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Finland's former PM elected as EP Vice-President

Xinhua, May 20, 2015 Adjust font size:

European Parliament announced on Wednesday that Finland's former Prime Minister Anneli Jaatteenmaki was elected as a vice-president of the European Parliament (EP).

In a secret ballot, Jaatteenmaki defeated her rival Fabio Massimo Castaldo, a member of Europe of Freedom and Direct Democracy from Italy, with 301 to 285, the parliament said in a press release.

As a member of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe Group in the EP, Jaatteenmaki will replace Olli Rehn, the first Finn serving as a Vice-President of the EP.

Rehn resigned after he was elected to the Finnish parliament in April this year.

Jaatteenmaki will be the 10th among the 14 Vice-Presidents in the EP.

Born in 1955 in Lapua, Finland, Jaatteenmaki was elected as the chair of the Center Party in 2000. She served as the Prime Minister from April 2003 to June 2003. After 68 days in office, she resigned over a scandal of leaking confidential documents on policy towards Iraq.

Jaatteenmaki was elected to the European Parliament for the first time in 2004 and was re-elected in 2009 and 2014. Endit