Olli Rehn

Member of the European Commission, Enlargement

(Official European Commission Web Site; Official Web Site of the Government of Finland; Wikipedia.org; AFP)

Olli Rehn assumed office as EU Commissioner for Enlargement on 22 November 2004, four days after the European Parliament (EP) endorsed the 24-member team of new European Commission (EC) President Jose Manuel Barroso. Representing Finland on the EU executive commission, he replaced Germany's Guenter Verheugen in the post

Rehn was born on 31 March 1962, in Mikkeli, Finland. From 1982 to 1983, he studied economics, international relations and journalism at Macalester College in Saint Paul, Minnesota. He received a master's degree in political science from the University of Helsinki in 1989 and a PhD from the University of Oxford in 1996.

Rehn's political career began in 1987, when he became head of the youth wing of Finland's Centre Party, remaining in that post until 1989. In 1988, he became deputy chairman of the Centre Party and city councillor in Helsinki, serving in both posts until 1994. Rehn was a member of the Finnish Parliament from 1991 to 1995; at the same time, he chaired the Finnish delegation to the Council of Europe. Between 1992 and 1993 he also served as a special advisor to Prime Minister Esko Aho.

From 1995 to 1996, Rehn was a member of the European Parliament and for several months chaired its Liberal group. He was vice president of the European Movement of Finland from 1996 to 1998. The same year, he headed the office of Erkki Liikanen, the Finnish representative on former EC President Romano Prodi's team of 19 commissioners, and served in that post until 2002.

In 2002, Rehn joined the University of Helsinki as professor and director of research at its Department of Political Science and Centre for European Studies. He left the university in 2003 to serve as economic policy advisor to Finnish Prime Minister Matti Vanhanen. From 12 July until 31 October 2004, Rehn served as EU Commissioner for Enterprise and Information Society, completing Liikanen's mandate.

In August 2004, Rehn was nominated as enlargement commissioner in the Barroso team. Although a row over Italy's nominee for justice commissioner, Rocco Buttiglione, led to a delay in the vote, the EP overwhelmingly endorsed the reshaped team on 18 November 2004.

During his four-year mandate, which expires on 31 October 2009, Rehn will oversee the further expansion of the Union, with Bulgaria and Romania scheduled to enter in 2007. He will also preside over the accession talks with Croatia and Turkey, due to begin in 2005, as well as over the continued monitoring of the pre-accession progress of other Balkan countries aspiring to EU membership.

Addressing the EP's foreign affairs committee on 18 January 2005, Rehn indicated that none of the countries seeking to join the Union will be granted membership until they are fully prepared for it. He also made it clear that the countries involved in the Balkan conflicts of the 1990s must demonstrate full co-operation with the UN war crimes tribunal in The Hague if they are to progress further on their road to the EU.

Rehn is married and has one daughter.