Nils Torvalds

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Template:Short description Template:Title language Template:Use dmy dates Script error: No such module "infobox".Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". Template:Lang unset italics[1] (born 7 August 1945) is a Finnish politician who had been a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) from 2012 to 2024. He is a member of the Swedish People's Party of Finland, part of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe.

Swedo-Finnish Torvalds is the son of the poet Ole Torvalds, and the father of the software engineer Linus Torvalds, known for the Linux kernel.[2]

Education and experience

Torvalds was a member of the Communist Party of Finland from 1969 to 1982. He studied economics in Moscow and was the editor of the taistoist magazine Arbetartidningen Enhet. Torvalds has later described his communism as a "rebellion".[3] Between 1995 and 2004 Torvalds worked as a foreign correspondent for the Finnish Broadcasting Company in Moscow and Washington.[4]

Torvalds is fluent in Swedish, Finnish, English, German, and Russian. And he also understands Flemish, Danish and Norwegian.[5]

Political career

Career in national politics

In 2006, Torvalds joined the Swedish People's Party,[4] and the following year he was elected to the post of the third vice chairperson.[6] This upset some party voters due to Torvalds' past.[4] In 2008, he was elected to Helsinki City Council for term 2009–2012.[7]

On 11 June 2017 the Swedish People's Party chose Torvalds as the party candidate for the 2018 presidential election.[8] Some of his campaign themes were education, technology and the environment. Torvalds was the only candidate who openly supported Finland's NATO membership during his campaign.[9] In the election, Torvalds placed last with 1.5 percent of the votes, while the incumbent president Sauli Niinistö went on to secure his second term.[10]

Member of the European Parliament

File:Nils Torvalds MEP, Strasbourg - Diliff.jpg
Torvalds in 2014

Torvalds was a candidate for European Parliament election in 2009 on the Swedish People's Party list. He received 14,044 votes which was insufficient for a seat.[11] However, on 5 July 2012, he was installed in the European Parliament, when Carl Haglund left his seat to join the Katainen Cabinet as Minister of Defence. In the 2014 European Parliament election Torvalds received about 29,000 votes and was elected.[3]

As a MEP[12] his positions have included vice-chair of the Fisheries committee (PECH) and member of the committee for Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs (LIBE). Since 2021, he has been part of the Parliament's delegation to the Conference on the Future of Europe.[13]

Torvalds has served as shadow rapporteur on the circular economy[14] and on the biofuels directive[15] (which became directive 2015/1513[16]) and as rapporteur of the annual report 2018 on the European banking union.[17]

Torvalds opposed the Copyright Directive (2019) since it was first proposed, considering it unbalanced especially because of its article 13 (i.e. 17).[18]

In addition to his committee assignments, Torvalds is part of the MEPs Against Cancer group[19] and the European Parliament Intergroup on Traditional Minorities, National Communities and Languages.[20]

Following the 2019 elections, Torvalds was part of a cross-party working group in charge of drafting the European Parliament's five-year work program on economic and fiscal policies as well as trade.[21]

In June 2023, Torvalds was the recipient of the Environment and Climate Action Award at The Parliament Magazine's annual MEP Awards[22]

Linux kernel statement

Nils' son Linus Torvalds, the creator of the Linux kernel, joked during a LinuxCon keynote on 18 September 2013 that the National Security Agency, the creators of SELinux, wanted a backdoor in the kernel.[23] However, later, Linus's father revealed that the NSA had actually asked for the installation of backdoors in Linux.[24] Template:Quote

Other activities

  • Reimagine Europa, Member of the Advisory Board[25]

Honors

Works

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References

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External links

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Template:Current EP Finland Template:EP Political Group Renew Template:Members of the European Parliament for Finland (2009–2014) Template:Portal bar Template:Authority control

  1. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  2. ↑ Torvalds, 2001
  3. ↑ a b Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  4. ↑ a b c Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  5. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  6. ↑ Sfp valde orförande och viceordförande, energipolitiska ställningstagandet remitterades Template:Webarchive (SFP 10.06.2007)
  7. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  8. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  9. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  10. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  11. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  12. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  13. ↑ Members of the delegation to the Conference on the Future of Europe European Parliament.
  14. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  15. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  16. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  17. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  18. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  19. ↑ MAC MEPs in the 2019-24 legislature MEPs Against Cancer.
  20. ↑ Intergroup on Traditional Minorities, National Communities and Languages European Parliament.
  21. ↑ Florian Eder (13 June 2019), POLITICO Brussels Playbook, presented by Google: Madrid's moment — Parliament working groups sneak peak[sic — Happy birthday, GDPR] Politico Europe.
  22. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  23. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  24. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  25. ↑ Advisory Board Reimagine Europa.
  26. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
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