Juha Sipilä

Juha Sipilä was part-owner in the start-up company Chempolis. According to MOT Program (YLE) in 2012, Chempolis had received 10 million euros in public funds over 15 years along with extra funds from the Finnish Innovation Fund SITRA and Finnish state-owned financing company Finnvera. According to YLE TV News in 2017, the majority state-owned energy company Fortum saved Chempolis from bankruptcy by investing 6 million euros into the company in October 2016. Thereafter, children of Sipilä owned 5% of the company and Fortum 34%. Sipilä had been in control of the state owned companies including Fortum since the end of 2015. The Prime Ministers of Finland have not had the control of state companies previously.[9]

Prime Minister Juha Sipilä lobbied for Chempolis in India in 2016. Chempolis issued a press release on its joint venture with India's Numaligarh Refinery to build a biorefinery in North East India (Assam) for the production of bioethanol following meetings between Prime Minister Narendra Modi, India's Finance Minister Arun Jaitley and Finland's Prime Minister Juha Sipilä on 12–14 February 2016.[10]

Sipilä with Estonian Prime Minister Jüri Ratas and European Council President Donald Tusk, Tallinn Digital Summit 2017

Sipilä's government struggled with Finland's poor economic performance,[16] caused according to Paul Krugman and others by the constraints of its eurozone membership and aftershocks from the European debt crisis,[17][18] but also by the decline of the paper industry, the fall of Nokia and a diminution in exports to Russia.[19][20][21][22] Its attempts to address the problems through policies of spending cuts and reducing labour costs were controversial, particularly cuts to education spending that were seen as threatening Finland's successful public education system.[21][23] These austerity measures were partly been implemented due to European Commission pressure, which urged Finland to improve its adherence to the Stability and Growth Pact[24] and reform its labour market to improve competitiveness.[25] On 22 July 2015, Sipilä announced his government's commitment to reducing Finnish wage costs by 5% by 2019, an internal devaluation caused by Finland's loss of the ability to devalue its currency to boost competitiveness.[26]

There were protests against the government's austerity measures.[23][27]

In summer 2017, Finns Party split into two parties, namely Blue Reform and the current Finns Party. The Blue Reform members of the former Finns Party, including all ministers, remained in the government after the split.[28]

Following the term of Sipilä Cabinet, the Centre Party was the biggest loser of the 2019 parliamentary election, losing 18 seats and falling from largest party to fourth place. The party's support was lower than in any parliamentary election since 1917.[29] Due to the devastating defeat, Sipilä consequently announced that he would continue as the chairman only until Centre Party's next convention in September 2019.[30]

In 2016, Sipiläs close relatives were revealed to be part-owners of the bankrupt Talvivaara Mining Company, later renamed and re-organised into the company Terrafame, which had received considerable funds from the Finnish government.[31][32][33] A Parliamentary Ombudsman later decided that Sipilä didn't face a conflict of interest over mine deal.[34][35]

However, it was later revealed that Sipilä had contacted Yleisradio in order to instruct them on how to report on the Talvivaara and Terrafame incidents, leading to suspicion that YLE had been politically pressured.[36]

Sipilä grew up in the small town of Puolanka, northern Finland, north of Kajaani, the firstborn of four children to mother Pirkko and father Pentti Sipilä, an elementary school teacher.[5]

In 1981, Sipilä married Minna-Maaria Juntunen at Oulu Cathedral. They have five children.[5][37] Their youngest son, Tuomo (born in 1993), died on 18 February 2015.[38]

Sipilä is known for his interest in wood gas electricity generation, which began as a hobby.[12] The cost to bring power to his summer cottage seemed too high, and he became interested in wood gas. First, he produced the electricity with wind power and with a diesel generator, but then he started building wood gas plants. He converted an old Chevrolet El Camino into "El Kamina" (Kamiina means "stove" in Finnish.) powered by wood gas, with electronic control systems.[39] This hobby was spun off into a company, Volter Oy, which produces wood gas power plants. A 10-house ecovillage in Kempele is powered by one such power plant.[40][41]

The Sipiläs are members of Rauhan Sana (transl. "Word of Peace", affiliated in North America with ALCA), a small Laestadian revivalist denomination within the state Lutheran church of Finland. The Sipiläs first met at a Laestadian summer camp as teenagers.[37] Sipilä has stated he does not consider himself a legalistic Laestadian, and in interviews he has carefully distinguished his own Laestadian denomination from his home region's other, predominant, exclusive Laestadian group (Conservative Laestadianism).[42][43] The chairman of board in Juha Sipilä's religious community was his wife's brother in 2015.[44] According to Juha Sipilä, in 2012 he participated in the International Christian Chamber of Commerce ICCC.[45]

Juha Sipilä owned airplane Mooney Ovation 2 in 2018. Earlier he had a third share of a helicopter and other plane. In 2018 he promised to compensate all climate change gas emissions from his air travel by cultivating trees with his own hands.[46]

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