Heidi Hautala
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Heidi Anneli Hautala (born 14 November 1955) is a Finnish politician. She was the leader of the Finnish Green Party in 1987-1991, and a presidential candidate in 2000. She was a member of the national parliament from 1991 to 1995. When Finland joined the European Union in 1995 she was elected to the European Parliament. She returned to the national Parliament in the elections of 2003.
Today Heidi continues to work closely with EU affairs as a member of the Grand Committee. In addition, she chairs the Green parliamentary group and is the vice chair of the Environment Committee. She believes in furthering environmental responsibility, openess of politics, and global justice.
Seeking openness and justice in the EU, Heidi has even taken the Council of Ministers to court, as the council denied her access to a document on arms export rules. Heidi took the Council to the European Court of Justice (ECJ) and won the case. The ECJ decided in 2001 that the ministers should have considered, at least, to publish parts of the documents. The so called "Hautala case" has become an important precedent in European case-law for access to documents and is widely quoted in recent academic studies.
Hautala was born in Oulu, Finland. She has a master's degree in horticulture. Hautala has one child, Jasper (b. 1981).
External link
The official website of Heidi Hautala (in Finnish) (http://www.heidihautala.net/)
fi:Heidi Hautala