Ville Matti Niinistö (born 30 July 1976) is a Finnish politician who has been serving as a

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 This was the year in which the first known human case of COVID-19 was documented, preceding COVID-19 pandemic, the pandemic which was declared by the World Health Organization the following year. Up to that point, 2019 had been described as ...

. He is a former member of

parliament In modern politics and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...

, former chairperson of the

Green League The Green League, ( , Vihr; ; ; ; ) shortened to the Greens, (; ) is a green political party in Finland. Ideologically, the Green League is positioned on the centre-left of the political spectrum. It is a reformist party and it supports femi ...

and served as

Minister of the Environment An environment minister (sometimes minister of the environment or secretary of the environment) is a cabinet position charged with protecting the natural environment and promoting wildlife conservation. The areas associated with the duties of a ...

from 2011 to 2014, and a member of the city council of

Turku Turku ( ; ; , ) is a city in Finland and the regional capital of Southwest Finland. It is located on the southwestern coast of the country at the mouth of the Aura River (Finland), River Aura. The population of Turku is approximately , while t ...

Early life and education

Niinistö has a

master's degree A master's degree (from Latin ) is a postgraduate academic degree awarded by universities or colleges upon completion of a course of study demonstrating mastery or a high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional prac ...

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 ...

from the

University of Turku The University of Turku (, shortened ''UTU'') is a multidisciplinary public university with eight faculties located in the city of Turku in southwestern Finland. The university also has campuses in Rauma and Pori and research stations in Kevo ...

. Before being elected to the parliament in 2007 he worked as a doctorate student in

political history Political history is the narrative and survey of political events, ideas, movements, organs of government, voters, parties and leaders. It is closely related to other fields of history, including diplomatic history, constitutional history, soci ...

(Finnish foreign policy) at the University of Turku in

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, ...

Political career

Career in national politics

Niinistö first became a member of the Finnish Parliament in the

2007 elections The following elections occurred in the year 2007. * Electoral calendar 2007 * Elections in 2007 * 2007 United Nations Security Council election Africa * 52nd National Conference of the African National Congress * 2007 Algerian legislative elect ...

. From 2011 until 2014, Niinistö served as Minister of the Environment in the governments of successive

Prime Ministers 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 rat ...

Jyrki Katainen Jyrki Tapani Katainen (born 14 October 1971) is a Finnish politician who served as the European Commission's Vice-President for Jobs, Growth, Investment and Competitiveness from 2014 until 2019. Katainen was previously prime minister of Finland f ...

and

Alexander Stubb Cai-Göran Alexander Stubb (, born 1 April 1968) is a Finnish politician who has been the 13th president of Finland since 2024. He previously served as Prime Minister of Finland from 2014 to 2015. Rising in politics as a researcher specialis ...

. During his time in office, Niinistö reignited a long-running debate about Finland's relationship with Russia in 2014 by saying his own government's decision to approve a Russian-built nuclear reactor invoked "a sense of

Finlandization Finlandization () is the process by which one powerful country makes a smaller neighboring country refrain from opposing the former's foreign policy rules, while allowing it to keep its nominal independence and its own political system. The term ...

". Shortly after, he quit in protest at the project, accusing the government of favouring Russia. As a consequence, his Green League equally quit the five-party Finnish coalition government. By 2017 Green League party congress, Niinistö had served two full terms as the chairman and stepped down according to the rules of the party. He was followed by MP Touko Aalto, who won the

leadership election A leadership election is a political contest held in various countries by which the members of a political party determine who will be the leader of their party. Generally, any political party can determine its own rules governing how and when a ...

on 17 June 2017. In October 2018, Niinistö announced that he would not seek another term in the parliament in the 2019 election.

Member of the European Parliament, 2019–present

Since becoming a

, Niinistö has been serving on the

European Parliament Committee on Industry, Research and Energy The Committee on Industry, Research and Energy (ITRE) is a Committees of the European Parliament, committee of the European Parliament. Its areas of responsibility relate to industry, especially technology-intensive manufacturing, information techno ...

, where he is his parliamentary group's coordinator. In addition to his committee assignments, Niinistö is part of the European Parliament Intergroup on Climate Change, Biodiversity and Sustainable Development, the European Parliament Intergroup on Seas, Rivers, Islands and Coastal Areas, the European Parliament Intergroup on Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises (SMEs), and of the European Parliament Intergroup on the Welfare and Conservation of Animals.

Other activities

* Finnvera, Member of the Supervisory Board (since 2016)

Personal life

Niinistö is the nephew of

Sauli Niinistö Sauli Väinämö Niinistö (, born 24 August 1948) is a Finnish politician who served as the 12th president of Finland from 2012 to 2024. A lawyer by education, Niinistö was Chairman of the National Coalition Party (NCP) from 1994 to 2001, Mini ...

, the former

president of Finland The president of the Republic of Finland (; ) is the head of state of Finland. The incumbent president is Alexander Stubb, since 1 March 2024. He was elected president for the first time in 2024 Finnish presidential election, 2024. The presi ...

. He was married to Maria Wetterstrand, former spokesperson of the

Swedish Swedish or ' may refer to: Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically: * Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland ** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...

Green Party A green party is a formally organized political party based on the principles of green politics, such as environmentalism and social justice. Green party platforms typically embrace Social democracy, social democratic economic policies and fo ...

; they separated in 2012. They have a son, Elias, who was born in 2004, and a daughter, Linnea, born 2007. In his free time Niinistö enjoys reading,

role-playing game A role-playing game (sometimes spelled roleplaying game, or abbreviated as RPG) is a game in which players assume the roles of player character, characters in a fictional Setting (narrative), setting. Players take responsibility for acting out ...

s, and

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

. In 2013 it was revealed that he drove his Swedish wife's car with Swedish number plates in Finland on minor occasions, while she was absent. The Finnish customs imposed a €4800 tax on him. The Finnish tax code does not allow Finnish citizens to drive a foreign car in Finland without it being thus considered an imported car and therefore under Finnish car tax.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Niinisto, Ville 1976 births Living people Politicians from Turku Finnish Lutherans Green League politicians Ministers of the environment of Finland Members of the Parliament of Finland (2007–2011) Members of the Parliament of Finland (2011–2015) Members of the Parliament of Finland (2015–2019) University of Turku alumni Articles containing video clips MEPs for Finland 2019–2024 MEPs for Finland 2024–2029