20 Facts About Jyrki Katainen

Jyrki Tapani Katainen was born on 14 October 1971 and is a Finnish politician who served as the European Commission's Vice-President for Jobs, Growth, Investment and Competitiveness from 2014 until 2019.

Jyrki Katainen was succeeded by Alexander Stubb as chairman of Finland's National Coalition Party.

Jyrki Katainen graduated from Siilinjarvi Senior High School in 1990.

Jyrki Katainen obtained a Master's degree in political science from the University of Tampere, spending one year at the University of Leicester as an Erasmus exchange student.

Jyrki Katainen has two children: Saara was born on in 2005 and and Veera.

Jyrki Katainen became involved in politics after a brief career in teaching.

Jyrki Katainen was a member of the Siilinjarvi municipal council in his first political position, in 1993.

Jyrki Katainen was elected member of the Finnish Parliament from the district of Northern Savonia in 1999, served as the vice-chairman of the party in 2001, and became the leader in 2004.

From 1990 to 2000, Jyrki Katainen was vice president of the Youth of the European Peoples Party.

Jyrki Katainen was elected vice president of the European People's Party for a three-year term in 2006 and won the second election in 2009.

Jyrki Katainen became the Minister of Finance and Deputy Prime Minister in the new cabinet with the Center, the National Coalition, Greens, and the Swedish People's party.

Jyrki Katainen encouraged the involvement of universities and higher education institutions in civil society in order to increase the country's competitiveness in the national arena.

Jyrki Katainen said calls for more European involvement were unpopular at a time when globalization had made people afraid of losing their jobs and lowering their standard of living.

Jyrki Katainen called for a single market in clean technology, noting that Finland was producing third-generation non-food biofuels that could not enter some EU countries because regulation had not kept pace with innovation.

Jyrki Katainen recommended that leaders and citizens remain level headed regarding the situation in Crimea.

Jyrki Katainen resigned as the chairman of Finland's National Coalition Party and as the Finnish prime minister in June 2014 and was elected as European Commissioner on 16 July 2014.

Jyrki Katainen was later confirmed as vice-president-designate for jobs, growth, investment and competitiveness in the European Commission.

Ahead of the 2019 European Parliament election, Jyrki Katainen was named among potential spitzenkandidats for the European People's Party.

However, in June 2018, Jyrki Katainen announced that he was not seeking candidacy and instead was going to leave politics after the end of his term in the commission.

In June 2023, Jyrki Katainen was named head of the financial group Nordea's public affairs unit.