Antti Juhani Rinne (Finnish pronunciation: [ˈɑntːi ˈjuhɑni ˈrinːe]; born 3 November 1962) is a Finnish politician who served as speaker of the Parliament of Finland from April to June 2019 and Prime Minister of Finland from June to December 2019. He led the Social Democratic Party from 2014 until 2020. In August 2023, he was hired as the General Secretary of SAMAK for a three-year term.[1]

Antti Rinne
Rinne in 2019
45th Prime Minister of Finland
In office
6 June 2019 – 10 December 2019
PresidentSauli Niinistö
DeputyMika Lintilä
Katri Kulmuni
Preceded byJuha Sipilä
Succeeded bySanna Marin
Deputy Prime Minister of Finland
In office
6 June 2014 – 29 May 2015
Prime MinisterJyrki Katainen
Alexander Stubb
Preceded byJutta Urpilainen
Succeeded byTimo Soini
Speaker of the Parliament of Finland
In office
24 April 2019 – 5 June 2019
Preceded byPaula Risikko
Succeeded byMatti Vanhanen
Deputy Speaker of the Parliament of Finland
In office
11 December 2019 – 16 December 2020
SpeakerMatti Vanhanen
Anu Vehviläinen
Preceded byTuula Haatainen
Succeeded byTarja Filatov
Minister of Finance
In office
6 June 2014 – 29 May 2015
Prime MinisterJyrki Katainen
Alexander Stubb
Preceded byJutta Urpilainen
Succeeded byAlexander Stubb
Leader of the Social Democratic Party
In office
9 May 2014 – 22 August 2020
Preceded byJutta Urpilainen
Succeeded bySanna Marin
Personal details
Born (1962-11-03) 3 November 1962 (age 62)
Helsinki, Uusimaa, Finland
Political partySocial Democratic
SpouseHeta Ravolainen
EducationUniversity of Helsinki

Biography

edit

A lawyer by profession, Rinne holds a Candidate of Law degree from the University of Helsinki.[2] He served as chair of the Union of Private Sector Professionals (ERTO) from 2002 to 2005, the Union of Salaried Employees from 2005 to 2010, as well as Trade Union Pro from 2010 to 2014.

Political activities

edit

Rinne was elected chairman of the Social Democratic Party of Finland (SDP) on 9 May 2014, defeating Jutta Urpilainen.[3] In 2017, he was elected for a second term as chair of the Social Democratic Party.

He was Minister of Finance and Deputy Prime Minister of Finland between 2014 and 2015 and has been a Member of Parliament since 2015[4][5] until 2023. In the 2019 parliamentary election, Rinne led the Social Democrats to victory and served as Speaker of Parliament before being appointed Prime Minister on 6 June 2019.[6]

Rinne cabinet

edit

Rinne and his cabinet resigned on 3 December 2019, when the Centre Party withdrew its support[7] due to the 2019 Finnish postal strike. President Sauli Niinistö asked him to continue with a caretaker government until a new government was appointed.[8] On 10 December 2019, Sanna Marin was appointed as Prime Minister of Finland.[9]

On 11 December 2019, Rinne was elected as the First Deputy Speaker of the Parliament, replacing Tuula Haatainen, who was then named as the Minister of Employment in the Marin Cabinet.[10]

Rinne ran in the 2023 Finnish parliamentary election, but was not re-elected.[11] In August 2023, Rinne was hired as the General Secretary of SAMAK for a three-year term.[1]

Controversies

edit

In 2017, Antti Rinne provoked some controversy by encouraging Finns to reproduce.[12]

Antti Rinne was convicted of organizing an illegal strike with the trade union Pro against the forest industry. The conviction was upheld by an appellate court with an additional decision at the end of 2018 which also ordered Rinne to pay fines and legal costs to Metsäteollisuus, and advocacy group for the forest industry.[13][14]

