Sirpa Pietikäinen

Early life and education

Pietikäinen has an MBA degree from Helsinki School of Economics. She has received The Knight Commander's Order of the White Rose of Finland (1993). She speaks Finnish, English, French, Swedish and German.

Her articles have been published in:

Role in national politics

Pietikäinen was in the Hämeenlinna town council (1981-1992). She was a Member of Finnish Parliament and later served as Minister for the Environment in the cabinet of Prime Minister Esko Aho between 1991 and 1995.

Pietikäinen was the Chair of Finnish United Nations Association between 1996 and 2007. She was the World Federation of United Nations Associations chairwoman between 2000 and 2004. She has also worked for the International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance and One World International.

Member of the European Parliament

Pietikäinen has been a Member of the European Parliament since 2008. She first came to the European parliament to replace Alexander Stubb in 2008, and was re-elected in the 2009 European elections. In parliament, she is a member of the European People's Party Group (EPP).

Upon entering parliament, Pietikäinen first was a member of the Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety from 2009 to 2012 and then vice-chairwoman of the Committee on the Internal Market and Consumer Protection between 2012 and 2014. Since 2014, she has been serving on the Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs. In addition to her committee assignments, she has been a member of the parliament’s delegation for relations with the People's Republic of China since 2009.

In her capacity as alternate member of the Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety, she authored a report on organic farming in 2015 and served as rapporteur on the circular economy.

Pietikäinen also serves as vice-president of the European Parliament Intergroup on LGBT Rights; as board member of the European Parliament Intergroup on the Welfare and Conservation of Animals; as member of the European Parliament Intergroup on Youth Issues; as member of the European Parliament Working Group on Reproductive Health, HIV/AIDS and Development; as a vice-chairwoman of the cross-party Working Group on Fair Trade (sponsored by Fair Trade Advocacy); and as member of the MEP Heart Group (sponsored by the European Heart Network (EHN) and the European Society of Cardiology (ESC)).

During her campaign for the 2014 European elections, Pietikäinen spent a total of €183,700, making her the biggest spender of the country’s 13 elected MEPs. According to a Finnish media report, a third of Pietikäinen’s budget was a bank loan, she contributed €49,000 from her own pocket and received €10,000 from the Trade Union Pro, Finland’s largest private sector union.

Political positions

Pietikäinen sees the European Union should proceed towards a Europe of people, which guarantees the respect of human rights, equal opportunities for all, social inclusion and the access to high quality services. In her opinion, the Union needs to further involve organisations and citizens in the community decision-making process, from the preparatory phase of the work onwards. Also the Union should be more transparent.

Pietikäinen sees the objectives and strategies, such as the Lisbon Strategy, are not enough. The Union would need an enhanced surveillance of the financial sector, obligations in terms of solvability as well as transparency in Europe and worldwide. She also supports reinforcing cooperation and negotiation procedures between employees and trade unions, in order to contribute to the stabilisation of growth. The future growth, in her opinion, spurs from investments in the education and research sectors, in particular in green business.

When it comes to the environment, Pietikäinen sees political will is at the core of the environmental challenges: Europe should build an ecologically sustainable model in terms of way of life, transport, production and consumption, as well as the economic and legislative tools which will allow the shift towards this model.

Personal life

In 2003, Pietikäinen was convicted of aggravated drunk driving after moving her car in a parking lot at midnight. She was fined, given a suspended prison sentence and banned from driving for five months.