Sini Maaria Suvi-Anne Siimes (born 1 June 1963, in

Helsinki Helsinki () is the Capital city, capital and most populous List of cities and towns in Finland, city in Finland. It is on the shore of the Gulf of Finland and is the seat of southern Finland's Uusimaa region. About people live in the municipali ...

) is a former chair of the Finnish Left Alliance. She quit the party in 2006 because she did not want to support the party's former taistoists (orthodox pro-Soviet communists). Before her political career, she had several short teaching posts in

University of Helsinki The University of Helsinki (, ; UH) is a public university in Helsinki, Finland. The university was founded in Turku in 1640 as the Royal Academy of Åbo under the Swedish Empire, and moved to Helsinki in 1828 under the sponsorship of Alexander ...

and Kauppakorkeakoulu and she was planning a scientist / researcher career in economic sciences Her political career started in local politics in

Pohja Pohja (; ()) is a former municipality of Finland. It was consolidated with Ekenäs and Karis to form the new town of Raseborg in 2009. It is located in the province of Southern Finland and is part of the Uusimaa region. The municipality had a ...

(a small town in South-Western Finland) She was chairperson of the Finnish Left Alliance 1998–2006 and was a member of the Finnish Parliament (''

Eduskunta The Parliament of Finland ( ; ) is the unicameral and supreme legislature of Finland, founded on 9 May 1906. In accordance with the Constitution of Finland, sovereignty belongs to the people, and that power is vested in the Parliament. The ...

'') from 1999 to 2007. She served as a member of the Foreign Affairs Committee and a delegate for Finland in 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 ...

. In the two Cabinets of

Paavo Lipponen Paavo Tapio Lipponen (; born 23 April 1941) is a Finnish politician and former reporter. He was prime minister of Finland from 1995 to 2003, and chairman of the Social Democratic Party of Finland from 1993 to 2005. He also served as speaker of ...

(1995–2003), Siimes served as the Coordinate Minister for Culture (1998–1999) and as the Minister of Finance (1999–2003). From 1995 to 2000, she was a deputy member of the

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational union, supranational political union, political and economic union of Member state of the European Union, member states that are Geography of the European Union, located primarily in Europe. The u ...

Committee on Regional Development A committee or commission is a body of one or more persons subordinate to a deliberative assembly or other form of organization. A committee may not itself be considered to be a form of assembly or a decision-making body. Usually, an assembly o ...

. In March 2006 she resigned from the Left Alliance, stating she didn't want to support the election of former taistoists like Jaakko Laakso to the

Parliament of Finland The Parliament of Finland ( ; ) is the Unicameralism, unicameral and Parliamentary sovereignty, supreme legislature of Finland, founded on 9 May 1906. In accordance with the Constitution of Finland, sovereignty belongs to the people, and that ...

in the next elections 2007 and that she could not continue in politics after she had not succeeded in making the Left Alliance what she termed a "modern" leftist political party with "modern European attitudes" and practices, such as working as a lobbyist for pharmaceutical companies. In her book (Politiikan julkisivu) published after she left politics in March 2007, she tells in detail what made her to quit her very successful political career (in election 1999 over 16,000 personal votes and 2003 over 17,000 votes, a number that showed that she was one of the most popular politicians in Finnish political life 1999–2003) In the 2009 European elections, Siimes endorsed

Risto Penttilä Risto () is a masculine given name, found in Finnish, Estonian and South Slavic. In South Slavic, it is a hypocorism derived from '' Hristofor'' or ''Hristivoje''. It may refer to: Estonia * Risto Järv (born 1971), folklorist * Risto Joost ...

, a

National Coalition Party The National Coalition Party (NCP; , Kok; , Saml) is a liberal conservatism, liberal-conservative List of political parties in Finland, political party in Finland. It is the current governing political party of Finland. Founded in 1918, the ...

candidate. Siimes is now working as Director General of Pharma Industry Finland. She was appointed Chairman of the Board of Veikkaus (the Finnish National Lottery) on 16 March 2011. Siimes has a licentiate (advanced degree) in

economics Economics () is a behavioral science that studies the Production (economics), production, distribution (economics), distribution, and Consumption (economics), consumption of goods and services. Economics focuses on the behaviour and interac ...

Publications

*''Amerikan päiväkirja ja muita kirjoituksia'' (2000) *''Politiikan piilokuvat'' (2002) *''Politiikan julkisivu'' (2007)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Siimes, Suvi-Anne 1963 births Living people Politicians from Helsinki Left Alliance (Finland) politicians Ministers of finance of Finland Ministers of education of Finland Members of the Parliament of Finland (1999–2003) Members of the Parliament of Finland (2003–2007) Women government ministers of Finland Women members of the Parliament of Finland 21st-century Finnish women politicians