Finnish Centre Youth

Finnish Centre Youth Finnish: Keskustanuoret is the biggest political youth organisation in Finland with 17 000 members. It is the youth wing of the Centre Party. It is formed by 19 regional organisations and approximately 400 local associations.

Finnish Centre Youth
Keskustanuoret
ChairpersonHanna Markkanen
Founded1945 (1945)
HeadquartersHelsinki, Finland
Mother partyFinnish Centre Party
International affiliationInternational Federation of Liberal Youth (IFLRY)
European affiliationEuropean Liberal Youth (Lymec)
MagazineJuuri
Websitekeskustanuoret.fi

The organisation was formerly known as Nuoren Keskustan Liitto and until 1964 Maaseudun Nuorten Liitto.[1]

Finnish Centre Youth is a member of the European Liberal Youth (LYMEC), International Federation of Liberal Youth (IFLRY)[2] and a founding member of the Nordic Centre Youth (NCF).[3]

History

The organisation was founded after World War II on 30 June 1945 in Salo as a union of 14 regional youth organisations of the Agrarian League. The Salo meeting elected Johannes Virolainen as the first president of the organisation. Two decades later, Virolainen became the Prime Minister of Finland.[4]

The post-war era was a politically active time in Finland. The new centrist youth organisation rapidly gained new members, reaching 50 000 members in 1954[5] and 70 000 members in 1962.[6] Since then, the number of members has been gradually declining (the end of 70s being an exception).[7]

Famous members

Tens of Finnish Ministers and hundreds of members of Finnish Parliament have background in Finnish Centre Youth. This is the list of most notables of them:

[8]

References
  1. Vanhanen, Tatu. Vihreä Nuoriso, Nuoren Keskustan Liitto r.y., 1995, p. 52.
  2. Archived 2009-07-15 at the Wayback Machine Finnish Centre Youth website
  3. Vanhanen, Tatu. Vihreä Nuoriso, Nuoren Keskustan Liitto r.y., 1995, p. 172.
  4. Vanhanen, Tatu. Vihreä Nuoriso, Nuoren Keskustan Liitto r.y., 1995, p. 20.
  5. Vanhanen, Tatu. Vihreä Nuoriso, Nuoren Keskustan Liitto r.y., 1995, p. 29.
  6. Vanhanen, Tatu. Vihreä Nuoriso, Nuoren Keskustan Liitto r.y., 1995, p. 49.
  7. Vanhanen, Tatu. Vihreä Nuoriso, Nuoren Keskustan Liitto r.y., 1995, p. 79.
  8. Vanhanen, Tatu. Vihreä Nuoriso, Nuoren Keskustan Liitto r.y., 1995, p. 159-166.
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