Petteri Orpo

Antti Petteri Orpo (born 3 November 1969) is a Finnish politician currently serving as the prime minister of Finland since 2023. He has also been the leader of the National Coalition Party since 2016 and briefly served as speaker of the Parliament of Finland after the 2023 parliamentary election.

He served as Deputy Prime Minister of Finland from 2017 to 2019, Minister of Finance from 2016 to 2019, Minister of the Interior from 2015 to 2016 and Minister of Agriculture and Forestry from 2014 to 2015. On 2 April 2023, Orpo's National Coalition Party won the 2023 parliamentary election with a plurality of 20.8% of the vote and 48 seats. Orpo garnered over 17,000 votes in his district.

Early life and education Antti Petteri Orpo was born on 3 November 1969 in Köyliö, Finland. His father, Hannu Orpo, was a politician and member of the National Coalition Party. Antti is a member of the centre-right National Coalition Party.

Minister of Finance In May 2016, Orpo announced that he would challenge the chair of the National Coalition Party and incumbent Minister of Finance Alexander Stubb in June's party conference. At the time, Orpo joined second-term parliamentarian Elina Valtonen in seeking to replace Stubb. Orpo received 441,4 votes against Stubb's 361 and was thus elected as the new chair for the party. Orpo soon announced that he would take Stubb's seat as the Minister of Finance. He was officially appointed as the Minister of Finance on 22 June 2016.

In June 2017, Prime Minister Juha Sipilä and Orpo announced said they could not cooperate with their parties' third coalition partner, the Finns Party, anymore, citing differences in core values and in the immigration and EU policies. For both Sipilä and Orpo, at stake were major healthcare and local government reform, which were key to their plan to balance public finances.

In addition to his national political roles, Orpo co-chaired (alongside Valdis Dombrovskis) the EPP Economic and Financial Affairs Ministers Meeting, which gathers the centre-right European People's Party (EPP) ministers ahead of meetings of the Economic and Financial Affairs Council (ECOFIN).

Opposition politics In December 2019 Orpo attempted a vote of no-confidence in the incumbent government. This would then cause new elections, which Orpo hoped on winning. The incumbent government was accused of malpractice in responding to problems in the labor market. Later, Prime Minister Antti Rinne resigned, and Kulmuni publicly refused to join the National Coalition Party's plan of premature elections. Orpo was elected as a member of the committee on 22 April 2022 and the committee elected him as its chairman on 26 April.

Prime Minister of Finland (2023–present)

2023 parliamentary elections On 2 April 2023, Orpo's National Coalition Party won the 2023 Finnish parliamentary election. The party had led the polls since mid-2021 and finished first, with 20.8% of the votes and 48 seats in the parliament, increasing their total by 10 seats. This was the party's third highest result in its history. Orpo began government formation talks when the new parliament and President convened the week after Easter and named him as the lead negotiator.

Orpo campaigned on a platform of reducing Finland's government debt and the yearly budget deficit as well as reducing income taxes. He defines himself as a "fiscal conservative."

On 27 April, it was announced that Orpo would begin final negotiations with the Finns Party, the Swedish People's Party and the Christian Democrats to form a coalition government. This coalition of parties was confirmed on 15 June, with the government formation, including the names of its ministers, announced on 17 June. His party received eight cabinet posts, the Finns Party seven (including the Ministries of Finance, the Interior and Justice), while the Swedish People's Party and the Christian Democrats shared the remaining five. It is Finland's most right-wing government since the end of the Second World War; indeed, it is one of the few occasions since the return of peace that one side of the Finnish political spectrum has been able to form a government on its own.

Tenure

Orpo became Prime Minister of Finland on 20 June 2023. The government's roadmap makes cutting public spending a priority. Petteri Orpo announced a €6 billion cut in the state budget, stating that the greatest danger threatening Finland was "the debt crisis" (it stands at 74% of GDP), and reforms, some of which "are going to hurt".

The coalition is betting on unprecedented cuts in social benefits. For example, the conditions for receiving unemployment benefit will be tightened, a one-day waiting period will be introduced at the start of sick leave, and access to housing benefit will be restricted. In addition, the right to strike will be restricted and a fine introduced for unauthorized work stoppages. The government agreement also provides for easier redundancies and the use of fixed-term contracts, while increasing investment in vocational training. The scandal around Nazi-connected joking and potential connections to neo-Nazi organisations of Minister of Economic Affairs Vilhelm Junnila led to him resigning. Orpo's Cabinet's party Swedish People's Party of Finland have criticized Orpo for too weak leadership during the Junnila scandal. Orpo's leadership among the various controversies was also questioned and criticized widely in Finnish and international media. In March 2024 Orpo stated in Politico that the Finns are not a far-right party anymore in his opinion. After Orpo opened an anti racist campaign of his cabinet in August 2024 Deputy Prime Minister Purra stated the Finns Party likely do not participate as a party and added "better immigration policy" as an example of her anti-racist deeds.

He condemned Hamas' actions during the Gaza war and expressed his support to Israel and its right to self-defense. The Orpo cabin has approved the two-state solution as solution of the Israeli–Palestinian conflict. In August 2025 Orpo stated that the two-state solution will be realized when all Western and Arab countries are committed to supporting the existence of both the Palestinian and Israeli states.

Although in 2019 Orpo was co-founder of Coalition of Finance Ministers for Climate Action his cabinet's Finance Minister Riikka Purra stated in January 2024 that climate matters are not responsibility of the Finance Minister.

In 2024, Orpo condemned racist attacks made against Daniela Owusu, a Finnish-Ghanaian woman who was elected to serve as Saint Lucy for the national Saint Lucy's Day celebrations, and issued a formal apology to Owusu.

After the US strikes on Iranian nuclear sites in June 2025, Orpo said, "it is important for Finland that Iran does not develop a nuclear weapon and that no new nuclear-weapon state emerges in the world."

In December 2025, Miss Finland at the time, Sarah Dzafce, was reported to have made racist remarks on social media directed against East Asians. Members of parliament endorsed these views, and Orpo issued statements that appeared to shield them. At first Orpo called remarks "chidish" but not "racist". After the comments spread widely in East Asia, Orpo apologized for them. Orpo cabinet's Debuty Prime Minister party Finns first deputy chair Teemu Keskisarja has commented that there is no point in apologizing for the eye-stretching photos.

Personal life Orpo is known for his limited ability to speak English, unlike the majority of the population in Finland and Sweden.

Other activities

European Union organizations European Investment Bank (EIB), Ex-Officio Member of the Board of Governors (2016–2019) European Stability Mechanism (ESM), Member of the Board of Governors (2016–2019)

International organizations Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), Ex-Officio Member of the Board of Governors (2016–2019) European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), Ex-Officio Member of the Board of Governors (2016–2019) Joint World Bank-IMF Development Committee, Member (2018–2019) Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA), World Bank Group, Ex-Officio Member of the Board of Governors (2016–2019) Nordic Investment Bank (NIB), Ex-Officio Member of the Board of Governors (2016–2019) World Bank, Ex-Officio Member of the Board of Governors (2016–2019)

Honors and awards