Sanna Marin
Prime Minister of Finland from 2019 to 2023 From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Sanna Mirella Marin (born 16 November 1985) is a Finnish former politician. Marin was the 46th Prime Minister of Finland from 2019 to 2023. She is a member of the Social Democrats. She was a member of the Parliament of Finland from 2015 to 2023. She was the Minister of Transport and Communications for a short time in 2019.[1]
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Born in Helsinki, Marin was raised Tampere by her mother and her mother's partner. She joined the Social Democratic Youth in 2006. She was a member of the City Council of Tampere and was later elected member of Parliament. After Antti Rinne left his role as prime minister, the Social Democratic Party of Finland picked Marin as its candidate for the new prime minister on 8 December 2019.[2][3] Taking office at age 34, she is the youngest person to hold the office in Finnish history.[4][5]
As prime minister, Marin was in charge of the country's response to the COVID-19 pandemic. She called out the human rights abuses of Uyghurs in Xinjiang and the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine. With President Sauli Niinistö, she announced that Finland would apply for NATO membership in May 2022. However, she became unpopular, mainly because of leaked private party videos during the pandemic. In 2022, she was called by an "the icon of progressive leadership" by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. The SDP finished third in the 2023 parliamentary election, ending Marin's time as prime minister in June 2023. Three months later, she retired from the parliament.
After her retirement, Marin became a public speaker and continues to be active in European politics. She has been an advisor for the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change since 2023. Even after leaving office, Marin continues to support Ukraine. She is a member of the International Task Force on Security and Euro-Atlantic Integration of Ukraine.
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Early life
Sanna Mirella Marin was born on 16 November 1985 in Helsinki.[6][7] Her parents broke up when she was very young.[8] The family had financial problems and Marin's father, Lauri Marin, was an alcoholic.[8] After her parents separated, Marin was raised by her mother and her mother's female partner in Tampere.[9][10]
Marin graduated from the Pirkkala High School in 2004 at the age of 19.[11] She joined the Social Democratic Youth in 2006 and was its first vice president from 2010 to 2012.[12][6] She worked in a bakery and as a cashier while studying.[13] She graduated with a bachelor's and master's degree in Administrative Science from the University of Tampere.[9][13]
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Early political career
Marin's political career began when she was aged 20.[14] She unsuccessfully ran for election to the City Council of Tampere, but was elected in the 2012 elections.[14][6][15] She became chairperson of the City Council within months, from 2013 to 2017.[9] In 2017, she was re-elected to the City Council.[16][13]
Marin was elected second deputy chairperson of the Social Democratic Party (SDP) in 2014.[1][9] In 2015, she was elected to the Finnish Parliament as an MP from the electoral district of Pirkanmaa.[17] Four years later, she was re-elected.[18] On 6 June 2019, she became the Minister of Transport and Communications.[19][13]
On 23 August 2020, Marin was elected chair of the SDP, replacing Antti Rinne.[20]
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Prime Minister (2019–2023)
Nomination
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In December 2019, Marin was nominated by the Social Democratic Party to replace Antti Rinne as the Prime Minister of Finland,[21][22] but Rinne stayed as party leader until June 2020.[23][24] By a small amount of votes, Marin beat Antti Lindtman to become prime minister. A majority of the ministers in her cabinet are women, 12 out of 19 at the time of the cabinet's creation.[25][26] She is the third female head of government in Finland, after Anneli Jäätteenmäki and Mari Kiviniemi.[27][28][24] When she was confirmed by Parliament at the age of 34, she became Finland's youngest-ever prime minister, and was the youngest state leader until Sebastian Kurz became Chancellor of Austria again in January 2020.[22][29][30]
COVID-19 pandemic
During the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, Marin's cabinet declared a state of emergency in Finland to stop the epidemic in the country.[31] On 20 March, the government announced a €15 billion package to help businesses and people who suffering from the economic problems caused by the virus.[32] On 25 March, the government decided to stop movement between the Uusimaa region and the rest of Finland.[33][34] However, people were allowed to move between regions for their jobs or for important personal reasons.[35] On 15 April, movement restrictions between Uusimaa and the rest of the country were removed.[36]
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When Swedish prime minister Stefan Löfven could not attend a European Council meeting in October 2020, Marin also represented Sweden in the meeting.[37] Marin later asked Löfven to represent Finland at a Council meeting later that month.[38]
