Sanna Marin, Prime Minister of Finland

The Party of European Socialists (PES) warmly congratulate Sanna Marin on her election as chair of the Social Democratic Party (SDP) of Finland, a member party of the PES.

22/08/2020

SDP Finland congress

 

 

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

 

Sanna Mirella Marin (Finnish pronunciation: [ˈsɑnːɑ ˈmirelːɑ ˈmɑriːn];[3] born 16 November 1985) is a Finnish politician who is the 46th and current Prime Minister of Finland since 10 December 2019. A member of the Social Democratic Party (SDP), she has been a member of the Parliament of Finland since 2015 and briefly served as Minister of Transport and Communications from 6 June 2019 to 10 December 2019.

 

Following Antti Rinne's resignation in the wake of the 2019 postal strike, Marin was selected as Prime Minister on 8 December 2019.

 

Taking office at age 34, she is the youngest person to hold the office in Finnish history, as well as the world's second-youngest state leader after Gabriel Boric of Chile.

 

Early life and education

Sanna Mirella Marin was born on 16 November 1985 in Helsinki.  She also lived in Espoo and Pirkkala before moving to Tampere.  Her parents split up when she was very young; the family faced financial problems and Marin's father, Lauri Marin, struggled with alcoholism. After her biological parents separated, Marin was brought up by her mother and her mother's female partner.

 

Marin graduated from the Pirkkala High School in 2004 at the age of 19.  Marin joined the Social Democratic Youth in 2006 and was its first vice president from 2010 to 2012.  She worked in a bakery and as a cashier while studying, graduating with a bachelor's and master's degree in Administrative Science from the University of Tampere.

Early political career

Social Democratic Party

Marin's political career was described by the BBC as "beginning at the age of 20", in the years following her high school graduation and beginning her affiliation with the Social Democratic Youth.  She initially unsuccessfully ran for election to the City Council of Tampere, but was elected in the 2012 elections.  She became chairman of the City Council within months, serving from 2013 to 2017.  In 2017, she was re-elected to the City Council.  She first gained prominence after video clips of her chairing contentious meetings were shared on YouTube.

 

Marin was elected second deputy chairman of the Social Democratic Party (SDP) in 2014.  In 2015, she was elected to the Finnish Parliament as an MP from the electoral district of Pirkanmaa.  Four years later, she was re-elected. On 6 June 2019, she became the Minister of Transport and Communications.

On 23 August 2020, Marin was elected chair of the SDP, succeeding Antti Rinne.

Sanna Marin, recently elected prime minister of Finland, pictured at a meeting of the European Council in Brussels, Belgium on December 2, 2019.

 

Finland: Sanna Marin becomes youngest Prime Minister in the world

By News Mobile Overseas Bureau

-

2019-12-09

The new PM of Finland

 

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Finland has selected Sanna Marin of the Social Democrats, its Transport Minister as the new Prime Minister after the incumbent leader Antti Rinne resigned after losing the trust of key coalition partner, the Central Party. She is the youngest Prime Minister of any nation in the world. She is 34 years old.

 

 

Prime Minister of Finland

Prime Minister

Premiership of Sanna Marin
10 December 2019 – present

 

In December 2019, Marin was nominated by the Social Democratic Party to succeed Antti Rinne as the Prime Minister of Finland,  but Rinne formally remained party leader until June 2020.  In a narrow vote, Marin prevailed over Antti Lindtman. A majority of the ministers in her five-party cabinet are women, numbering 12 out of 19 at the time of the cabinet's formation. She is the third female head of government in Finland, after Anneli Jäätteenmäki and Mari Kiviniemi.

 

Upon her confirmation by Parliament at the age of 34, she became Finland's youngest-ever prime minister, and was the youngest serving state leader until Sebastian Kurz regained the title in January 2020.

 

During the global COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, Marin's cabinet invoked the state of emergency in Finland to alleviate the epidemic.  When Swedish prime minister Stefan Löfven could not attend a European Council meeting in October 2020 because of his mother's funeral, Marin stepped in to represent Sweden.  In return, Marin asked Löfven to represent Finland at a Council meeting later that month.

 

In 2022, Marin hinted about the prospect of Finland joining NATO. This action caused a negative reaction from the Russian media, with some outlets reporting that "Moscow was stabbed in the back."  Following the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, Marin commented on Finland's potential membership after the invasion, noting, "It is also now clear that the debate on NATO membership in Finland will change," while noting that a Finnish application to NATO would require widespread political and public support.  On 25 February, a Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson threatened Finland and Sweden with "military and political consequences" if they attempted to join NATO, which neither were actively seeking. Both countries had attended an emergency NATO summit as members of NATO's Partnership for Peace and both had condemned the invasion and had provided assistance to Ukraine.

 

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  Marin in 2019

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  Marin and Angela Merkel, February 2020 in Berlin

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  Marin, flanked by other representatives of her government, declaring a national state of emergency on 16 March 2020 in response to the COVID-19 pandemic

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  Marin (third from left) with foreign counterparts at the Nordic Council in Copenhagen, 2021

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  Marin and Ursula von der Leyen, February 2022 in Helsinki

Personal life

In January 2018, Marin and her fiancé, football player Markus Räikkönen, had a daughter, Emma.  In August 2020, Marin and Räikkönen, who works in communications, married at the prime minister's official residence, Kesäranta. Their permanent residence is in the Kaleva district of Tampere, but during the COVID-19 pandemic, they have resided at Kesäranta.  She has explained that, if it was up to her, she would move to the countryside.

 

Marin describes herself as coming from a "rainbow family",  as she was raised by same-sex parents. She was the first person in her family to attend university.

Marin is a vegetarian.

 

Controversies

In October 2020, Marin took part in a photo shoot for the Finnish magazine Trendi in which she wore a blazer with nothing underneath. It generated much public controversy, with critics accusing her of tastelessness and demeaning her office, and others defending her and accusing the critics of sexism.

 

On 25 May 2021, Finnish media reported that Marin and her family were paying about €300 per month for groceries with public funds as a part of the Prime Minister's tax-free housing benefits. The legality of the arrangement was questioned since the housing benefits do not explicitly include food provisions. Later, it was found to be €850 per month. Sanna Marin had used around €14,000 for her own food, which was over the limit of €2,500; she claimed that she did not know the limit.

 

Awards

Marin was on the list of the BBC's 100 Women announced on 23 November 2020.  On 9 December 2020, she was selected by Forbes to rank 85th on the list of The World's 100 Most Powerful Women.  In 2020 she became a Young Global Leader of the World Economic Forum.  Marin was selected for the cover of the prestigious Time magazine's "Time100 Next" theme issue, which showcases one hundred influential leaders from around the world.