Rinne had to resign from an ACP (Automotive, Cargo and Ports worker's union, Finnish: AKT) lawyer position, because he had charged twice for the same work-related commute. According to him, it had been the result of negligence and amounted to only about FIM 1,000 (€200). In 2005, the President of the ACP stated in an interview with the Suomen Kuvalehti that it was actually FIM 10,000 (€2,000).[15]

In a second court case discussed, Rinne was the manager of a housing company in Lohja, Finland. The Suomen Kuvalehti reported that he had failed to return the receipts for the year and had paid for his own telephone bill from the housing company's bank account. FIM 25,000 (€5,000) of damages were claimed from him by the housing company.[16]

In 2022, Rinne applied for the position of Mayor of Lohja. Rinne's party has had a long history of governing Lohja, but 2022’s election results shifted the city council to the right. The city council started deciding on the next mayor in May 2022. The mayor's selection group was led by Joona Räsänen [fi], but he recused himself, as Rinne is his godparent.[17]

Recognitions

edit

Rinne was awarded the Swedish Assembly of Finland medal of merit in 2024.[18][19]

References

edit
  1. ^ a b Waris, Olli (30 August 2023). "Ex-pääministeri Antti Rinne sai töitä". Ilta-Sanomat. Retrieved 30 August 2023.
  2. ^ "Kuka on Antti Rinne?". Yle. 9 May 2014. Retrieved 25 June 2015.
  3. ^ Rinne defeats Jutta Urpilainen in leadership election
  4. ^ "Antti Rinne". Eduskunta. Retrieved 30 May 2015.
  5. ^ "Council of State - Ministers of Finance". Valtioneuvosto.fi. Retrieved 12 January 2018.
  6. ^ "Antti Rinne appointed as Finland's new PM". Yle Uutiset. 6 June 2019. Retrieved 6 June 2019.
  7. ^ "Finland prime minister Antti Rinne resigns after coalition collapses". The Irish Times. Retrieved 9 December 2019.
  8. ^ "Finnish PM Rinne resigns". 3 December 2019.
  9. ^ "Finland's record-young PM appointed, faces confidence vote next week". Yle. 10 December 2019. Retrieved 11 December 2019.
  10. ^ Salokorpi, Juhani (11 December 2019). "Antti Rinne eduskunnan 1. varapuhemieheksi". Yle. Retrieved 11 December 2019.
  11. ^ Rämö, Aurora (2 April 2023). "Entinen pääministeri Antti Rinne putosi eduskunnasta – Paatero tiukassa kisassa varasijalla". Suomen Kuvalehti. Retrieved 6 July 2023.
  12. ^ "Rinne provokes controversy by encouraging Finns to reproduce". 25 August 2017.
  13. ^ Hovioikeuden päätökset, 2018
  14. ^ "Hovioikeus piti Antti Rinteen sakot työkiistasta voimassa – Lisäksi Rinne joutuu maksamaan Metsäteollisuudelle 16 000 euroa oikeudenkäyntikuluja". Yle Uutiset. 20 December 2018. Retrieved 11 December 2019.
  15. ^ Suomen Kuvalehti 16/2005, p. 14-15
  16. ^ Tikka, Juha-Pekka (21 March 2014). "IS: Sdp:n Antti Rinteellä kaksi vanhaa rahasotkua". Retrieved 11 December 2019.
  17. ^ "Antti Rinne pyrkii Lohjan kaupunginjohtajaksi".
  18. ^ Evers, Niklas (6 November 2024). "Folktingets medalj till Alfred Backa och Antti Rinne". Hufvudstadsbladet.
  19. ^ "Komikern Alfred Backa får Folktingets förtjänstmedalj". svenska.yle.fi (in Swedish). Retrieved 6 November 2024.
Party political offices
Preceded by Leader of the Social Democratic Party
2014–2020
Succeeded by
Political offices
Preceded by Deputy Prime Minister of Finland
2014–2015
Succeeded by
Minister of Finance
2014–2015
Succeeded by
Preceded by Prime Minister of Finland
6 June – 10 December 2019
Succeeded by