Mika Tapani Lintilä (born 15 April 1966) is a Finnish politician who served as Minister of Economic Affairs from 2019 to 2023. A member of the Centre Party, he has been a Member of Parliament (MP) since 1999. Lintilä has formerly served as Minister of Economic Affairs in the

Sipilä Cabinet The cabinet of Juha Sipilä was the 74th government of Finland, from 2015 to 2019. It was formed following the parliamentary election of 2015 and formally appointed by President Sauli Niinistö on 29 May 2015. From June 2017, the cabinet con ...

from 2016 to 2019 and as

Minister of Finance A ministry of finance is a ministry or other government agency in charge of government finance, fiscal policy, and financial regulation. It is headed by a finance minister, an executive or cabinet position . A ministry of finance's portfolio ...

and

Deputy Prime Minister of Finland The Deputy Prime Minister of Finland (, , ''Finland's Prime Minister's Substitute''), officially titled the Minister deputising for the Prime Minister, is a member of the Finnish Government who becomes the acting Prime Minister of Finland, Prime ...

in the Rinne Cabinet in 2019.

Early life and education

Lintilä is the son of the Centre Party MP Aaro Lintilä. He holds a Bachelor of Administrative Sciences from the

University of Tampere The University of Tampere (UTA) (, ) was a public university in Tampere, Finland that was merged with Tampere University of Technology to create the new Tampere University on 1 January 2019. The university offered undergraduate, postgraduate an ...

Political career

Member of the Finnish Parliament, 1999–present

Lintilä has been serving as a member of the Finnish Parliament since the 1999 elections. He has since served on a variety of committees, including the following: * Commerce Committee (member) 7 April 1999 – 18 March 2003 * Committee for the Future (deputy member) 23 April 1999 – 29 February 2000, (deputy member) 3 March 2000 – 15 March 2002, (member) 19 March 2002 – 18 March 2003, (deputy member) 3 April 2007 – 2 May 2007, (member) 5 May 2015 – 8 June 2015 * Finance Committee (deputy member) 28 November 2000 – 4 September 2001, (deputy member) 2 April 2003 – 25 April 2003, (member) 29 April 2003 – 20 March 2007, (member) 3 May 2007 – 19 April 2011, (deputy member) 3 May 2011 – 29 June 2011, (member) 30 June 2011 – 21 April 2015 * Administration Committee (deputy member) 2 April 2003 – 8 September 2006, (deputy member) 5 May 2015 – 8 June 2015 * Subcommittee for Administration and Control (member) 8 April 2003 – 20 March 2007 * Tax Subcommittee (member) 8 April 2003 – 20 March 2007, (Chair) 4 May 2007 – 19 April 2011, (member) 1 September 2011 – 21 April 2015 * Subcommittee for Education and Science (additional member) 8 April 2003 – 5 May 2003, (member) 6 May 2003 – 20 March 2007 * Sub-committee for Employment and the Economy (member) 4 May 2007 – 19 April 2011, (member) 1 September 2011 – 21 April 2015 * Social Affairs and Health Committee (member) 3 May 2011 – 29 June 2011 * Audit Committee (member) 30 June 2011 – 21 April 2015 * Transport and Communications Committee (member) 5 May 2015 – 8 June 2015 * Electors (member) 6 April 1999 – 29 February 2000 * Parliamentary Auditors (deputy member) 1 January 2000 – 31 December 2007 * Administrative Council of the Finnish Broadcasting Company (member) 14 April 2000 – 2 May 2007, (Chair) 30 November 2004 – 2 May 2007 * Parliamentary State Auditors (deputy member) 1 January 2004 – 20 March 2007 * Parliamentary Supervisory Council (member) 3 May 2007 – 29 June 2011 * Commissioners to the Government Guarantee Fund (member) 30 June 2011 – 12 March 2015, (vice chair) 21 September 2011 – 12 March 2015 * Finance Committee (member) 9 June 2015 – present * Subcommittee for Administration and Security (member) 11 September 2015 – present * Tax Subcommittee (Chair) 11 September 2015 – present * Commerce Committee (member) 9 June 2015 – present In addition to his committee assignments, Lintilä has been a deputy member of the Finnish Delegation to the

Nordic Council The Nordic Council is the official body for formal inter-parliamentary Nordic cooperation among the Nordic countries. Formed in 1952, it has 87 representatives from Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, and Sweden as well as from the autonomo ...

(since 1999) and a full member of the delegation to the

Inter-Parliamentary Union The Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU; , UIP) is an international organization of national parliaments. Its primary purpose is to promote democratic governance, accountability, and cooperation among its members; other initiatives include advancing g ...

(since 2015).

Minister of Economic Affairs, 2016–2019

On 27 October 2016, Lintilä was elected within the Centre Party to follow

Olli Rehn Olli Ilmari Rehn (; born 31 March 1962) is a Finnish public official who has been serving as governor of the Bank of Finland since 2018. A member of the Centre Party, he previously served as the European Commissioner for Enlargement from 2004 ...

as a Minister of Economic Affairs starting 29 December 2016. During his time in office, Finland's center-right government sold stakes in oil refiner and biofuel company

Neste Neste Oyj (international name: Neste Corporation; former names Neste Oil Corporation and Fortum Oil and Gas Oy; ) is an oil refining and marketing company located in Espoo, Finland. It produces, refines and markets oil products, provides eng ...

while also strengthening national influence over the telecom network gear maker

Nokia Nokia Corporation is a Finnish multinational corporation, multinational telecommunications industry, telecommunications, technology company, information technology, and consumer electronics corporation, originally established as a pulp mill in 1 ...

