Original Text: Maria Markus, Source: Polemiikki
Sari Rautio dreams of a world where equality of opportunity prevails. And she does not only dream – she works towards it equally at local level and on European platforms.
This spring, the long-serving Hämeenlinna city councillor (National Coalition Party, Kokoomus) was elected chair of the largest group in the European Committee of the Regions (CoR), the EPP-CoR.
Her life story could easily be turned into glossy magazine material: a modelling career that took her from Oulu to Paris, being the wife of a hockey player, fighting for the rights of her own special needs child, and a varied career both in NGOs and in Finnish and European politics.
Yet a quick search finds little in the way of such features. Perhaps Rautio has simply been too busy for interviews, or perhaps she is seen as being outside the “top league of politics” – after all, although she has influenced many important arenas, she has never been an MP.
Or perhaps she really lives her website’s slogan “not me, but we” and avoids putting herself centre stage. Be that as it may, this article does exactly that – because her path into and through politics deserves a closer look.
The Goal: Shared Rules of the Game
Although Rautio’s CV is impressive, little in her life or career has happened in a very deliberate way. Rather, when issues arise or problems need fixing, she rolls up her sleeves and deals with them. As she puts it herself: “you have to be active for things to work.”
Her political awakening came through dealing with matters concerning her now almost 32-year-old son, Oskari. He was diagnosed in childhood with autism spectrum disorder and needed a classroom assistant – but securing one proved extremely difficult. The turning point came when the school principal advised her to go directly to the mayor.
“I got an audience with the mayor of Hämeenlinna, and then things started moving. I realised I had to be active myself. At the same time, I understood that those who need more support are required to be more active than others. That didn’t feel fair.”
That experience activated her – not only in pursuing her own matters, but more broadly.
“A society of the strong is neither fair nor sustainable. That thought continues to motivate me.”
Together with other parents she founded a parents’ association and decided to run in local elections, aiming for the social welfare committee, where she could promote equality. She chose the National Coalition Party, even though her family background was strongly left-wing.
“I was inspired by the idea of equality of opportunity. Before formally entering politics I had been a Young Finn. But when the Young Finnish Party was dissolved in 1999, I was courted in many directions. Being pragmatic, I thought about where I could make the most impact. The Young Finnish experience showed that it’s harder to get things done in a small party than in a large one.”
The doors of Hämeenlinna city council opened in 2005. Over the years, her experience grew, her networks expanded, and her arenas of influence multiplied.
“The reasons I entered politics have remained the same and only become stronger. I still believe you can make a difference through politics. But no one can do it alone – it requires cooperation and shared rules. Especially in today’s world situation, global rules of the game are the only sensible goal, if we believe that all people are equally valuable.”
The Tool: Strong Interaction Skills
Rautio moves things forward by relying on her communication skills. As a girl from Oulu, she had to grow up quickly in independence and social confidence: after her first year in upper secondary school, her mother encouraged her to enter the Kaunis Anna modelling competition. She won, and left for Paris to work as a model.
“I was lucky: as a young woman in Paris I got to see things from a different perspective. I learned that people everywhere are, at heart, very much alike.”
She could have stayed in France longer but wanted to finish school – which she did, graduating from Oulu Lyceum Upper Secondary School with six laudaturs (top marks). Back home, she also met her husband, professional ice hockey player Kai Rautio.
The modelling career, however, continued for over ten years.
“I worked full-time as a model and learned enormously about the world and people. Modelling is, if anything, a profession of interaction: you need to work with many kinds of groups and be endlessly flexible. But it was great – I got to travel, and I met wonderful people, some of whom remain friends to this day.”
Alongside work she attempted to study mathematics at the University of Helsinki, but studies fell behind. Later she completed a qualification in marketing and nearly finished a Master’s in education (specialising in physical education, early education, and special needs teaching). Her son Oskari’s experiences steered her towards education – though a youthful dream of law always lingered in the back of her mind.
Now, nearly 40 years after her matriculation exams, she is a law student, aiming to graduate within about a year.
“So far I’ve lacked a university degree probably because I’ve always been so hungry for life, and new interesting tasks have kept appearing.”
Building Everyday Europe
One such interesting task was serving as project manager and later coordinator at the Autism and Asperger Association in the early 2000s, followed by a post at the organisation Nuori Suomi. Five years as a senior specialist at Sitra (the Finnish Innovation Fund) followed, and she also chaired Hämeenlinna’s city board for two terms (2013–2021).
“I’ve always done some kind of development work, and found it very meaningful.”
Now, with her French language skills from modelling days, she is particularly enthusiastic about the European Committee of the Regions, where she has been a member for five years and, since spring, chair of her political group.
She stresses that the Committee’s mission is to ensure decision-making is genuinely close to people’s everyday lives.
“The principle of subsidiarity is a cornerstone of the EU’s structure, and the Committee of the Regions’ work is anchored in it.”
The CoR is an EU advisory body that issues opinions on legislative proposals and makes own-initiative contributions on major themes such as artificial intelligence and its local impacts.
“Our task is to make sure regional perspectives are visible in EU law-making. Nearly 70 per cent of Commission proposals affect the local level.”
With 329 members from across Europe, each representing their own municipality or region, the work is, in her view, particularly fascinating.
“Hämeenlinna is just as much Europe as Brussels.”
From Brussels to Hämeenlinna
She hopes the principle of subsidiarity would be trusted more in Europe – not only as a principle, but as a real method of decision-making. The idea should be: agree together on the big goals, but leave flexibility in the methods.
“Not everything can be decided in Brussels. Regional creativity must have space, and it must be recognised where local-level solutions are most effective.”
She points out that often when people criticise EU rigidity, the problem lies in national implementation.
“Many issues for which the EU gets blamed are actually down to member states’ interpretations.”
She also wishes Finnish municipalities would engage with the EU more actively and with longer-term perspective – for example, regularly considering what EU decisions mean locally, not only when controversy arises.
A good case of effective influencing, she notes, was the Nature Restoration Law, where municipalities secured important changes through active advocacy.
“When you react in time, you can really make a difference.”
For her, EU politics is not separate from local politics – on the contrary.
“I wouldn’t have a European role or mandate without local politics. And in Europe, I always want to give examples of what things mean for us in Häme.”
She also highlights Hämeenlinna’s partnership with Sumy in Ukraine, which supports the strengthening of democracy there and the country’s EU aspirations – not only with material aid but with models and practices that reinforce municipal democracy.
How the EU is Visible at Home
EU politics is not just “Brussels business”, Rautio emphasises – it is visible in municipalities, often surprisingly concretely. She gives as an example Hämeenlinna’s cultural and congress centre Verkatehdas, whose new construction was partly funded by EU regional development funds.
“A third of the costs came from the EU, as we were then an Objective 2 region. But unfortunately the EU flag remained rather small. The EU’s role could be made more visible.”
She urges municipal leaders and citizens to ask their mayors about their municipality’s EU influencing policy.
“If the answer is ‘what?’, that tells you something.”
For her, the EU’s future is strongly value-based.
“The EU is above all a project for peace and prosperity. And prosperity does not mean only economic wealth, but equal opportunities for everyone to grow, develop and live side by side – without anyone being left behind.”