Almost everything changes – This kind of life awaits Sauli Niinistö and the president’s family – 2024-03-01 06:33:56

President Sauli Niinistön everyday life will change completely when he retires from the position of president of the republic at the beginning of March. At the end of the presidential duties that have defined Niinistö’s life for twelve years, a return to a more ordinary life is ahead, which Niinistö himself has recently said he dreams of.

– I’ve thought about a life where when you wake up in the morning, you’re left thinking about what nice thing to do today, Niinistö said in his last questioning session for the President of the Republic of Ylen in January.

– When I look out the window, it’s snowing here, I know there will be snowstorms in the evening, Niinistö continued to reflect on his future everyday life.

The biggest visible change in life is certainly Niinistön, his spouse Jenni Haukiontheir Aaro– moving his son and Osku-dog out of the official residence in Mäntyniemi, Helsinki. It is very likely that Niinistö will move with his family to his detached house in Espoo’s Laaksolahti, which they have used and maintained during their presidential terms as well.

Iltalehti inquired about the Niinistö family’s new residence from the office of the President of the Republic. However, it was only told here that Niinistö is not going to use the opportunity for a reasonably priced rental apartment offered by the chancellery. The task of the Chancellery to arrange housing if necessary is stipulated in the Act on the President’s Pension Rights.

The biggest change

Sauli Niinistö and his family moved back in 2009 to the detached house he bought in Espoo with Jenni Haukio. The picture shows the house in 2012, on Niinistö’s first inauguration day. Kari Pekonen

Niinistö and Haukio bought their 176-square-meter house in Espoo in 2009. The two-story stone house, completed in 2001, has three bedrooms in addition to the kitchen and living room.

Laaksolahti’s house is the first joint home of the presidential couple, who got married in 2009, and moving out of it after only three years was not easy, according to Jenni Haukio, because she had had a great time there. Haukio told about it in his memoir published last year Your Star Here, The Years as the President’s Spouse (WSOY, 2023). According to Haukio, the move to the official residence in Mäntyniemi was the biggest change in everyday life that his spouse’s presidency brought when he came in 2012.

– For the first couple of years, I didn’t even talk about Mäntyniemi as “home”, but we always went home when the direction was to our own house in Laaksolahti, Haukio said in his book.

Haukio also said that living in an official residence has also been associated with a certain feeling of alienation, because the premises are not one’s own. In addition, in Mäntyniemi, it is difficult for the presidential couple to distinguish between private and working life in everyday life, because the institution of the presidency is present in one way or another at every moment. This is mainly due to the fact that Mäntyniemi is not only the home but also the spouse’s workplace. Haukio said that it took a long time before he really got attached to Mäntyniemi.

Aaro at school age

For Aaro Niinistö, the move away from Mäntyniemi comes at a significant time, because he turned six years old at the beginning of February, and this is how he will start his school days next August.

In addition to the house in Laaksolahti, Niinistö and his family can be expected to spend more time than before at their summer villa in Lohja, which is about an hour’s drive from Espoo. In 2018, Niinistö acquired a plot of land on the shore of Lake Puujärvi in ​​Karjalohja and an old villa of approximately one hundred square meters.

On a shopping trip from the villa to the center of Karjalohja, it might even happen that Finland’s only surviving retired presidents meet, because Niinistö’s predecessor, the president Tarja Halonen is a summer place in the center of Karjalohja village. The place has attracted presidents because of that Martti in Ahtisaari as well was once a cottage on the shore of Lake Lohjanjärvi in ​​Karjalohja. Ahtisaari acquired the cottage in the 1990s and sold it shortly before Niinistö bought his.

Owner of Unkan Bar, located in the center of Karjalohja Harry Tapery told the local newspaper Länsi-Uusimaa in 2019 that both presidents are a familiar sight in the village.

– It’s been a month since Tarja came first and Sauli appeared an hour later. I was wondering where these come from. We had a presidential backlog, Teperi described to the newspaper.

In addition to Karjalohja, Niinistö and Haukio will certainly be seen more often than before in Pori, where Haukio’s parents live.

There is enough demand

Sauli Niinistö’s last working day as president of the republic is Friday, March 1, when the inauguration of the new president takes place. During Yle’s question hour in January, Niinistö said that his calendar will be empty when the presidential term ends.

Based on the background discussions conducted by Iltalehti, Niinistö is certainly in demand in international fields, if he wants to accept assignments. Such could be, for example, various advisor tasks or tasks in the UN or the EU.

Even though Niinistö is leaving the Mäntyniemi and Presidentinlinna work spaces, he will not be without office space. According to the law, separate workspaces and a secretary are paid for by state funds for retired presidents. President Halonen has his own office in Hakaniemi, Helsinki.

The president’s office confirmed to Iltalehti that Niinistö will also establish his own office, where a secretary will work.

Retired presidents are also offered transportation and security services as needed, within the limits of the state budget. They can also be used abroad if the president holds official state duties, which he can exceptionally perform as a former head of state. The president’s office also says that until now Niinistö has handled domestic private expenses mainly with his own car and the same practice will continue.

In addition to various services, Niinistö receives the president’s pension, which is 60 percent of the president of the republic’s annual salary of 126,000 euros. In 2013, on Niinistö’s own initiative, the president’s remuneration was reduced to the 2006 level. Before this, the fee was 160,000 euros. Remuneration and pension are tax-free income and are decided by the parliament.

The president’s spouse, on the other hand, is not paid a pension. However, the law stipulates that if the spouse becomes a widow, he or she is entitled to a survivor’s pension, which is 50 percent of the president’s pension.

Niinistö and Haukio bought half of their house in Espoo at one time and it is known that they still jointly own the house. They have also updated their prenuptial agreement regarding the house three years ago. The current prenuptial agreement specifies, among other things, that Haukio has marital rights also to the half owned by Niinistö. Iltalehti reports on the presidential couple’s new marriage contract in January 2023.