The Berlin International Economics Congress
An Interdisciplinary Analysis of the Roles of Global Politics & Civil Society in International Economics
Jan-Erik Enestam
Former Finnish Minister of the Environment and Defence
Jan-Erik Enestam was born in Västanfjärd, a bilingual Finnish-Swedish municipality on the border of Finland. He has had a long and distinguished career in both Finnish and Swedish politics; after studying at the Åbo Akademi university in Turku, he became Head of Office at the Government of Åland from 1974-1978. In 1978 he became the Municipal Director of Västanfjärd until 1983, after which he became Project Chief at the Nordic Council of Ministers, a position he held until 1991.
From 1990-1991 he acted as Special Adviser to the Minister of Defence, then from 1991-2007 he served in the Finnish parliament, the Eduskunta, before becoming leader of the Swedish People's Party in 1998, a position he held until 2006.
He has served in numerous ministerial positions, Minister of the Interior(1995-1999); Minister of Defence(1999-2003); Minister of Foreign Affairs(1999-2003); Minister of the Environment (2003-2007); as well briefly serving as Minister of Social Affairs and Health. On August 1st 2007 he obtained the prestigious post of Director of the Nordic Council, an intergovernmental forum for co-operation between Nordic Countries; Sweden, Finland, Denmark, Norway and Iceland.
