50 years old | “Probably six times I used to put my jacket on the nail,” says Jyrki Katainen at the helm of his controversial sixpack board.

“During the presidency does play a special role in my own political history ’, Jyrki Katainen says his term at the forefront of the Coalition.

“It was like running a family business, not in the role of the owner, but in terms of the community, the responsibility that falls from the community.”

If he has since followed even heavier responsibilities, Katainen will clearly steel himself when it comes to party issues.

Political the home was found early. As a sixteen-year-old teenager, Jyrki Katainen rode a liner from Siilinjärvi to Kuopio and joined the Coalition Youth.

“Access from 21 years of opposition and Harri Holkerin Prime Minister, that moment shocked and decided my choice. ”

As a young man, he was still there when he bounced as chairman. He sat on the spot for ten years and drew nearly ten election victories, on the way the party rose to be the largest in the country.

A period of success, nothing else can claim.

“We had to broaden our political image. To put it a little roughly, I would say that I wanted the Coalition Party to change from the South Helsinki interest group to a market bourgeois party. I guess we succeeded, the former supporters stayed and we got more voters from women and new professional groups. ”

Katainen politely refrains from interfering with the current state of the Coalition.

Departure the party leadership in 2014 received bitter feedback – especially since Katainen also left the post of prime minister. Without denying the legitimacy of the criticism, he justifies his dismissal: “Sometimes it just has to stop. I felt that I could no longer bring added value to the President, nor did I wash the Prime Minister. ”

Katainen was appointed EU Commissioner Olli Rehnin after. The board took over Alexander Stubb.

Three years as the leader of the sixpack board was like pulling a stone, Katainen admits. The government base was too loose and the economic situation was precarious.

“Decision-making on the board was just as difficult as it seemed,” Katainen sighs.

“Probably six times I was whipped to put my jacket on the nail, and for pure selfish reasons it would have been the easiest. But we just had to try to continue. Fortunately, our EU line did. ”

And not there has been no lighter-than-going time as finance minister: the global stock market crash and financial crisis fell into the arms in autumn 2008.

There was a great unknown future ahead. How does a politician react at the most alarming moment?

Katainen gives the example of a Chief of Staff one Friday night in 2009 Raimo Sailaksen with.

“Bad news had just been received: the flow of money between banks was freezing, and there was a threat that even good banks and companies would collapse very soon. I asked if this could really happen, and Raimo replied that it would happen. ”

“That’s when I first felt scared. And at the same time, as a reflex, the concern arose that how are we now defending Finland? Fortunately, the crisis at the time was resolved in the Eurogroup. “

Katainen returned to Finland from the position of EU Commissioner in 2019 and started as Sitra’s General Counsel. But also in his current job, he is connected to the Union and at least to European fields of action.

“The demand for EU solutions is only growing all the time. Already now and in the near future, we will certainly be in a situation where climate change and the loss of nature require strong systemic changes. ”

Katainen emphasizes that security, cyber threats and the new data economy will only increase the EU’s future weight. “We need bold decisions, for the safety of our people, our continent and our world.”

In Sitra, the heads steam up with parallel problems.

“In collaboration with academic research, we are trying to produce and collide innovations that specifically serve a fair data economy, sustainable solutions and new forms of democracy,” the Advocate General highlights.

“In terms of the circular economy, Sitra has already been assessed as a global authority.”