By the end of June 2022, Marin had lifted all restrictions in the country as the pandemic slowed down.[39]
Uyghurs in China
In March 2021, Marin criticized the treatment of the Uyghurs in the Chinese province of Xinjiang.[40] She said that no country should ignore the treatment the Uyghurs were facing for trade or economic reasons.[41]
Russian invasion of Ukraine
On 24 February 2022, Russian president Vladimir Putin ordered the invasion of Ukraine.[42] On 25 February, Russia threatened Finland and Sweden with "military and political consequences" if they tried to join NATO.[42] After the invasion, Marin said that talks of Finland joining NATO had changed while also saying that there would have to be strong support in the country for them to join.[43]
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In March 2022, she said the European Union needed to stop using Russian oil while supporting tough economic sanctions against Russia.[44] That same month, Marin said Finland could support sending F/A-18 Hornets to Ukraine if other countries thought it would be a good idea.[45][46] However, Finnish President Sauli Niinistö said this was never talked about.[47] Marin continued to show her support about sending fighter jets to Ukraine as she thought it was important for Ukraine to defend itself.[48]
On 26 May 2022, Marin went to Kyiv after being invited by Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal.[49] She met President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and visited the cities of Irpin and Bucha, which had been destroyed during the invasion.[50] Marin also signed an agreement that Finland would help Ukraine fix their education buildings and system.[51] On 31 May, she supported a deal by all European Union leaders to ban more than 90% of Russian oil imports by the end of the year.[52]
In late November and early December 2022, Marin visited New Zealand and Australia, becoming the first Finnish prime minister to visit the two countries.[53][54] She met with New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese to talk about the Russian invasion of Ukraine and climate change.[54][53]
NATO membership
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Early in her career, Marin was against the idea of Finland joining NATO.[55][56] However, her feelings and thoughts about NATO changed when she became prime minister.[57][58] In 2022, in response to Russian activities at the Ukrainian border, Marin said that Finland had the right to join NATO if it wanted to.[59] Marin's speech was not liked by the Russian media.[59][60] On 12 May 2022, ten weeks after the beginning of the invasion, President Niinistö and Prime Minister Marin said that "Finland must apply for NATO membership" and that it "would strengthen Finland's security".[61]
On 15 May 2022, Niinistö and Marin announced that Finland would apply to be a NATO member, and on 17 May the Finnish parliament approved the plan in a vote of 188–8.[62] However Turkey was against Finland joining NATO which was surprising for Marin.[63][63] She said her country did not want NATO to build nuclear weapon bases on its territory.[64] During Marin's term as prime minister, Finland became a member of NATO on 4 April 2023.[65]
Trendi photoshoot
In October 2020, an interview of Marin in the Finnish magazine Trendi about her job as prime minister had a photograph in which she wore a blazer with no undershirt.[66] The photoshoot was controversial as some people thought what she was wearing was not appropriate for a prime minister to wear.[66] Others, however, called Marin's critics of being sexist.[66]
Spending problems
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On 25 May 2021, Finnish media found that Marin and her family were spending about €300 per month on groceries with public money as a part of the Prime Minister's tax-free housing benefits and quickly became a legal debate.[67][68] Marin and her family had used around €14,363.20 on food services in the Prime Minister's official home between January 2020 and May 2021, which was about €845 per month.[69] Marin said that she did not know the limit of the spending, and she also did not know that residential benefits had to be seen on taxes.[70] It was later discovered that staff members were in charge of the spending and Marin had no idea of the costs.[71]
Marin later repaid her family's meal services to the Finnish state.[72] With the controversy over spending on groceries, Marin had to say that public money was not spent on her wedding.[69] The Office of the Chancellor of Justice found that Marin did nothing illegal.[73]
Leaked nightclub videos
In early December 2021, Marin went celebrating in a nightclub in Helsinki hours after meeting with Finland's foreign minister who had tested positive for COVID-19, making her exposed to the disease.[74] Two text messages were sent to Marin's government phone saying that she should be quarantined.[74] However, Marin missed the messages because she was not carrying the phone at the time.[74] As part of government rules, the Prime Minister should always have the governmental phone on them.[74][75] She later said that she was sorry on Facebook and that she had been told that going out in public was okay because she was vaccinated.[76] Two complaints about Marin's actions were sent to the Chancellor of Justice.[77] Important members of the coalition party Centre Party said that Marin had lied to them by changing her reasoning of going out.[78]
