About Matti Vanhanen
Matti Taneli Vanhanen is a Finnish politician who served as Prime Minister of Finland from 2003 to 2010 and then as the Speaker of Parliament from 2022 to 2023. He was also Chairman of the Centre Party from 2006 until 2010 and the party's presidential candidate in 2006 and 2018. Outside of that, he has served under multiple ministerial position through out his 27 years as member of the finnish parliament, with those being Finance Minister, Deputy Prime Minister and Defense Minister. After Jäätteenmäki's resignation, Vanhanen was elected Prime Minister and his first cabinet was formed. In the first round of the presidential election, Vanhanen placed fifth with 4.1 percent of the votes, while the incumbent president Sauli Niinistö went on to secure his second term with a majority of votes. Vanhanen is known for being a teetotaler, saying that he does not like the taste of alcohol. At the end of the crisis, Vanhanen told his parliamentary group that taxpayers would cover ninety per cent or about 100 million euros in losses.
Biography source: Wikipedia. The profile adds birthday-specific historical context from the Celebs Birthday Today editorial database.