Erkki Liikanen

Erkki Antero Liikanen (born 19 September 1950) is a Finnish social democratic politician and a former Governor of the Bank of Finland.[1][2]

Erkki Liikanen
Governor of Bank of Finland
In office
12 July 2004  12 July 2018
Preceded byMatti Vanhala
Succeeded byOlli Rehn
European Commissioner for Enterprise and Information Society
In office
17 September 1999  11 July 2004
PresidentRomano Prodi
Preceded byMartin Bangemann (Industrial Affairs, Information and Telecommunications Technologies)
Succeeded byOlli Rehn
European Commissioner for Budget, Personnel and Administration
In office
25 January 1995  17 September 1999
PresidentJacques Santer
Manuel Marín (Acting)
Preceded byPeter Schmidhuber (Budget and Financial Control)
Succeeded byMichaele Schreyer (Budget)
Neil Kinnock (Administrative Reform)
Minister of Finance
In office
30 April 1987  28 February 1990
Prime MinisterHarri Holkeri
Preceded byEsko Ollila
Succeeded byMatti Louekoski
Member of Parliament
from Mikkeli
In office
22 January 1972  31 August 1990
Personal details
Born
Erkki Antero Liikanen

(1950-09-19) 19 September 1950
Mikkeli, Finland
Political partySocial Democratic Party
Spouse(s)
Hanna-Liisa Issakainen
(m. 1971)
EducationUniversity of Helsinki

Early life and education

Erkki Antero Liikanen obtained a bachelor’s degree in Political Science (Economics) from the University of Helsinki in 1975.[3]

Political career

Liikanen was elected to the Finnish Parliament in 1972 when he was only 21 years old. Liikanen was appointed as the Minister of Finance in the Holkeri Cabinet in 1987.[4] He left Parliament in 1990 to become the first Finnish Ambassador to the European Union.[5]

In 1994 he became the first Finnish Member of the European Commission. He was Commissioner for Budget, Personnel and administration, which included responsibilities for translation and information technology.[6]

Liikanen served as Governor of the Bank of Finland from 12 July 2004. As such he also became a Member of the Governing Council of the European Central Bank (2004–2018) and Governor of the International Monetary Fund for Finland (2004–2018).[7]

In February 2012, EU Commissioner Michel Barnier asked Liikanen to chair a group of experts to assess the need for structural reforms to the EU banking sector. Their works is known as the Liikanen report was published on 2 October 2012.

Liikanen was also the chairman of Finnish Red Cross between June 2008 and June 2014.

In early 2019, a Reuters poll of economists found that while Benoît Cœuré was considered best-suited for the role as President of the European Central Bank, the most likely compromise candidate was Liikanen.[8]

Positions held

  • Chairman of the Board of the Bank of Finland, 12 July 2004– (Present position)
  • 1995–2004 Member of the European Commission, Brussels
  • 1990–1994 Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary, Head of Finnish Mission to the European Union, Brussels
  • 1987–1990 Minister of Finance
  • 1983–1987 Parliamentary Trustee to the Bank of Finland (Vice-Chairman), Speaker's Council
  • 1981–1987 Secretary-General of the Social Democratic Party
  • 1980–1989 Member and subsequently Chairman of the Supervisory Board of the Outokumpu (steel)
  • 1978, 1982, 1988 Elected as Member of the Electoral College to select the Finnish President
  • 1972–1990 Member of Parliament; member of Cultural Affairs Committee (1972–1975), Agriculture and Forestry Committee (Vice-Chairman) (1977–1979), Foreign Affairs Committee (member 1975–1982; Chairman 1983–1987)

Other activities

International organizations

Non-profit organizations

Personal life

Liikanen is married to Hanna-Liisa Liikanen and they have two daughters.[15][16]

Literary work

  • Brysselin päiväkirjat 1990–1994 (edited by Eila Nevalainen) ISBN 951-1-13832-4[17]

References

Media related to Erkki Liikanen (SDP) at Wikimedia Commons

Political offices
Preceded by
Esko Ollila
Minister of Finance
1987–1990
Succeeded by
Matti Louekoski
First Finnish European Commissioner
1995–2004
Succeeded by
Olli Rehn
Preceded by
Peter Schmidhuber
as European Commissioner for Budget and Financial Control
European Commissioner for Budget, and Personnel and Administration
1995–1999
Succeeded by
Michaele Schreyer
as European Commissioner for the Budget
Succeeded by
Neil Kinnock
as European Commissioner for Administrative Reform
Preceded by
Martin Bangemann
as European Commissioner for Industrial Affairs, Information and Telecommunications Technologies
European Commissioner for Enterprise and Information Society
1999–2004
Served alongside: Ján Figeľ
Succeeded by
Olli Rehn
Government offices
Preceded by
Matti Vanhala
Governor of Bank of Finland
2004–2018
Succeeded by
Olli Rehn
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