Partying PM of Finland tipped to be next leader of EU Commission
‘Supercool’ Sanna Marin, known for enjoying night on tiles, poised to freshen up face of boring Brussels
SANNA MARIN, Finland’s youthful, party-loving prime minister, is being talked up as a candidate to be the next president of the European Commission.
The “coolest prime minister in the world” may be about to liven up one of Europe’s most notoriously boring roles according to Brussels insiders.
The 37-year-old hit the headlines last year when she voluntarily took a drugs test to prove she was “clean” after footage of her dancing enthusiastically at a private party was leaked online.
Heading up the bureaucratic blob in Brussels is traditionally the preserve of staid and dull, grey men in suits but sources within the pan-eu Socialists and Democrats faction believe her international profile, pro-european policies and non-involvement in the Qatargate bribery scandal are major assets.
“Marin is considered as an exceptional political superstar unaffected by scandals and who is also popular over national borders, especially because of her statements concerning Ukraine,” a source told Finland’s Maaseudun Tulevaisuus newspaper.
Ms Marin’s global standing has been burnished by her tough line on Moscow and her decision to end decades of military non-alignment and apply to join Nato.
However, the centre-left leader remains best-known abroad for dancing vigorously and singing with a smattering of Finnish celebrities and social media influencers. Another video of the married Ms Marin dancing hip to hip with a pop star in a nightclub emerged soon after the party video.
Ms Marin pledged to continue to spend time with her friends and said she was entitled to blow off steam but, days after her clear drugs test, she apologised over a photograph of two of her female friends kissing while topless in the bathroom of her official residence. The photo was taken after the Ruisrock music festival. An image of Ms Marin in a black leather jacket at the festival had earlier gone viral from her Instagram account.
In December 2021, Ms Marin apologised for staying out clubbing rather than following her own coronavirus guidelines. She was photographed dancing in a Helsinki nightclub until almost 4am, just hours after her foreign minister tested positive for Covid.
Despite its reputation for dull bureaucracy, Ms Marin would not be the first bon vivant to head the commission. Jean-claude Juncker was famous for his love of cigarettes and Glenfarclas whisky.
She would be the youngest person to take the role, the first from a Nordic country and only the second woman after Ursula von der Leyen, who succeeded Mr Juncker in 2019.
Ms Marin is arguably better qualified than Mrs von der Leyen, the Rightof-centre choice. Her most senior role previously was as German defence minister.
Ms Marin is to fight national elections on April 2 this year and has not commented on the speculation. If results don’t go her way at the polls, she could be tempted to make a tilt at the presidency of the EU executive.
The Socialists and Democrats group said the selection process had not yet started for their candidate and, even if Ms Marin does decide to run, the path to power is complicated and uncertain and tied to the results of 2024’s European Parliament elections.
Until 2014, commission presidents were appointed exclusively by EU heads of state and government in the European Council.