Government > Leaders Stats: compare key data on Finland & France

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STAT	Finland	France	HISTORY
Head of state > Term limit for head of state	6 Ranked 25th. 20% more than France	5 Ranked 108th.
President	Sauli Niinisto	Francois Hollande
President > Profile	<p>Sauli Niinisto won the presidential election of February 2012 to become the country&#039;s first conservative head of state in five decades.</p> <p>He is the first president from the conservative National Coalition Party since 1956, and the first in 30 years from a party other than the Social Democrats.</p> <p>The victory of the pro-Europe politician suggested to observers that voters wanted to keep the country in the eurozone despite misgivings over European Union bailouts.</p> <p>Mr Niinisto is credited with leading Finland&#039;s economy towards growth following the collapse of the Soviet Union, during his tenure as finance minister from 1996 to 2001.</p> <p>Finland&#039;s president has a largely ceremonial role with fewer powers now than in previous decades, and is not directly involved in daily politics. However, the head of state is seen as an important shaper of public opinion, takes the lead on non-EU matters of foreign policy and plays a role as a &quot;brand ambassador&quot; of Finland overseas.</p> <p>Mr Niinisto succeeded President Tarja Halonen, who was elected as the country&#039;s first female president in 2000 and re-elected in 2006.</p>	<p>Francois Hollande beat the conservative incumbent, Nicolas Sarkozy, in May 2012 to become France&#039;s first Socialist president since Francois Mitterrand held the post from 1981 to 1995.</p> <p>The standard-bearer of the right wing of the party, Mr Hollande saw off the more left-wing Martine Aubry in public primaries to become his party&#039;s presidential candidate.</p> <p>Despite his reputation as a moderate, Mr Hollande campaigned on strongly left-wing proposals, including a 75% top income tax rate, 60,000 new teachers, and the renegotiation of the European Union fiscal growth pact.</p> <p>His Socialists went on to won a comfortable majority in the June 2012 parliamentary elections, ensuring that President Hollande would not have to count on far-left or Green votes.</p> <p>But by the end of 2012, Mr Hollande&#039;s economic plans were in trouble, with growth stagnant and the continuing woes of the eurozone promising no relief.</p> <p>France continued to dip in an out of recession throughout the next year, and Mr Hollande&#039;s failure to make good on his promise to reduce unemployment by the end of 2013 left him with the lowest approval rating of any president since the founding of the Fifth Republic in 1958.</p> <p>His decision to opt for raising taxes rather than cutting spending - an option unpopular with his natural supporters - has come close to triggering a taxpayers&#039; revolt.</p> <p>Mr Hollande has also come under pressure from Brussels, with the EU Commission urging France to reduce its budget deficit and bring down public spending - the highest per capita in Europe.</p> <p>His private life also threatened potential embarrassment after claims of an affair with actress Julie Gayet prompted media questions about his partner Valerie Trierweiler&#039;s status as first lady.</p> <p>On the international stage, Mr Hollande has taken a strong lead in pushing for a more interventionist approach towards shoring up states threatened with destabilisation. </p> <p>In January 2013, he sent troops to Mali to help government regain control over the north of the country from Islamist militants, and in December he deployed additional peacekeepers to the Central African Republic to help restore order after a rebel takeover.</p> <p>Born in 1954 in Rouen, Normandy, and a product of the &quot;grandes ecoles&quot; elite education system, Mr Hollande was an economic advisor to President Mitterrand, and became an MP in 1988.</p> <p>He rose to lead the party in the long years of opposition in 1997-2008, and stood down over a party row about the failed presidential campaign of his long-standing partner, Segolene Royal.</p> <p>Mr Hollande and Ms Royal later split up over his affair with journalist Valerie Trierweiler, now his partner.</p> <p>He emerged as the Socialist candidate after the favourite, IMF chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn, saw his political career collapse in 2011 amid allegations of sexual misconduct.</p>
President > Summary	President Sauli Niinisto is credited with leading the economy towards growth in the 1990s	Mr Hollande&#039;s tax rises have met with fierce resistance
Prime minister	Jyrki Katainen	Jean-Marc Ayrault
Prime minister > Profile	<p>Mr Katainen&#039;s conservative National Coalition Party emerged as the largest single group in parliament in the April 2011 elections.</p><p>He formed a grand coalition in June with six other parties from the left and centre, including the Social Democrats.</p> <p>The new opposition is the populist True Finns party, which refused to join the government in protest at its support for a bailout for Portugal during the debt crisis.</p> <p>Born in 1971, Mr Katainen worked as a teacher before being elected a councillor in 1993. He entered parliament in 1999 and became party leader in 2004.</p> <p>He served as deputy prime minister and finance minister in the previous two Centre-Party-led coalition governments between 2007 and 2011.</p>	<p>Jean-Marc Ayrault, a long-standing ally of President Hollande, is a veteran leader of the Socialists&#039; parliamentary bloc and mayor of Nantes. The premiership is his first senior government post. </p> <p>He has a reputation as a calm consensus-builder. Mr Ayrault is a German-speaker, seen as an asset for the president in handling France&#039;s relationship with Germany. </p>
Prime minister > Summary	Prime Minister Jyrki Katainen is a former teacher	Jean-Marc Ayrault was elected as prime minister in May 2012

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