TORVALDS Niels

I come from the coastal area of Finland; I was born in the small city of Ekenäs, in middle between Helsinki and Turku. In Southern Finland and in Helsinki, the Baltic Sea and the archipelago is always present. I´ve spent all the summers of my life on a small island in the Archipelago Sea, the most beautiful archipelago in the world, according to me. By some definitions, the thousands of islands in Finland are the largest archipelago in the world.

Before becoming a Member of the European Parliament in 2012, I was working as a journalist my whole life. Mainly as a correspondent for the Finnish Broadcasting Company (YLE) in both Moscow and Washington DC.

In earlier mandates, I was quite active in the Committee of Fisheries (PECH). Nowadays I´m (only) a member of the ENVI and BUDG committees and substitute in the ITRE-committee. In the ENVI-committee I´m also working as coordinator for the Renew Europe Group.

In the Intergroup, I am the Vice-Chair for the Baltic Sea, the Mediterranean of the North. The brackish water, the special biodiversity and the challenges with the state of the sea makes it particularly interesting. As does the inhabited archipelago along the coastlines and in the Åland Islands. The possibilities for a sustainable blue growth also exists there.