Antti Häkkänen

Antti Häkkänen
Häkkänen in 2024
Minister of Defence
Incumbent
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
Incumbent
Assumed office
22 April 2015
Personal details
Born
Antti Edvard Häkkänen

(1985-01-16) 16 January 1985 (age 40)
Mäntyharju, Southern Savonia, Finland
Political partyNational Coalition
SpouseHenna Pajulammi
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]

Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III and Antti Häkkänen at the Pentagon, Washington, D.C., May 21, 2024

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 National Coalition Party visited Republican Party (United States) 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.[permanent dead link‍]
  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
Political offices
Preceded by Minister of Justice
2017–2019 		Succeeded by
Preceded by Minister of Defence
2023–present 		Incumbent