ERKKI TUOMIOJA, FORMER MINISTER OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS. He worked as a journalist before being elected to parliament, where he has served as Social Democratic Party MP from 1970 to 1979 and from 1991- on. He was Deputy Mayor in Helsinki 1979-91. Re-elected to Parliament in 1991 he was Vice-chairman of the SDP Parliamentary group 1991 to 1996 and Chairman 1996-1999. He has been chairman of the Grand (European Affairs) committee 1995-1999 and from 2007-2011.
In 1999 he became Minister of Trade and Industry and Minister for Foreign Affairs in 2000 until 2007 and again from 2011 to 2015. He continues in Parliament as the vice-chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee. He has a Ph.D. in political science, B.Sc. in economics and is adjunct professor in political history at the University of Helsinki. Erkki Tuomioja is author of more than twenty books on politics, history and current affairs.
His book, A Delicate Shade of Pink. The Lives of Hella Wuolijoki and Salme Dutt in the Service of Revolution (written in English and published also in Finnish, Estonian, Swedish, German and Russian) won the Finlandia prize for Non-fiction literature in 2006. He is chairman of Historians without Borders in Finland founded in 2015 and convenor of the International network of Historians without Borders.