It’s all a long way from the Finnish heartlands, where Virkkunen described herself as a “horse girl” whose dream job as a 16-year-old was working in a horse stables. She paints herself as a hard worker, the child of entrepreneurs who was “brought up on porridge.”

Virkkunen, who studied journalism and co-owned a communications agency, has since spent most of her working life in politics, holding ministerial posts for education, public administration and transport for just over five years before she was elected to the European Parliament in 2014 where she won her third term in June.

Track record

Over the past decade, she has established a solid track record, gaining experience on several high-profile tech or innovation files that will be politically important in the coming years.

She followed the Digital Services Act for the center-right European People’s Party, helping to shape content moderation rules that have the EU clashing with several Big Tech giants. She also worked on several cybersecurity files and the EU’s flagship research program, Horizon Europe.

Finns think highly of her, even those on the other side of the political spectrum.

“Good, good,” said Finnish socialist lawmaker Maria Guzenina on Wednesday in response to reports that touted Virkkunen for a tech job. Guzenina lauded Virkkunen as “skillful in many fields.”