Paavo Väyrynen

Infobox Politician
name = Paavo Väyrynen


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office = Minister for Foreign Trade and Development
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predecessor = Paula Lehtomäki
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birth_date = birth date and age|1946|9|2
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party = Centre Party
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website = [http://www.vayrynen.com/ www.vayrynen.com]
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Paavo Matti Väyrynen (born on 2 September 1946 in Kemi) is a Finnish veteran politician of the Centre Party. He is currently Minister for Foreign Trade and Development in Matti Vanhanen's second cabinet. Väyrynen is a former Member of the European Parliament, Member of the Bureau of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe and sat on the European Parliament's Committee on Foreign Affairs.

Väyrynen is a substitute for the Committee on Regional Development, a vice-chair of the Delegation to the EU-Bulgaria Joint Parliamentary Committee and a substitute for the Delegation to the EU-Russia Parliamentary Cooperation Committee.

Väyrynen's involvement in national politics dates back to when he was elected to parliament at the age of 23. He held various minister's positions since the Kekkonen era, and was the chairman of the Centre Party, one of Finland's three large parties. Although Väyrynen supported the application of EU membership, he is a euroskeptic, who filibustered the vote about joining the European Union in the Finnish parliament past the date of the EU referendum in Sweden. [Petri Neittaanmäki. "Valtapolitiikka osana suomalaista päätöksentekoa — tutkielma Suomen Keskustan poliittisesta päätöksentekoprosessista EU-kysymyksessä 1989-1994 (tiivistelmä)." http://www.neittaanmaki.fi/tiivistelma.html]

He was re-elected into the Finnish parliament in the 2007 election and was chosen to be the Minister for Foreign Trade and Development in Matti Vanhanen's second cabinet. Väyrynen is from Kemi, Lapland and was elected from the Lapland election district.

Career

* 1972-1980: Vice-chairman of the Centre party
* 1980-1990: Chairman
* 1970-1995, 1999, 2007-: Member of Parliament
* 1975-1976: Minister of Education
* 1976-1977: Minister of Labour
* 1977-1982: Minister of Foreign Affairs
* 1983-1987: Minister of Foreign Affairs and Deputy Prime Minister
* 1991-1993: Minister of Foreign Affairs
* 1988 and 1994: Presidential candinate for Centre party
* 1995-2007: Member of the European Parliament
* 1997-2004: Vice-chairman of the ELDR Group
* 2007- : Minister for Foreign Trade and Development

References

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