Finland is about to redefine the geopolitical balance. This Sunday, May 15, the Nordic country announced its “historic” candidacy for NATO, before a decisive meeting in Sweden with a view to a probable application for simultaneous membership of the two countries, a direct consequence of the Russian invasion of NATO. ‘Ukraine. To accompany this change, Prime Minister Sanna Marin, 36, will be in charge.
“We are prepared for different types of action (…) but there is no information indicating that Russia would initiate military action against Finland”, affirmed Saturday May 14 the head of government, arrived at the power at the end of 2019.
The Prime Minister belongs to the Social Democratic Party, which supported by a very large majority a candidacy of the Nordic country to NATO. In Helsinki, the question around the Atlantic Alliance is a hot topic in more than one way: Finland shares a border of 1300 kilometers as well as a heavy past with its Russian neighbor. If the Nordic country has always played the mediator between the West and Moscow, the conflict has finally pushed it into the arms of NATO.
Faced with this geopolitical situation, Sanna Marin did what she knew how to do best: adapt. From the start of her term, the political animal was thrust into responsibilities, far from the post-victory honeymoon she might have imagined. Only a few weeks after taking office, the country’s first case of coronavirus was diagnosed in January 2020. By establishing containment in March, she helped keep contamination levels low in the country.
Same capacity for responsiveness on NATO’s geopolitical file. After the invasion of Ukraine by Russian troops, the head of government said at the end of February that “it is now clear that the debate on NATO membership in Finland will change”, while noting that a Finnish NATO bid would require widespread policy and public support. A month before these declarations, Sanna Marin confided that she was not “considering joining NATO in the near future”, but the international context made her reconsider this decision.
A dazzling political career
On April 27, 2022, the Prime Minister was indignant on the occasion of National Veterans Day: “Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is not only a violation of international law. It is also a violation of humanity and our sense of justice. Nothing justifies a war of aggression against civilians. The news from Ukrainian cities occupied by Russia is shocking. The face of war is cruel.” Far from the political patterns shaped by the Cold War, Sanna Marin says she is concerned about “respect for human rights, equality and solidarity”, in a maintenance granted in the worldJuly 2, 2021.
Flanked by the title of “youngest head of state in the history of Finland”, the thirty-year-old considered leftist, even within her own party, is not a novice in politics. Although she is the third woman in Finland to reach the top, her rise within the Social Democratic Party (SDP) remains meteoric. However, her first steps on the political scene proved hesitant: in 2011, she failed to be elected to Parliament. Four years later, the city councilor of Tampere – her city of origin – ended up winning the post of deputy in 2015 with one of the best scores in the country. She rose through the ranks of power, becoming Minister of Transport and Communications, after being re-elected with flying colors in 2019.
Looking in the rear view mirror, nothing predestined her to become the tenant of Kesäranta, the official residence of the Prime Minister. Coming from a modest background, her childhood seems far removed from the classic family portraits: her mother grew up in an orphanage, and her parents divorced following her father’s alcohol problems. At school, the results of little Sanna remain mediocre before improving in adolescence. “When I was in high school, I felt that people in politics were quite different and came from different backgrounds than mine,” she told the Finnish magazine. Ms Naisset when he entered Parliament in 2015.
The one who has now taken the lead of a coalition of Finnish women has not been spared from the attacks, which she has been able to defuse one by one. At the end of 2021, local people magazines accuse the Prime Minister of having spent an evening in a nightclub while she was in contact with Covid-19. The politician apologizes in stride. A few months earlier, Sanna Marin was again pinned by the local press, suspected of spending around 300 euros each month for her family’s breakfast, taken from public funds. Faced with this outcry, Sanna Marin promised to pay for all her meals while calling for “a clarification of the rules” on this subject.
Shortly after being sworn in, Sanna Marin said: “We promised change. Now we need action. I believe that confidence will come back through action.” Wishing to bring upheavals in Finland, it is ultimately the face of the whole world that the young woman could change.