Profile

Minister of Finance Jutta Urpilainen

 

Jutta Urpilainen was born in 1975 when her parents – Kari and Pirjo, who come from Ostrobothnia – were still students in Jyväskylä. Jutta spent her childhood and youth in Kokkola. After upper secondary school, she studied music and dance in Central Ostrobothnia for a year, after which she enrolled with the Faculty of Education at the University of Jyväskylä and later the Faculty of Social Sciences at the University of Helsinki. After having obtained a master's degree in education in 2002, Jutta took up a fixed-term position as a teacher in Kokkola.

 

In addition to Kokkola, Jutta taught for a year in Helsinki. She also worked with children as a youth coach for the local sports club, Kokkolan Jymy, and as a camp leader for the association of children's camps, Lasten Kesä. Jutta has represented young people's interests as a member of the regional board of the Social Democratic Party's youth organisation, Nuoret Kotkat, in Ostrobothnia and as part of a Finnish youth co-operation body, Allianssi, which is a national service and lobbying organisation for youth work. She has also chaired JEF Finland, a youth organisation that is a sister body to the European Movement Finland.

 

Jutta has three younger siblings: Ville, Jenni, and Anni, and six godchildren: Melinda, Valdemar, Isabella, Jonna, Valo, and Martti. She and husband Juha Mustonen are also godparents to a child in Kenya. Jutta devotes her leisure time to music and sports.

 

Jutta became interested in politics early on. She chaired the Social Democratic youth organisation in Ostrobothnia and served as vice-chair of the Social Democratic Students in Finland, SONK. In the 1996 municipal elections, when Jutta was only 21, she was elected to serve as a deputy member of the Kokkola town council. Four years later, she became a member of the culture and youth board of the same council. In the 2004 municipal elections, she was elected to the town council, receiving the largest number of votes, and she reclaimed her seat in the 2008 elections. Regionally, Jutta has served as chair of the Assembly of the Central Ostrobothnia Regional Council and vice-chair of the Central Ostrobothnia hospital district.

 

She has also worked on an advisory council of a local foundation providing service flats for disabled war veterans. As for the activities of the Social Democratic Party in Ostrobothnia, Jutta was active with the regional board and the women's district committee. She was introduced to the work of Parliament when serving as assistant to MP Säde Tahvanainen, with whom she worked for two years. International questions have become familiar to her in her positions as chair of the UN Association in Finland and Operation Day’s Work Finland.

 

Jutta stood as a candidate in Parliamentary elections for the first time in 2003. She was elected to Parliament with 5,365 votes, making her the first female MP from the current Central Ostrobothnia electoral district. In the 2007 elections, she was re-elected to Parliament with 7,244 votes and appointed as vice-chair of the Social Democratic parliamentary group. In the 2011 elections, she was re-elected again, now with 11,670 votes.

 

In 2008, the Social Democratic Party's Party Congress elected Jutta as its party leader, and she was unanimously elected for a second term in 2010. In addition to party leader, Jutta is currently Finland's Minister of Finance and the Minister deputising for the Prime Minister in Jyrki Katainen's Government. Jutta's earlier duties included positions on Parliament’s Foreign Affairs Committee, Education and Culture Committee, and Finance Committee – more precisely, on the Tax and Education and Science subcommittees. Jutta pursues her interest in music as a keyboardist and vocalist with Parliament's band.