Nick Hækkerup (born 3 April 1968 in

Fredensborg Fredensborg () is a railway town located in Fredensborg Municipality, North Zealand, some 30 kilometres north of Copenhagen, Denmark. It is most known for Fredensborg Palace, one of the official residences of the Danish Royal Family. As of 1 Janua ...

) is a Danish writer and politician of

Social Democrats Social democracy is a political, social, and economic philosophy within socialism that supports political and economic democracy. As a policy regime, it is described by academics as advocating economic and social interventions to promote so ...

who has been serving as the

Minister of Justice A justice ministry, ministry of justice, or department of justice is a ministry or other government agency in charge of the administration of justice. The ministry or department is often headed by a minister of justice (minister for justice in a v ...

in the

Frederiksen Cabinet Frederiksen Cabinet may refer to the following cabinets of Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen: * Frederiksen I Cabinet (2019-Dec 2022) * Frederiksen II Cabinet (Dec 2022-present) {{disambiguation ...

from 2019 to 2022. He previously served as

Minister of Defence A defence minister or minister of defence is a Cabinet (government), cabinet official position in charge of a ministry of defense, which regulates the armed forces in sovereign states. The role of a defence minister varies considerably from coun ...

, and

Minister of Health A health minister is the member of a country's government typically responsible for protecting and promoting public health and providing welfare and other social security services. Some governments have separate ministers for mental health. Coun ...

. He has also written a number of books about the politics of the

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been des ...

, and on Danish politics.

Political career

Career in local politics

Hækkerup was elected into the municipal council of the former

Hillerød Municipality Hillerød Kommune is a municipality (Danish, '' kommune'') in Region Hovedstaden ("Capital Region"). The municipality covers an area of 191 km² (74 sq. miles), and has a total population of 48,728 (1 April 2014). The mayor of the municipalit ...

in the

1993 Danish local elections Local elections were held in Denmark on 16 November 1993. 4703 municipal council members were elected to the 1994–1997 term of office in the 275 municipalities, as well as members of the 14 county councils of Denmark. Results of regional electio ...

. He sat in the municipality's municipal council from 1994 and until the municipality was merged with Skævinge Municipality in 2007. The two municipalities formed a new

, where Hækkerup sat in the municipal council until 2007. Hækkerup was the mayor of the former Hillerød Municipality from 2000 to 2006 and of the new Hillerød Municipality from 2006 to 2007.

Career in national politics

Hækkerup was elected into parliament in the

2007 Danish general election General elections were held in Denmark on 13 November 2007. The elections allowed prime minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen to continue for a third term in a coalition government consisting of Venstre and the Conservative People's Party with parliam ...

, and was reelected in

2011 File:2011 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: a protester partaking in Occupy Wall Street heralds the beginning of the Occupy movement; protests against Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi, who was killed that October; a young man celebrate ...

2015 File:2015 Events Collage new.png, From top left, clockwise: Civil service in remembrance of November 2015 Paris attacks; Germanwings Flight 9525 was purposely crashed into the French Alps; the rubble of residences in Kathmandu following the Apri ...

and

2019 File:2019 collage v1.png, From top left, clockwise: Hong Kong protests turn to widespread riots and civil disobedience; House of Representatives votes to adopt articles of impeachment against Donald Trump; CRISPR gene editing first used to experim ...

. He was the

Minister of Defense A defence minister or minister of defence is a cabinet official position in charge of a ministry of defense, which regulates the armed forces in sovereign states. The role of a defence minister varies considerably from country to country; in som ...

in the

Helle Thorning-Schmidt I Cabinet The cabinet of Prime Minister of Denmark, Prime Minister Helle Thorning-Schmidt was the Cabinet of Denmark, cabinet government of Denmark from 2011 in Denmark, 3 October 2011 to 3 February 2014. It was a coalition between the Social Democrats (Den ...

from 3 October 2011 to 9 August 2013 and in that same cabinet, he was Minister of European Affairs from 9 August 2013 to 3 February 2014. He was later appointed

in the Helle Thorning-Schmidt II Cabinet from 3 February 2014 to 28 June 2015.

Minister of Justice (2019–2022)

In 2019, Hækkerup was appointed

, in the

. During his time in office, Denmark in April 2022 signed a general extradition treaty with the United Arab Emirates. On 1 May 2022, it was announced that Hækkerup would be stepping down as justice minister and as an MP to become director of the danish brewery association, starting on 1 June.

Personal life

Hækkerup is the grandson of

Per Hækkerup Per Hækkerup (25 December 1915 – 13 March 1979) was a Danish Social Democratic politician, who served as Foreign Minister of Denmark from 1962 to 1966. Hækkerup, the son of Hans Kristian Hækkerup, a politician, was active in politics from ...

, who was a minister under

Jens Otto Krag Jens Otto Krag (; 15 September 1914 – 22 June 1978) was a Danish politician who served as prime minister of Denmark from 1962 to 1968 and from 1971 to 1972, and as leader of the Social Democrats from 1962 to 1972. He was president of the Nordi ...

and

Anker Jørgensen Anker Henrik Jørgensen (13 July 1922 – 20 March 2016) was a Danish politician who served at various times as Prime Minister and Foreign Minister of Denmark. Between 1972 and 1982 he led five cabinets as Prime Minister. Jørgensen was Presiden ...

. His uncle Hans Hækkerup was defence minister under

Poul Nyrup Rasmussen Poul Oluf Nyrup Rasmussen (, informally Poul Nyrup, born 15 June 1943) is a retired Danish politician. Rasmussen was Prime Minister of Denmark from 25 January 1993 to 27 November 2001 and President of the Party of European Socialists (PES) from ...

. Hækkerup has a PhD from

Copenhagen University The University of Copenhagen ( da, Københavns Universitet, KU) is a prestigious public research university in Copenhagen, Denmark. Founded in 1479, the University of Copenhagen is the second-oldest university in Scandinavia after Uppsala Unive ...

Bibliography

*''Udvikling i EU siden 1992 på de områder, der er omfattet af de danske forbehold'' (2001, Dansk Udenrigspolitisk Institut (DUPI)) *''Controls and Sanctions in the EU law'' (2001, Djøf Forlag, co-author, ) *''Sandheden Kort – Christiansborg fra A til Å'' (2018, People's Press, co-author)

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Hækkerup, Nick 1968 births Living people People from Fredensborg Municipality Danish writers Government ministers of Denmark Danish Justice Ministers Danish Defence Ministers Danish Health Ministers Danish municipal councillors Social Democrats (Denmark) politicians University of Copenhagen alumni Members of the Folketing 2007–2011 Members of the Folketing 2011–2015 Members of the Folketing 2015–2019 Members of the Folketing 2019–2022