Timo Olavi Harakka (born 31 December 1962) is a Finnish politician. Since April 2015, he has represented the electoral district of Uusimaa in the

Parliament of Finland The Parliament of Finland ( ; ) is the unicameral and supreme legislature of Finland, founded on 9 May 1906. In accordance with the Constitution of Finland, sovereignty belongs to the people, and that power is vested in the Parliament. The ...

as a

Social Democrat Social democracy is a Political philosophy, political, Social philosophy, social, and economic philosophy within socialism that supports Democracy, political and economic democracy. As a policy regime, it is described by academics as advocati ...

.Timo Harakka
Parliament of Finland (in English). Retrieved 4 January 2017. In June 2019, Harakka was appointed Minister of Employment in the

Rinne Cabinet The cabinet of Antti Rinne was the 75th government of Finland. It was formed following the parliamentary election of 2019 and was formally appointed by President Sauli Niinistö on 6 June 2019. The cabinet consisted of a coalition formed by the ...

. He served in the position until the collapse of the cabinet in December 2019, after which he joined the subsequent

Marin Cabinet The Marin Cabinet is the incumbent 76th government of Finland. It was formed following the collapse of the Rinne Cabinet and officially took office on 10 December 2019. The cabinet headed by Sanna Marin consists of a coalition formed by the Socia ...

as Minister of Transport and Communications.

Early life and education

Harakka was born in

Helsinki Helsinki ( or ; ; sv, Helsingfors, ) is the Capital city, capital, primate city, primate, and List of cities and towns in Finland, most populous city of Finland. Located on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, it is the seat of the region of U ...

. Both parents his were

deaf Deafness has varying definitions in cultural and medical contexts. In medical contexts, the meaning of deafness is hearing loss that precludes a person from understanding spoken language, an Audiology, audiological condition. In this context it ...

and therefore his first language is

Finnish sign language Finnish Sign Language () is the sign language most commonly used in Finland. There are 3,000 ''(2012 estimate)'' Finnish deaf who have Finnish Sign Language as a first language. As the Finnish system records users by their written language, not ...

. He worked as a journalist for several years and has been editor-in-chief of both ''Jyväskylän Ylioppilaslehti'', magazine of the

students' union A students' union, also known by many other names, is a student organization present in many colleges, universities, and high schools. In higher education, the students' union is often accorded its own building on the campus, dedicated to social, ...

of the

University of Jyväskylä The University of Jyväskylä ( fi, Jyväskylän yliopisto) is a research university in Jyväskylä, Finland. It has its origins in the first Finnish-speaking Teacher Training College (the so-called Teacher Seminary), founded in 1863. Ar ...

, and '' Vihreä Lanka'', magazine linked with the

Green League The Green League (VIHR, fi, Vihreä liitto , sv, Gröna förbundet), shortened to the Greens ( fi, Vihreät, sv, De Gröna), is a green political party in Finland. Ideologically, the Green League is positioned on the centre-left of the polit ...

. Since 1997 Harakka worked for

Yle Yleisradio Oy (Finnish, literally "General Radio Ltd." or "General Broadcast Ltd."; abbr. Yle ; sv, Rundradion Ab, italics=no), translated to English as the Finnish Broadcasting Company, is Finland's national public broadcasting company, founde ...

and hosted television programs called '' Musta laatikko'', ''Pressiklubi'', and ''10 kirjaa''.Kuka?
Timo Harakka's website (in Finnish). Retrieved 4 January 2017. In 2005 he graduated from the

Helsinki Theatre Academy The Theatre Academy ( fi, Teatterikorkeakoulu, sv, Teaterhögskolan) is one of the three academies of the University of the Arts Helsinki and offers education in theatre and dance. It is Finland's largest education provider in its field and, with ...

with a master of arts in theatre and drama.Timo Harakka
Parliament of Finland (in Finnish). Retrieved 4 January 2017.

Political career

In the

2014 European Parliament election The 2014 European Parliament election was held in the European Union, from 22 to 25 May 2014. It was the 8th parliamentary election since the first direct elections in 1979, and the first in which the European political parties fielded candid ...

Harakka received 22,839 votes and was elected substitute

member of the European Parliament A Member of the European Parliament (MEP) is a person who has been elected to serve as a popular representative in the European Parliament. When the European Parliament (then known as the Common Assembly of the ECSC) first met in 1952, its ...

for the Social Democratic Party. In the

2015 Finnish parliamentary election Parliamentary elections were held in Finland on 19 April 2015, with advance voting taking place from 8 to 14 April. The 200 members of the Parliament of Finland were elected with the proportional D'Hondt method. There were 4,463,333 people entitl ...

he received 5,497 votes from Uusimaa and was elected to the Parliament. He subsequently served the Finance and budget spokesperson of the parliamentary group and member of the Grand Committee of the Parliament. On 15 December 2016 Harakka announced his candidacy for the leadership of Social Democratic Party.Backbench MP launches bid for SDP leadership
Yle News (in English). 15 December 2016. Retrieved 4 January 2017. He was defeated by the incumbent party leader

Antti Rinne Antti Juhani Rinne (; born 3 November 1962) is a Finnish politician who served as Prime Minister of Finland from June to December 2019, and served as Leader of the Social Democratic Party between 2014 and 2020. Biography A lawyer by profession, ...

in the election on 4 February 2017.Rinne wins SDP chair position
Yle News on 4 February 2017. Retrieved 8 April 2017. On 6 June 2019, Harakka was appointed Minister of Employment. Early in his tenure, when Finland held the rotating

presidency of the Council of the European Union The presidency of the Council of the European Union is responsible for the functioning of the Council of the European Union, which is the co-legislator of the EU legislature alongside the European Parliament. It rotates among the member state ...

in 2019, he chaired the meetings of the

Employment, Social Policy, Health and Consumer Affairs Council The Employment, Social Policy, Health and Consumer Affairs Council (EPSCO) is a configuration of the Council of the European Union. It meets four times a year, with two of the meetings focusing on social policy and employment. It is composed of t ...

Political positions

Harakka is well known for colourful initiatives and statements. He has described

Boris Johnson Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson (; born 19 June 1964) is a British politician, writer and journalist who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Conservative Party from 2019 to 2022. He previously served as F ...

's decision 2019 to prorogue parliament as "incredible", and compared it to "banning saunas in Finland".

Honors

FIN Order of the White Rose Commander BAR

Order of the White Rose of Finland The Order of the White Rose of Finland ( fi, Suomen Valkoisen Ruusun ritarikunta; sv, Finlands Vita Ros’ orden) is one of three official orders in Finland, along with the Order of the Cross of Liberty, and the Order of the Lion of Finland. ...

(Finland, 2022)

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Harakka, Timo 1962 births Living people Politicians from Helsinki Green League politicians Social Democratic Party of Finland politicians Ministers of Labour of Finland Ministers of Transport and Public Works of Finland Members of the Parliament of Finland (2015–19) Members of the Parliament of Finland (2019–23)