoma suffered a significant loss, losing 15% of their seats in the parliament, and having the worst result since 1962. The loss led to the resignation of Heinäluoma as the party chairman. Heinäluoma was elected as the chairman of the Social Democratic parliamentary group in February 2010 and served in that position until becoming Speaker in June 2011. In June 2016, Heinäluoma announced that he would not become his party's candidate for the 2018 presidential election due to his wife's recent death.

Member of the European Parliament, 2019–present

Heinäluoma became a

in the

2019 elections The following elections were scheduled to occur in 2019. The International Foundation for Electoral Systems has a calendar of upcoming elections around the world, and the National Democratic Institute also maintains a calendar of elections in cou ...

. He has since been serving as treasurer of the S&D Group, making him part of the leadership team around the group's chairwoman

Iratxe García Iratxe García Pérez (; born 7 October 1974) is a Spanish politician of the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE). She has served as Member of the European Parliament since 2004, and has served as the Leader of the Progressive Alliance of So ...

. Heinäluoma joined the European Parliament Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs and the Parliament's delegation to the EU-Russia Parliamentary Cooperation Committee. He is also a member of the European Parliament Intergroup on Climate Change, Biodiversity and Sustainable Development, the European Parliament Intergroup on Trade Unions and the URBAN Intergroup.

Other activities

* National Audit Office of Finland (NAOF), Member of the advisory board (2017–2019)

Honours

Finnish

FIN Order of the Cross of Liberty 1Class peace civil BAR

1st class of the Order of the Cross of Liberty (2010) * FIN Order of the White Rose Commander BAR

Commander of the Order of the White Rose of Finland (2006)

Foreign

EST Order of the Cross of Terra Mariana - 1st Class BAR

1st class of the Order of the Cross of Terra Mariana (Estonia, 2014) *

Order of Friendship The Order of Friendship (, ') is a state decoration of the Russian Federation established by Boris Yeltsin by presidential decree 442 of 2 March 1994 to reward Russian and foreign nationals whose work, deeds and efforts have been aimed at ...

(Russia, 2017, renounced in 2022) In 2022 Heinäluoma stated that he had renounced his Russia order of Friendship by throwing it into a trash bin and said that the order had become a ‘travesty of its own name’.

References

External links

Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Heinaluoma, Eero 1955 births Living people People from Kokkola Leaders of the Social Democratic Party of Finland Deputy prime ministers of Finland Ministers of finance of Finland Speakers of the Parliament of Finland Members of the Parliament of Finland (2003–2007) Members of the Parliament of Finland (2007–2011) Members of the Parliament of Finland (2011–2015) Members of the Parliament of Finland (2015–2019) MEPs for Finland 2019–2024 Recipients of the Order of the Cross of Terra Mariana, 1st Class MEPs for Finland 2024–2029