Matti Vanhanen
| Matti Vanhanen | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| 61th Prime Minister of Finland | |
|
In office 23 June 2003 – 22 June 2010 |
|
| President | Tarja Halonen |
| Deputy |
Antti Kalliomäki Eero Heinäluoma Jyrki Katainen |
| Preceded by | Anneli Jäätteenmäki |
| Succeeded by | Mari Kiviniemi |
| Minister of Defence | |
|
In office 17 April 2003 – 24 June 2003 |
|
| Prime Minister | Anneli Jäätteenmäki |
| Preceded by | Jan-Erik Enestam |
| Succeeded by | Seppo Kääriäinen |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
4 November 1955 Jyväskylä, Finland |
| Political party | Centre Party |
| Spouse(s) | Merja Mäntyniemi (m. 1985; div. 2005) |
| Alma mater | University of Helsinki |
| Signature |  |
Matti Taneli Vanhanen (
pronunciation ) (born 4 November 1955) is a Finnish politician who was Prime Minister of Finland from 2003 to 2010. He was also Chairman of the Centre Party, and in the second half of 2006 he was President of the European Council. In his earlier career he was a journalist. Vanhanen is the son of professor Tatu Vanhanen and Anni Tiihonen.
Vanhanen studied political science at the University of Helsinki, graduating as a Master of Social Sciences in 1989. He was chairman of the Centre Party Youth League from 1980 to 1983. He also served as a member of the Espoo City Council from 1981 to 1984. Vanhanen used to work as a journalist. He was an editor (1985–1988) and editor-in-chief (1988–1991) at the local newspaper Kehäsanomat. In a column in Suomenmaa (the Centre Party's organ), he strongly condemned the Baltic Star pro-Estonian independence demonstration held in Helsinki in July 1985, calling the demonstration "provocative".
Vanhanen was elected to the Finnish Parliament (Eduskunta) in 1991. As a member of Parliament he was interested in ecological issues. For instance, Vanhanen spoke against the building of a fifth nuclear power plant in 1992, at the same time as serving on the board of electricity corporation Fortum. He served on the Parliamentary Environment Committee 1991–1995, and was chair of the Parliamentary Grand Committee 2000–2001. He was vice-chair of the Centre Party Parliamentary group 1994–2001, and Deputy Chairman of the Centre Party 2000–2003.
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