Timo Soini
| Timo Soini | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Deputy Prime Minister of Finland | |
|
Assumed office 29 May 2015 |
|
| Prime Minister | Juha Sipilä |
| Preceded by | Antti Rinne |
| Minister for Foreign Affairs | |
|
Assumed office 29 May 2015 |
|
| Prime Minister | Juha Sipilä |
| Preceded by | Erkki Tuomioja |
| Leader of the Finns Party | |
|
Assumed office 1997 |
|
| Preceded by | Raimo Vistbacka |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
Timo Juhani Soini 30 May 1962 Rauma, Finland |
| Political party | Finns Party |
| Alma mater | University of Helsinki |
| Religion | Roman Catholicism |
| Website | Official website |
| Military service | |
| Allegiance |
 Finland
|
| Service/branch | Finnish Army |
| Rank |
 Corporal
|
Timo Juhani Soini (born 30 May 1962) is a Finnish politician who is the co-founder and leader of the Finns Party. He has served as Deputy Prime Minister of Finland, as well as Minister of Foreign Affairs, since 2015.
He was elected as a member of the Espoo city council in 2000 and the Parliament of Finland in 2003. In the 2009 European Parliament election he won a seat in the European Parliament with Finland's highest personal vote share (nearly 10% of all votes), becoming the first member of the Finns Party in the European Parliament. He was a member of the European Parliament from 2009 until 2011, when he returned to the Finnish Parliament.
In the 2011 parliamentary election, his party won 19.1% of the votes, which was described as "shocking" and "exceptional" by the Finnish media. Soini himself won the most votes of all candidates, leaving behind the Finnish Foreign Minister Alexander Stubb and the Minister of Finance Jyrki Katainen in their Uusimaa electoral district.Helsingin Sanomat concluded that "Timo Soini rewrote the electoral history books".
Soini has become one of the internationally best-known critics of European Union bailouts and safety mechanisms. Following the 2015 parliamentary election, his party joined a coalition government and Soini became Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs in May 2015.
Timo Soini worked for the food company Linkosuo Oy for two summers in 1981 and 1982 and was Secretary General and Chairman of the Kehittyvän Suomen Nuorten Liitto (Youth league of developing Finland) from 1983 to 1992. He graduated as Master of Political Science from the University of Helsinki in 1988, majoring in political theory.
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