Elina Valtonen

Elina Valtonen      (politician)
Born	October 23, 1981 Helsinki
Nationality	Finnish
Alma mater	Aalto University School of Business, Helsinki University of Technology
Parents	Kari Valtonen
Spouse	Jukka Lepomäki
Interests	Basic income
Finnish über-liberal war hawk politician with Emmanuel Macron as role model. Promotes the idea of universal basic income, which explains her attendance at the 2018 Bilderberg at age 36, where one of the agenda points was "the future of work".  Finland/Minister/Foreign Affairs In office 20 June 2023 - Present Appointed by Petteri Orpo  Member of the Finnish Parliament In office 4 July 2014 - Present  Chairman In office April 2012 - Present Employer Libera

Elina Maria Valtonen (formerly married as Lepomäki) a Finnish politician and banker who has was Minister of Foreign Affairs since 2023. She has been a member of parliament for since 2014. Valtonen has previously held management positions in the financial sector and was research director of the market-liberal think tank Libera.

A promoter of the idea of universal basic income scheme called Life Account, she attended her first Bilderberg in 2018, where one of the agenda points was "the future of work".

She is also a war hawk on Russia. In March 2024, in response to the "possibility" of French combat troops being sent to Ukraine, Valtonen said it was not at all a mistake to keep Russia guessing about what Ukraine's supporters would be prepared to do. "Why would we, especially not knowing where this war will go and what happens in the future, disclose all our cards? I really wouldn't know."

Background

Her father is political journalist Kari Valtonen. Valtonen spent her first years in Helsinki, where she and her older brother attended an American kindergarten until she moved to Oulunkylä elementary school. In late1990, the family moved to Bonn, Germany, where Valtonen attended German schools. The family moved back to Finland in 1995, and Valtonen continued her studies at the Helsinki German School. In 2000, she completed the Reifeprüfung matriculation examination and in the fall of the same year began her studies at the Helsinki University of Technology in the information networks training program. Later, she changed her subject to information technology and in 2001 also started her studies at the Helsinki University of Economics. Valtonen graduated with a master's degree in engineering from the University of Technology majoring in information security technology in 2004 and a master's degree in economics from the University of Economics majoring in financial economics in 2005.

During her studies, she worked as Martti Tiuri's part-time parliamentary assistant 2001–2003 and was a programmer at Valuatum in 2003. During her banking career, Valtonen worked as a senior analyst at Nordea from 2003–2007 and later as a manager at Royal Bank of Scotland from 2007–2012. In April of the same year, she was named chairman of the board of think tank Libera.

Political career

Elina Valtonen became an MP from the Uusimaa constituency in July 2014, when Jyrki Katainen took over as European Union commissioner. In the 2015 parliamentary elections, she was elected for a further term. She was a member of the finance committee and its tax division as well as the municipality and health division, and a deputy member of the foreign affairs committee and the Council of Europe.

In the 2019 parliamentary elections, she was elected to her third term. Her election budget was more than 115,000 euros. Among the the people who financed her was fellow Bilderberger Björn Wahlroos. In September 2020 she was elected as the vice-chairman of the party.

In the 2021 municipal elections, Valtonen was a candidate in Helsinki and was elected to the Helsinki City Council.

Views

Valtonen has described her line as Macronian, after French president Emmanuel Macron. She considers the market economy an enabler of individual freedoms and the best solution to poverty. Valtonen is in favor of lower income taxation and has spoken in favor of easing the taxation of work. She supports social security based on basic security, business freedoms and dismantling norms in matters of individual freedom. Valtonen has criticized special treatment of labor unions in legislation and demanded the removal of the general binding nature of collective agreements. In addition, she has spoken about the necessity of downsizing the oversized public sector.

Valtonen has a positive attitude towards immigration. She calls for the labor market to be made more flexible with less laws.

Valtonen co-wrote the Perustili report (2013) published by Libera, as well as the work The future of the euro – Finland's alternatives (2014).

In 2016, she supported the abolition of direct business subsidies, which would have saved approximately one billion euros, which Valtonen would have used to reduce corporate tax by six percentage points. In the same year, Valtonen envisioned that there would be no corporate tax after 20 years.

In September 2017, Valtonen proposed an experiment in which the regulation of restaurants would be completely dismantled in some areas. According to her, customers would protect the hygiene and other safety of the restaurant with the help of social media.

Life Account

In the Libera think tank, Valtonen came up with the idea of ​​a complete reform of the income transfer system, a universal basic income system called Life Account. In the model, every adult Finn would get a basic account with an initial capital of 20,000 euros, from which money can be withdrawn freely within the monthly withdrawal limit. The account is capitalized by working. A portion of each salary is transferred directly to the basic account, and they can also save more than this into the account. Everyone can freely invest the funds they have saved that exceed the initial capital, and they can also be used to hire another person by transferring money from one basic account to another. Employer payments are made automatically. Income taxes are paid only when money is withdrawn from the account. The account behaves like a basic income, as it enables work and social benefits to be combined. The main idea behind the model is that "work should always be worth it". The basic account can be frozen, and any positive account balance is freed up for free use at retirement age. Any negative balance will be forgiven.

Personal life

Valtonen has two children with Jukka Lepomäki. In January 2021, Valtonen announced that she was divorcing her husband and in April 2021 she decided to take her old surname back.

Elina Valtonen lived in Etelä-Espoo in 2016.

While living in Germany, Valtonen started playing basketball.

 

Event Participated in

Event	Start	End	Location(s)	Description
Bilderberg/2018	7 June 2018	10 June 2018	Italy Turin Hotel Torino Lingotto Congress	The 66th Bilderberg Meeting, in Turin, Italy, known for months in advance after an unprecedented leak by the Serbian government.

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References

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