Minister of Finance, 2019

Following the 2019 national elections, the Centre Party named Mika Lintilä as its candidate for the post of finance minister in the newly formed, centre-left coalition government led by Prime Minister Antti Rinne of the Social Democrats. In this capacity, he chaired the meetings of the

Economic and Financial Affairs Council The Economic and Financial Affairs Council (ECOFIN) is one of the oldest configurations of the Council of the European Union and is composed of the economics and finance ministers of the 27 European Union member states, as well as Budget Ministe ...

when Finland held the rotating

presidency of the Council of the European Union The presidency of the Council of the European Union is responsible for the functioning of the Council of the European Union, which is the co-legislator of the EU legislature alongside the European Parliament. It rotates among the member state ...

in 2019. After the collapse of the Rinne Cabinet, the leader of the Center Party Katri Kulmuni took the seat of the Minister of Finance in the following Marin Cabinet, while Lintilä was given the portfolio of the Minister of Economic Affairs.

Other activities

European Union organizations

European Investment Bank The European Investment Bank (EIB) is the European Union's investment bank and is owned by the 27 member states. It is the largest multilateral financial institution in the world. The EIB finances and invests both through equity and debt sol ...

(EIB), Ex-Officio Member of the Board of Governors (2019) *

European Stability Mechanism The European Stability Mechanism (ESM) is an intergovernmental organization located in Luxembourg City, which operates under public international law for all eurozone member states having ratified a special ESM intergovernmental treaty. It was ...

(ESM), Member of the Board of Governors (2019)

International organizations

Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank The Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) is a multilateral development bank and international financial institution that aims to collectively improve economic and social outcomes in Asia. It is the world's second largest multi-lateral d ...

(AIIB), Ex-Officio Member of the Board of Governors (2019) *

European Bank for Reconstruction and Development The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, shortened to EBRD ( French: ''Banque européenne pour la reconstruction et le développement'' or ''BERD''), is an international financial institution founded in 1991 in Paris. As a multilat ...

(EBRD), Ex-Officio Member of the Board of Governors (2019) *

Nordic Investment Bank The Nordic Investment Bank (NIB) is an international financial institution founded in 1975 by the five Nordic countries (Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, and Sweden). In 2005, the three Baltic states (Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania) also becam ...

(NIB), Ex-Officio Member of the Board of Governors (2019) *

Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency The Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA) is an international financial institution which offers political risk insurance and credit enhancement guarantees. These guarantees help investors protect foreign direct investments against ...

(MIGA),

World Bank Group The World Bank Group (WBG) is a family of five international organizations that make leveraged loans to developing countries. It is the largest and best-known development bank in the world and an observer at the United Nations Development Group ...

, Ex-Officio Member of the Board of Governors (since 2017) *

World Bank The World Bank is an international financial institution that provides loans and Grant (money), grants to the governments of Least developed countries, low- and Developing country, middle-income countries for the purposes of economic development ...

, Ex-Officio Member of the Board of Governors (since 2017)

Finnish organizations

Yle Yleisradio Oy (; ), abbreviated as Yle () (formerly styled in all uppercase until 2012), translated into English as the Finnish Broadcasting Company, is Finland's national public broadcasting company, founded in 1926. It is a joint-stock comp ...

, Member of the Administrative Council (2011–2019) *

Bank of Finland The Bank of Finland (, ) is the national central bank for Finland within the Eurosystem. It was the Finnish central bank from 1865 to 1998, issuing the markka. It views itself as the fourth oldest surviving central bank in the world, after Swed ...

, Deputy Member of the Board of Auditors (2004-2006)

Political positions

In response to the

2019 Amazon rainforest wildfires The 2019 Amazon rainforest wildfires season saw a year-to-year surge in fires occurring in the Amazon rainforest and Amazon biome within Brazil, Bolivia, Paraguay, and Peru during that year's Amazonian tropical dry season. Fires normally occur ...

, Lintilä demanded publicly that the European Union should block imports of beef from Brazil, and also consider a suspension of soybeans import to put pressure on the government of

President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Film and television *'' Præsident ...

Jair Bolsonaro Jair Messias Bolsonaro (; born 21 March 1955) is a Brazilian politician and former military officer who served as the 38th president of Brazil from 2019 to 2023. He previously served as a member of Brazil's Chamber of Deputies (Brazil), Chamb ...

to counter the fires.

Honors

FIN Order of the White Rose Commander BAR

Order of the White Rose of Finland The Order of the White Rose of Finland (; ) is one of three official orders in Finland, along with the Order of the Cross of Liberty, and the Order of the Lion of Finland. The President of Finland is the Grand Master of all three orders. The ...

(Finland, 2019) * FIN Order of the Lion of Finland 4Class BAR

Order of the Lion of Finland Order, ORDER or Orders may refer to: * A socio-political or established or existing order, e.g. World order, Ancien Regime, Pax Britannica * Categorization, the process in which ideas and objects are recognized, differentiated, and understood ...

(Finland, 2007)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lintilä, Mika 1966 births Living people People from Toholampi Centre Party (Finland) politicians Deputy prime ministers of Finland Ministers of finance of Finland Government ministers of Finland Members of the Parliament of Finland (1999–2003) 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) Members of the Parliament of Finland (2019–2023) Members of the Parliament of Finland (2023–2027)