Analysis: Does Marin have a chance to lead the commission? Here are the tasks that Marin might aspire to

Sanna Marin, who is leaving the leadership of the SDP, could apply for, for example, visible positions under the UN or global non-governmental organizations. opportunities-to-lead-the-commission-taumlssauml-tehtaumlvaumlt-to-which-Marin-might-aspire-ca3814a.jpg” alt=”Analysis: Does Marin have a chance to lead the commission? Here are the tasks that Marin may aspire to” />

SDP's outgoing chairman may want to go to Brussels after the prime minister's duties. Alexandros Michailidisjari.hanska@iltalehti.fiToday at 10:52

Speculations are running hot about what Prime Minister Sanna Marin, who is giving up the presidency of SDP and who last week resigned from her government, will dogoes next. As Finnish Prime Minister, Marin has been an exceptionally visible figure in international arenas.

International recognition has raised questions about what kind of tasks await him next. Marin said on Wednesday that he has not been approached about any international assignment.

Iltalehti found out what future careers Marin might have in mind.

Heading for Brussels

The most likely option is that Marin will continue in one way or another in politics. Marin has already refused to participate in next January's presidential elections several times, but there will also be another election next year: the European Parliament elections will be held at the beginning of June.

Marin has already been offered big Euro boots before. There has even been talk of the presidency of the European Commission.

In January, Maaseudu Tulevaisuu's analysis considered whether Marin could run for next year's European elections as the top candidate of the S&D parliamentary group formed by the Socialists and Democrats and thus seek the presidency of the Commission.

However, the road to the presidency of the Commission is remarkably long and rocky. It would require that Marin first stand up for the people to evaluate in the European elections. The number of votes Marin received in the parliamentary elections indicates that Marin could pass by throwing and even knocking over a record-sized vote pot.

In 2019, the chairmanship of the commission was also supposed to go to the top candidate of the largest group. However, this did not happen. The entire top candidate ranking is therefore uncertain.

Another twist in the journey is that the S&D group has not been the largest group in the parliament. In the 751-seat parliament, S&D won 154 seats in the 2019 elections. EPP became the largest with 182 seats, which includes Finnish parties such as Kokomosum.

The road to the line commissioner is difficult

Successfully handling the top candidacy could, however, open other doors for Marin to influential EU positions and management positions in the S&D group. Numerous EU positions are aimed at people pursuing civil service careers, but there are also vacancies for people with a political background.

One example is the Court of Auditors. Its Finnish member is currently centrist ex-parliamentarian Hannu Takkula. In the Court of Auditors, however, Marin's international visibility would be of little use.

Among the political positions, the most significant are the positions of the 27 rank-and-file commissioners after the chairman of the commission. Access to them does not seem very possible if the coalition is the prime minister's party in Finland. It is difficult to see that the coalition would give up the opportunity to nominate a commissioner candidate from among its own ranks.

Currently, the Finnish commissioner is Jutta Urpilainen (sd), whose prime minister Antti Rinteen (sd) nominated by the government in 2019. The European Parliament hears the commissioner candidates and votes on their selection as a group.

One position to which even Finnish politicians have moved to cool off is the position of deputy director general of the European Investment Bank. Sauli Niinistö, Jan Vapaavuori and Alexander Stubb have handled the high-paying task, among others. The position is usually of short duration and people move on quickly to other positions.

Global organizations

Along with the most obvious career paths, Marin may aim for other positions where international visibility could be useful. These include, for example, management positions in globally operating international organizations and various leading positions.

Nato's general secretary should not be placed on Marin's shoulders, but instead, for example, large non-governmental organizations may approach Marin. Such are, for example, the human rights organization Amnesty or the Red Cross, where the brilliance of a person like Marin could be useful.

Organizations under the UN, where numerous former heads of state have made careers, have their own chapter. In terms of carrying out the task, it is useful if there is a mention of the prime minister's duties in the resume, because it can open certain doors, especially in countries outside of Europe.

Business world

Fully a different and less likely career path for Marin would be to enter the private sector. There are numerous companies around the world that are interested in acquiring visible persons with good relationships in addition to professional skills.

The chairman of the Liberal Democrats, known from British politics, Nick Glegg, after his political career, joined Facebook (now Meta) in 2018 to be responsible for the company's communications.

However, international lobbying tasks often require that a person has operated for a long enough time at the top of politics. Marini's career is quite short in this regard. He served as prime minister for less than four years.

The former Social Democratic Chancellor of Germany Gerhard Schröder, who had a long political career, went to work as a lobbyist for the Russian state-owned gas company Gazprom for the Nord Stream gas pipeline project. The former prime minister of Finland Paavo Lipponen (sd), who acted as a lobbyist for the project on behalf of his own company, was also appointed to similar positions.

Among the prime ministers who left politics, Esko Aho (center) was for a while the director responsible for Nokia's social relations. He has also been on the board of the Russian Sberbank. In addition, Aho has acted as the general representative of the Finnish Independence Celebration Fund. Former Prime Minister Jyrki Katainen (kok) is currently leaving the same position.

“Thank you for your cooperation during these difficult years” – The President thanked Marin's government when Marin submitted his resignation request on April 6. 10:42 Editorial: Marin leaves Finland's top politics – He succeeded in these matters, he failed in these 5.4. 20:40