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In August 2022, another video showed Marin dancing at another party, which caused controversy because people thought Marin was on drugs while dancing at the party.[79] Marin took a drug test on her own to prove she was not on drugs and on 22 August, the results of the test came out negative for drugs in her system.[79]
Sámi rights legislation
In October 2022, Marin said she was sorry to the Indigenous Sámi people for how long it was taking to reform the Sámi human rights legislation.[80] It was taking many years for it to pass in the parliament without any success.[81] In Marin's cabinet, it was blocked by the Centre Party.[80][81] Marin said that she would bring the reform for a parliamentary vote even without Centre Party support.[81]
In November 2022, her ministers voted 11–3 to send the legislation to the Finnish Parliament.[82] On 24 February 2023, the constitutional law committee voted 9–7 to stop work on the bill, blocking it from being passed before the 2023 Finnish parliamentary election.[83] In an interview on Ykkösaamu, Marin said she was not happy about the bill not being passed.[84]
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2023 election and resignation
In March 2023, the SDP finished third in the 2023 parliamentary election, and accepted her loss.[85] However, Marin was re-elected with a Pirkanmaa district record of 35,623 votes.[86] On 5 April 2023, Marin announced that she would resign as the leader of the Social Democratic Party at the next party congress in the autumn.[87] She was replaced by Antti Lindtman on 1 September 2023.[88]
On 7 September 2023, Marin announced her plans to resign as a member of Parliament to work as an advisor at the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change.[89] A few days later on 12 September, she resigned from the Finnish Parliament.[90]
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Post-political activities
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In June 2023, Marin founded a company called MA/PI Oy, which focuses on public speaking events, consulting and publishing.[91] A month later, Marin was hired as a speaker for Harry Walker Agency for international events.[92] In August 2023, Marin asked Jutta Urpilainen to be Social Democratic Party's candidate for the 2024 presidential election.[93] On 28 September 2023, it was reported that she had signed with talent agency Range Media Partners.[94]
In January 2024, Marin started working in a new committee called International Task Force on Security and Euro-Atlantic Integration of Ukraine.[95] According to a statement released by the Ukrainian president's office, the committee's main role is to create a plan for Ukraine's closer engagement with NATO and other European countries.[95] Other members of the committee include former British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, former U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, and former Secretary General of NATO Anders Fogh Rasmussen.[95]
In early 2025, Marin made some appearances at conferences relating to the European Union and voiced support for Ukraine. In February 2025, Marin spoke at the Munich Security Conference.[96] That same month, she wrote an article on The Economist saying why it was important for European countries to send more money and help to Ukraine.[97] In March 2025, she went to the EU Social Forum where she was a guest speaker.[98]
A memoir that Marin wrote called Hope in Action will be released in November 2025.[99]
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Personal life
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In January 2018, Marin and her fiancé, football player Markus Räikkönen, had a daughter, Emma.[100][101][102] In August 2020, Marin and Räikkönen were married at the prime minister's official residence, Kesäranta.[101][103] The couple divorced in May 2023, after 19 years together.[104][105]
Marin said she came from a "rainbow family",[106] as she was raised by same-sex parents.[19][7] She was the first person in her family to go to a university.[107] Marin is a vegetarian.[108]
Marin was on the list of the BBC's 100 Women in 2020.[109] That same year, she was chosen by Forbes on the list of The World's 100 Most Powerful Women.[110] In 2020 she became a Young Global Leader of the World Economic Forum.[111] In December 2022, The Australian Broadcasting Corporation named Marin as the icon of progressive leadership.[112]
Marin received the Grand Cross of the Order of the White Rose of Finland.[113] As Finland's prime minister, Marin was honored with an honorary degree at New York University in 2023.[114][115] On 22 October 2024, Marin was honored with Sweden's 'Commander Grand Cross of the Royal Order of the Polar Star.[116]
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References
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