Antti Häkkänen

Antti Häkkänen
Häkkänen in 2024
Minister of Defence
Assumed office
20 June 2023
Prime MinisterPetteri Orpo
Preceded byAntti Kaikkonen
Minister of Justice[1]
In office
5 May 2017 – 6 June 2019
Prime MinisterJuha Sipilä
Preceded byJari Lindström
Succeeded byAnna-Maja Henriksson
Member of the Finnish Parliament
for South-Eastern Finland
Assumed office
22 April 2015
Personal details
BornAntti Edvard Häkkänen
(1985-01-16) 16 January 1985
PartyNational Coalition
SpouseHenna Pajulammi
Children2
Alma materUniversity of Helsinki
Websitewww.anttihakkanen.fi

Antti Edvard Häkkänen (born 16 January 1985) is a Finnish politician from the National Coalition Party. He has served as Minister of Defence since June 2023 in the Orpo cabinet and as Member of Parliament since 2015.[2] Häkkänen served as Minister of Justice in the Sipilä cabinet from 2017 to 2019.[3]

Career

Häkkänen graduated from the University of Helsinki with a Master of Law.[4]

Häkkänen served on the Mäntyharju town council from 2009.[5] He was elected as the Youth National Coalition Party leader in 2011 for the 2012-2013 period.[6]

The National Coalition Party nominated Häkkänen as a candidate for the 2014 European Parliament election but he did not gain enough votes.[7] In the 2015 Finnish parliamentary election he was nominated in the newly formed constituency of South-Eastern Finland, and became an elected MP with 6,212 votes.[8][9]

Häkkänen was elected as one of three vice-chairmen of the National Coalition Party at the party summit in June 2016, with the highest number of votes.[10]

In June 2023, he was appointed Minister of Defence in the Orpo Cabinet.[11]

In February 2024, Häkkänen declared that he was planning to introduce legislation that would prohibit people from resigning from the Finnish Defence Forces' military reserve, while calling resigning reservists unpatriotic.[12] The announcement led into a surge of resignation applications and the plan was widely criticized as unconstitutional and not in line with international treaties.[13]

Political views

Antti Häkkänen with other young members of the National Coalition Party visited a Republican Party meeting in 2012. According to Häkkänen, National Coalition Party youth share the financial views of Republican Party in the United States.[14]

Personal

Mr. Tapani Mäkinen (ex MP of National Coalition Party) was named special advisor to Justice Minister Häkkänen in May 2017. Mäkinen resigned in April 2018 due to a police investigation concerning claimed bribery.[15] Mäkinen received juridical charge in August 2019. According to Mäkinen, funds he received from Mr. Juhani Sjöblom (MP candidate of National Coalition Party) (Seepsula Oy) was a legal loan.[16]

References

  1. ^ "Council of State - Ministers of Justice". Valtioneuvosto.fi. Archived from the original on 2017-12-28. Retrieved 27 December 2017.
  2. ^ "MPs: Antti Häkkänen". Parliament of Finland. Retrieved 5 May 2017.
  3. ^ "Presidentti nimitti kolme uutta ministeriä – perussuomalaisten uusi kulttuuriministeri nosti kärkiaiheekseen poliittisten nuorisojärjestöjen tuet". Helsingin Sanomat. 5 May 2017. Retrieved 5 May 2017.
  4. ^ "Antti Häkkänen" (in Finnish). Retrieved 23 May 2018.
  5. ^ "Kunnanvaltuusto" (in Finnish). Retrieved 23 May 2018.
  6. ^ "Antti Häkkänen kokoomusnuorten puheenjohtajaksi" (in Finnish). 5 November 2011. Retrieved 23 May 2018.
  7. ^ "Kataista avustava Antti Häkkänen meppiehdokkaaksi" (in Finnish). Maaseudun Tulevaisuus. 2 February 2014. Archived from the original on 14 March 2014. Retrieved 23 May 2018.
  8. ^ "Häkkänen Antti" (in Finnish). Archived from the original on 9 October 2017. Retrieved 23 May 2018.
  9. ^ "Koko maa - ehdokkaat" (in Finnish). Retrieved 23 May 2018.
  10. ^ Laitaraki, Timo (12 June 2016). "Antti Häkkänen nousi kokoomuksen varapuheenjohtajaksi — muut valitut ovat Sanni Grahn-Laasonen ja Janne Sankelo" (in Finnish). Retrieved 23 May 2018.
  11. ^ "Prime Minister Orpo's Government appointed". Valtioneuvosto. Retrieved 2023-06-21.
  12. ^ "Finnish Defence Minister calls resigning reservists "unpatriotic", plans law change". Yle News. 2 February 2024.
  13. ^ "Reservistä eronneiden määrä räjähti kasvuun – puolustusministeri Häkkänen lieventää puheitaan". Yle (in Finnish). 3 February 2024.
  14. ^ Miksi kokoomusnuoret kannattavat Yhdysvaltain republikaaneja? YLE 3.9.2012
  15. ^ Finnish Justice Ministry's special advisor Mäkinen steps down amid corruption probe YLE 3.4.2018
  16. ^ Pitkän linjan kokoomusvaikuttaja Tapani Mäkiselle korruptiosyytteet – lahjuksen antamisesta epäillään tuusulalaista ex-kansanedustajaa YLE 20.8.2019