Reino Paasilinna is a Finnish politician

Politics of Finland

Politics of Finland takes place in a framework of a parliamentary representative democratic republic and of a multi-party system. The President of Finland is the head of state, leads the foreign policy, and is the Commander-in-chief of the Defense Forces. The Prime Minister of Finland is the head...

 and Member of the European Parliament

Member of the European Parliament

A Member of the European Parliament is a person who has been elected to the European Parliament. The name of MEPs differ in different languages, with terms such as europarliamentarian or eurodeputy being common in Romance language-speaking areas.When the European Parliament was first established,...

. He is a member of the Social Democratic Party of Finland

Social Democratic Party of Finland

The Social Democratic Party of Finland is one of the three major political parties in Finland, along with the Centre Party and the National Coalition Party. Jutta Urpilainen is the current SDP leader. The party has been in the Finnish government cabinet for long periods and has set many...

, which is part of the Party of European Socialdemocrats

Party of European Socialists

The Party of European Socialists is a European political party led by Sergei Stanishev, former Prime Minister of Bulgaria. The PES comprises social-democratic national-level political parties primarily from Member state of the European Union, as well as other nations of the European continent. The...

, and sits on the European Parliament

European Parliament

The European Parliament is the directly elected parliamentary institution of the European Union . Together with the Council of the European Union and the Commission, it exercises the legislative function of the EU and it has been described as one of the most powerful legislatures in the world...

's Committee on Industry, Research and Energy.
Reino Paasilinna was born in Aunus, a ship on the Arctic Ocean

Arctic Ocean

The Arctic Ocean, located in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Arctic north polar region, is the smallest and shallowest of the world's five major oceanic divisions...

, on the coast of Norway

Norway

Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...

. Reino Paaslinna's family is from Petsamo but they moved to Kittilä

Kittilä

Kittilä is a municipality of Finland and a popular holiday resort.It is located in the province of Lapland, Finland. The municipality has a population of and covers an area of of which is water. The population density is ....

 because the Soviet Union

Soviet Union

The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....

 invaded Petsamo during the Winter War

Winter War

The Winter War was a military conflict between the Soviet Union and Finland. It began with a Soviet offensive on 30 November 1939 – three months after the start of World War II and the Soviet invasion of Poland – and ended on 13 March 1940 with the Moscow Peace Treaty...

.

He is also a substitute for the Committee on Culture and Education, vice-chair of the delegation to the EU

European Union

The European Union is an economic and political union of 27 independent member states which are located primarily in Europe. The EU traces its origins from the European Coal and Steel Community and the European Economic Community , formed by six countries in 1958...

–Russia

Russia

Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...

 Parliamentary Cooperation Committee, and a substitute for the delegation for relations with the countries of Central America

Central America

Central America is the central geographic region of the Americas. It is the southernmost, isthmian portion of the North American continent, which connects with South America on the southeast. When considered part of the unified continental model, it is considered a subcontinent...

.

The writers Erno

Erno Paasilinna

Erno Paasilinna was a Finnish writer and journalist. He received several literary prizes, the most notable being the Finlandia Prize in 1984 for his collection of essays Yksinäisyys ja uhma...

, Mauri and Arto Paasilinna

Arto Paasilinna

Arto Tapio Paasilinna is a Finnish writer, being a former journalist turned comic novelist. One of the most successful novelists of Finland, he has won a broad readership outside of Finland in a way few other Finnish authors have before...

 are his brothers.

Career

• Master's degree in social sciences (1974)
• postgraduate degree in social sciences (1989)
• doctorate in social sciences (1995)
• Various occupations (1951-1961)
• TV journalist, director and editor (1961-1974)
• Press secretary and adviser at the Finnish embassies in Moscow
  Moscow
  Moscow is the capital, the most populous city, and the most populous federal subject of Russia. The city is a major political, economic, cultural, scientific, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia and the continent...
  
   and Washington, D.C.
  Washington, D.C.
  Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
  
   (1974-1983)
• Director-General (last) and Chairman of Yleisradio
  Yleisradio
  The Finnish Broadcasting Company , abbreviated to YLE , is Finland's national broadcasting company, founded in 1926. YLE is a public-broadcasting organization which shares many of its characteristics with its British counterpart, the BBC, on which it was largely modelled...
  
   (1990-1994)
• Chairman, Union of Radio and Television Journalists (1967-1969)
• Member of the board and Vice-chairman of Elisa Communications (1988-2002)
• Member, Helsinki City Council (1998-1999)
• Member of Parliament (1983-1989 and 1995-1996)
• Vice-chairman, Committee on the Future (1995-1996)
• Member of the European Parliament (since 1996)
• Chairman, PSE Group Working Party on the Information Society (since 1998)
• Member of Finland's delegation to the Council of Europe
  Council of Europe
  The Council of Europe is an international organisation promoting co-operation between all countries of Europe in the areas of legal standards, human rights, democratic development, the rule of law and cultural co-operation...
  
  (1995-1996)
• Vice-chairman, International Radio and Television Organisation and Vice-chairman, European Broadcasting Union (1992-1994)
• Chairman, Board of Governors of Euronews (1992-1994)
• Member, Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) (1983-1989)
• Numerous publications, TV programmes and articles
• Commander of the Order of the Lion of Finland (1995)

External links

• European Parliament biography