Teija Tiilikainen, 40, is the head of the European Studies Network at the University of Helsinki.
Tiilikainen served as the representative of the Finnish Prime Minister in the Convention on the Future of Europe, which prepared a proposal for a constitution for the European Union. The convention concluded last summer.
The Convention began its work in 2002 when Paavo Lipponen (SDP) was still Prime Minister of Finland.
Tiilikainen was named to the post specifically because she is trusted by Lipponen.
As the work of the convention proceeded, some EU states named ministers as the representatives of their governments. There were even calls to put Foreign Minister Erkki Tuomioja (SDP) in Tiilikainen’s place, as there was some doubt about the researcher’s skills as a negotiator.
Now, thanks to the Convention, Tiilikainen has publicly redeemed her place in the front line of EU expertise. From the early 1990s Tiilikainen has been involved in numerous research projects in European studies, and was one of the first in Finland to study European integration.
Tiilikainen got her doctorate in political science at the Swedish-language university Åbo Akademi in Turku in 1997.
Her research has focused on European integration and the history of European thinking and political institutions, as well as the EU’s common foreign and security policy. The second focus of her research is Finnish foreign and security policy.
Tiilikainen is married and has two young sons.
Helsingin Sanomat / First published in print 10.5.2004
