Background
Tarja Halonen was born on 24 December 1943 in the district of Kallio.
Tarja Halonen was born on 24 December 1943 in the district of Kallio.
She finished Kallio School in 1962 .
She entered the University of Helsinki at the Department of Art History, where she didn’t study long. She understood that her calling in other and changed her studies to law. Tarja graduated from the university and obtained her Candidate of Laws degree and was perfect in Swedish, English and German.
Tarja worked in profession, but in public organizations, which took part in the political life of the country – in the National Union of University Students, in the Central Organization of Finnish Trade Unions. When she was 28 she decided to join the Social Democratic Party of Finland, finding practical use of her strongly marked left views: the ideas of equality and freedom were basic in her world outlook, in youth her ideal was Che Guevara. Halonen made her first appreciable step up the political ladder – in 1974 – 1975 she was working as parliamentary secretary of Prime Minister Kalevi Sorsa. But soon the Cabinet changed and two years later Tarja Halonen began her own way to big politics, she was elected to the Helsinki City Council(the member of which she was 19 years, till 1996).
Tarja Halonen confirmed her popularity among electorate long before the election to the main post of the country: in 1979 she was elected to the Parliament of Finland and thereafter didn’t lose any campaign, being the deputy until 2000. Working in a number of parliamentary committees, she at the same time was the head of Finnish parliamentary delegation to the Council of Europe, and later held ministerial positions in the country: was the Minister of Social Affairs and Health, the Minister of Nordic Cooperation, the Minister of Justice, the Minister for Foreign Affairs. Tarja Halonen was elected the president on February 6, 2000 and became Finland's first female President.
It can’t be said that Tarja Halonen made a revolution. Her main merit and the reason for general confidence is in the maintenance of stable economic development and political permanence of Finland. After Tarja Halonen’s accession to power the country came to the first place in competitiveness of the economy in the world, remaining one of the most successful countries in Europe, in which the corruption level is the lowest in the world. Thanks to the reputation of its president Finland takes strong positions in political circles of The European Union.
Tarja Halonen actively supports European integration. Along with it she consistently opposed to Finland’s joining military alliances, considering that the UN must play the main role in the resolution of international conflicts.
She considers that reducing the high level of unemployment (about 9 percent) for such a developed country is her main task in domestic policy. Her government sees the solution of this problem in increasing the educational level, that’s why the key issues for the government are the improving of the education system and the establishing of permanent links between its institutions and straight employers.
On 26 August 2000, President Halonen married her longtime partner, Dr. Pentti Arajärvi.