Iiro Viinanen (born 27 September 1944, in Kuopio,

Finland Finland ( fi, Suomi ; sv, Finland ), officially the Republic of Finland (; ), is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It shares land borders with Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of B ...

) is a

Finnish Finnish may refer to: * Something or someone from, or related to Finland * Culture of Finland * Finnish people or Finns, the primary ethnic group in Finland * Finnish language, the national language of the Finnish people * Finnish cuisine See also ...

politician. Viinanen graduated as an engineer from a Tampere institute in 1967 and as a M.Sc. Tech. from

Helsinki University of Technology Helsinki University of Technology (TKK; fi, Teknillinen korkeakoulu; sv, Tekniska högskolan) was a technical university in Finland. It was located in Otaniemi, Espoo in the metropolitan area of Greater Helsinki. The university was founded in ...

in 1974 . He was a Member of the Finnish Parliament (Eduskunta / Riksdagen) from 1983 to 1996. His political party was

National Coalition Party sv, Samlingspartiet , leader1_title = Chairman , leader1_name = Petteri Orpo , leader2_title = Deputy chairs , leader2_name = Antti HäkkänenElina ValtonenAnna-Kaisa Ikonen , merger = Finnish Party, Young Finn ...

. He served as the

Minister of Finance A finance minister is an executive or cabinet position in charge of one or more of government finances, economic policy and financial regulation. A finance minister's portfolio has a large variety of names around the world, such as "treasury", " ...

from 1991 to 1996. During his term as a minister, Finland went through its worst recession in history. As the Minister of Finance in

Prime Minister A prime minister, premier 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. Under those systems, a prime minister i ...

Esko Aho's cabinet he led strict budget discipline. He stated that unless budget is cut, Finland can no longer borrow money from foreign countries. Reactions towards his actions caused either strong approval or strong disapproval. Some felt he saved the treasury and some felt he ruined the Finnish welfare state. In 1996 he was appointed CEO of Pohjola Insurance. At the end of the 1990s he was a board member of

Nokia Nokia Corporation (natively Nokia Oyj, referred to as Nokia) is a Finnish multinational telecommunications, information technology, and consumer electronics corporation, established in 1865. Nokia's main headquarters are in Espoo, Finland, i ...

Kone Kone Oyj (; officially stylized as KONE and trading as KONE Corporation) is an elevator engineering company employing over 60,000 personnel across 60 countries worldwide. It was founded in 1910 and is now headquartered in Espoo near Helsinki, F ...

UPM-Kymmene UPM-Kymmene Oyj is a Finnish forest industry company. UPM-Kymmene was formed by the merger of Kymmene Corporation with Repola Oy and its subsidiary United Paper Mills Ltd in 1996. UPM consists of six business areas: UPM Fibres, UPM Energy, UPM ...

, YIT,

Finnair Finnair ( fi, Finnair Oyj, sv, Finnair Abp) is the flag carrier and largest airline of Finland, with its headquarters in Vantaa on the grounds of Helsinki Airport, its hub. Finnair and its subsidiaries dominate both domestic and international ...

, and Orion. He served as a vice chairman of Nokia from 1996 to 2000. He was diagnosed with

Parkinson's disease Parkinson's disease (PD), or simply Parkinson's, is a long-term degenerative disorder of the central nervous system that mainly affects the motor system. The symptoms usually emerge slowly, and as the disease worsens, non-motor symptoms becom ...

in 2000, forcing him to retire.

References

1944 births Living people People from Kuopio National Coalition Party politicians Ministers of Finance of Finland Members of the Parliament of Finland (1983–87) Members of the Parliament of Finland (1987–91) Members of the Parliament of Finland (1991–95) Members of the Parliament of Finland (1995–99) Nokia people People with Parkinson's disease {{NationalCoalition-politician-stub