25 Facts About Olli Rehn

Olli Rehn played football for his hometown club Mikkelin Palloilijat in Finland's top division Mestaruussarja in his youth.

Olli Rehn began his political career in youth politics as a regular member of the Finnish Centre Youth and soon became the secretary general of the Nordic Centre Youth.

In 1988 Olli Rehn was elected as a city councillor in Helsinki.

Olli Rehn was vice president of the Centre Party from 1988 to 1994, having been president of its youth wing from 1987.

Olli Rehn left the Finnish Parliament in 1995 to become an MEP, aligned to the liberal group.

Olli Rehn was not re-elected in the 1996 election.

Olli Rehn was briefly the chairman of Veikkausliiga from 1996 to 1997.

From 1998 to 2002 Olli Rehn ran the office of Erkki Liikanen, Finland's representative on the Prodi Commission.

Olli Rehn was appointed European commissioner for enterprise and information society on 12 July 2004, taking over the role from the previous Finnish commissioner Erkki Liikanen, who left his post the same day to become governor of the Bank of Finland.

Olli Rehn was the youngest member of the first Barroso Commission.

Olli Rehn presided over the accession of Bulgaria and Romania in 2007, as well as continuing negotiations with Croatia and opening them with Turkey, the latter being perhaps the most significant and the most hotly debated future accession.

Olli Rehn has stressed the importance of greater respect for human rights and civil liberties as preconditions for Turkey's entry, while acknowledging the advances it had already made in this respect.

Olli Rehn was cautious on the question of the inevitability of Turkish membership, stating that he did not "believe in historic determinism", but that if negotiations were begun, "underpinned by the commitment that [Turkey] will be able to join [the EU] once it fulfils all conditions, it will join as soon as it does meet the conditions".

Olli Rehn insisted that Bulgaria and Romania would be judged on their merits and that he would not hesitate to delay accession by a year if the EU's requirements were not met on time.

Olli Rehn considered the establishment of a pre-accession strategy for the Western Balkans one of his prime tasks.

Olli Rehn has continued to maintain that the only way out of the crisis is a continued programme of fiscal austerity.

In mid-2013, Olli Rehn claimed that the European Commission was following a pragmatic policy balancing austerity policies with pro-growth policies and that much of the criticism was unfair.

Olli Rehn was a candidate in the 2014 European election and was elected MEP.

In 2015, Olli Rehn was elected in the Finnish parliamentary election with 6,837 votes.

On 29 May 2015, Olli Rehn was appointed the Minister of Economic Affairs in Sipila Cabinet.

Olli Rehn played a key role in persuading labor unions to agree to pay cuts to restore competitiveness.

On 14 October 2016, Olli Rehn was selected to the board of the Bank of Finland.

Olli Rehn is responsible for the bank's digitalisation process and for the activities of the Financial Supervisory Authority, where he is chairman of the board.

Olli Rehn continued as a minister and MP till the end of 2016.

In June 2023, Olli Rehn announced his candidacy for 2024 presidential election as an independent candidate.