Juha Sipilä
Juha Sipilä | |
|---|---|
 | |
| 44th Prime Minister of Finland | |
| Assumed office 29 May 2015 | |
| President | Sauli Niinistö |
| Deputy | Timo Soini |
| Preceded by | Alexander Stubb |
| Leader of the Centre Party | |
| Assumed office 9 June 2012 | |
| Preceded by | Mari Kiviniemi |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 25 April 1961 Veteli, Finland |
| Political party | Centre Party |
| Spouse | Minna-Maaria Sipilä |
| Children | 5 |
| Alma mater | University of Oulu |
| Military service | |
| Allegiance |  Finland |
| Branch/service | Finnish Army |
| Rank |  Captain[1] |
Juha Petri Sipilä (Finnish pronunciation: [ˈjuhɑ ˈsipilæ]; born in Veteli, 25 April 1961) is a Finnish politician and businessman who is the current Prime Minister of Finland. He has been the leader of the Centre Party since 9 June 2012. After leading the Centre party to victory in the 2015 general election, he formed a centre-right coalition and was appointed Prime Minister by the Finnish parliament on 29 May 2015.[2]
Education
Sipilä completed his matriculation examination in 1980 and a Master's degree in engineering from the University of Oulu in 1986.
Business
His career started in Lauri Kuokkanen Ltd., first as a thesis worker and later as a product development manager. Changing jobs, he became a partner and later CEO at Solitra Oy. In 1998, he started up his own business, Fortel Invest Oy. In 2002-2005 he worked as the CEO of Elektrobit Oyj, returned to his own business.
Sipilä was managing direcror of Solitra in 1992 and main owner since 1994. Sipilä sold Solitra in 1996 to American ADC Telecommunications and became a millionaire. Business ADC Mersum Oy was resold to Remec in 2001.[3][4]
Politics
As a student, Sipilä worked for a short time in the Finnish Centre Youth, but otherwise he did not have experience in party politics before being elected to the parliament in 2011 with 5,543 personal votes.[5][6]
In April 2012, Sipilä announced his candidacy for the chairman's position in the party congress of the summer. On June 9, 2012, the party congress elected him as the chairman, beating Tuomo Puumala in the second round with 1251 vs. 872 delegate votes.
Sipilä led his party to victory in the 2015 election, where the Centre Party gained 14 seats compared to the previous election. With 30,758 personal votes he was the most popular candidate in the election.[7] Following the election, he was tasked with forming a government coalition, and as the leader of the Centre Party he began formal negotiations with the Finns Party and the National Coalition Party and formed a three-party majority coalition.[8]
Financial support
Juha Sipilä gave €25,000 financial support for Center Party in 2011.[9]
Personal life
Sipilä has a wife and five children. His youngest son, Tuomo (born in 1993), died on 18 February 2015.[10]
Sipilä is known for his wood gas car hobby.[6] For his summer cottage, the offer he was given for electrification seemed too high, and he got interested in wood gas. First, he produced the electricity with wind power and with a diesel generator, but then he started building wood gas plants. He converted an old Chevrolet El Camino into "El Kamina" (kamina "stove") powered by wood gas, with electronic control systems.[11] This hobby was spun off into a company, Volter Oy, which produces wood gas power plants. A 10-house ecovillage in Kempele is powered by one such power plant.[12][13]
Sipilä is a member of Word of Peace (Rauhan Sana), a Lutheran Laestadian group, even though he does not consider himself a Laestadian. [14]
References
- ^ http://www.iltasanomat.fi/kotimaa/art-1288474136351.html Ilta-Sanomat: Keskustan Juha Sipilä ylennettiin kapteeniksi (4 June 2012) Template:Fi icon
- ^ http://yle.fi/uutiset/mps_vote_sipila_in_as_prime_minister__result_not_unanimous/8025742 YLE News: MPs vote Sipilä in as prime minister- result not unanimous. 28 May 2015
- ^ Yritysuutiset8.1.2004
- ^ Yrityskaupan hyväksyminen; Remec, Inc. / ADC Mersum Oy 26.10.2001
- ^ Juha Sipilä accessed 9 June 2012
- ^ a b Miska Rantanen (2012). "PROFILE: Juha Sipilä". Helsingin Sanomat. Retrieved 28 June 2012.
- ^ "Valitut ehdokkaat Koko maa". Ministry of Justice. 22 April 2015. Retrieved 9 May 2015.
- ^ "Kolmen ässän humppa – seuraa hallitusohjelmavääntöä Smolnassa hetki hetkeltä". Yle. 8 May 2015. Retrieved 9 May 2015.
- ^ [1]
- ^ "Juha Sipilä steps back from election campaign after son dies". Yle. 19 February 2015. Retrieved 19 February 2015.
- ^ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wZdPkrghUZM
- ^ http://volter.fi/fi/portfolio/kempeleen-ekokortteli/
- ^ http://yle.fi/uutiset/kempeleen_ekokortteli_pyrkii_energiaomavaraisuuteen/5888863
- ^ http://www.kaleva.fi/uutiset/oulu/sipila-linjasi-suhdettaan-lestadiolaisuuteen/594972/ Sanomalehti Kaleva: Sipilä linjasi suhdettaan lestadiolaisuuteen 30 May 2012 (accessed 2 June 2015).
External links
Media related to Juha Sipilä at Wikimedia Commons
