Olli Rehn

Olli Rehn (2014)

Olli Rehn  [ ˈɔlːi ˈrɛːn ] (born March 31, 1962 in Mikkeli ) is a Finnish politician ( Center Party ) and since July 2018 Governor of the Finnish Central Bank . From May 29, 2015 to December 29, 2016 he was Minister of Economics in the Sipilä cabinet . From 2004 to 2014 he was a member of the European Commission and in 2014/15 a member of the European Parliament .

Academic career

Rehn studied economics, international relations and journalism from 1982, first at Macalester College in St. Paul , Minnesota, USA, then at the University of Helsinki , where he graduated in 1989 with a master's degree in political science. In 1996 he completed his doctorate as Dr. phil. at the University of Oxford , Department of International Political Economy, his doctoral thesis was entitled: Corporatism and Industrial Competitiveness in Small European States .

From 2002 to 2003 he was Professor in the Political Science Department and Research Director of the Center for European Studies, University of Helsinki.

politics

Olli Rehn was chairman of the youth organization of the Center Party from 1987 to 1989 , from 1988 also deputy country chairman of the center and member of the Helsinki city ​​council . He held both offices until 1994. At the age of 30, Rehn was already working as an economic policy advisor to the Finnish Prime Minister. From 1991 to 1995 he was a member of the Finnish Parliament . In the meantime he headed the Finnish delegation to the Council of Europe . Then he became a member of the European Parliament for one year .

Rehn was from 1998 to 2002 head of cabinet of the EU Commissioner Erkki Liikanen . In 2004 he was EU Commissioner for Enterprise and Information Society under Romano Prodi for a few months and from November 2004 to February 2010 EU Enlargement Commissioner in the Commission of José Manuel Barroso. He then took over the economics and currency department until June 2014 .

Euro crisis

As EU Commissioner for Economic and Monetary Affairs, Olli Rehn played a key role in combating the financial and euro crisis in Europe. His area of ​​responsibility included the review of national budgets and compliance with the stability criteria of the Maastricht Treaty .

The rules of the Stability Pact were massively tightened in 2010 at Rehn's endeavor, after this rule, which was supposed to ensure stability when the monetary union was founded, was suspended in 2005 under pressure from Germany and France. Since these rules did not have to be followed until 2010, both Italy and Greece were able to significantly increase their government spending and debt. The tougher rules introduced by Rehn leave the member states only very little room for maneuver to meet the requirements; if necessary, these can also be put under the supervision of the EU Commission. Page text.

At the beginning of 2012, after Rehn did not approve the budget draft of the government in Budapest , the EU Commission decided to punish Hungary as the first member state as a "deficit sinner"; 495 million euros from the EU Cohesion Fund have been temporarily put on hold. EU Commissioner Rehn has considered this step because the Hungarian government has not, as agreed with the Commission, pushed the budget deficit for 2012 below the 3 percent mark.

In April 2013, the Slovenian government was warned by Rehn to comply with the EU requirements for reforms and the budget deficit; As a result, the government decided on a comprehensive package, which, as recommended by Currency Commissioner Rehn, consists primarily of cuts in government spending, far-reaching reforms, privatizations and restructuring of the banking sector. From the current point of view (as of May 2014), the reform package in Slovenia is considered to be the most successful in the entire euro area since the beginning of the financial crisis, as there was no severe recession and the unemployment rate and debt ratio did not rise to the same extent as in other euro countries.

After Rehn refused to extend France's deficit target again in April 2014, the French government launched an austerity package worth 50 billion euros.

European election campaign 2014

Olli Rehn ran for the European Liberals, to which his Finnish Center Party belongs, for the European Parliament. The EU Commission released him from his work as EU Commissioner for the period of the election campaign. During this time, he received no salary or other remuneration and was represented by the EU Transport Commissioner Siim Kallas , who came from Estonia . On July 1, 2014, he took his place in the newly elected European Parliament and was elected one of the 14 Vice-Presidents on July 1, 2014 .

Return to Finland in 2015

After the Finnish parliamentary election on April 19, 2015 , a coalition of the center , the rallying party and the True Finns was formed under Prime Minister Juha Sipilä . On May 29, 2015, he appointed Rehn as Finnish Minister of Economic Affairs, whereupon Rehn resigned from the European Parliament. He held this post until the end of December 2016.

Suomen Pankki

Since July 2018 he has been governor of the Finnish Central Bank , Suomen Pankki .

Private life

Rehn has been playing football since he was a child, and he was in the first team at Mikkelin Palloilijat between 1979 and 1983. In 1996/97 he was President of the Finnish Football League.

Rehn speaks Finnish, English, French and Swedish, and he understands German.

Web links

Commons : Olli Rehn  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

• Website at the EU Commission
• Entry on Olli Rehn in the Members' database of the European Parliament

Individual evidence

1. ^ Paul Krugman: Disastrous Predictions and Predictable Disasters. In: The Conscience of a Liberal. The New York Times, March 1, 2013, accessed March 16, 2013 . 
2. ↑ ^{a b} [1] , additional text.