Anders Gunnar Hökmark (born 19 September 1952) is a

Swedish Swedish or ' may refer to: Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically: * Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland ** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...

politician who served as a

Member of the European Parliament A member of the European Parliament (MEP) is a person who has been Election, elected to serve as a popular representative in the European Parliament. When the European Parliament (then known as the Common Assembly of the European Coal and S ...

(MEP) from 2004 until 2019. He is member of the

Moderate Party The Moderate Party ( , , M), commonly referred to as the Moderates ( ), is a Liberal conservatism, liberal-conservative* * * * * List of political parties in Sweden, political party in Sweden. The party generally supports tax cuts, the free ma ...

, part of the

European People's Party The European People's Party (EPP) is a European political party with Christian democracy, Christian democratic, liberal conservatism, liberal-conservative, and conservative member parties. A transnational organisation, it is composed of other p ...

. He previously served as Secretary of the Moderate Party from 1991 to 1999 and

Member of the Riksdag Members of Parliament (Swedish language, Swedish: ''riksdagsledamöter'', singular: ''riksdagsledamot'') in Sweden sit in the Riksdag. Description ''Members of Parliament'' refers to the elected members of the Riksdag. In Swedish, an MP is us ...

(MP) for Stockholm County from 1982 to 2004.

Early life and education

Hökmark was born on 19 September 1952 in

Ystad Ystad () is a town and the seat of Ystad Municipality, in Scania County, Sweden. Ystad had 18,350 inhabitants in 2010. The settlement dates from the 11th century and has become a busy ferryport, local administrative centre, and tourist attracti ...

, Sweden, the son of major general

Gösta Hökmark Major General Anders Gösta Hökmark (14 June 1920 – 15 April 1993) was a Swedish Army officer. His senior commands include postings as Chief of the Army Staff and the General Staff Corps (1976–1979) and military commander of Bergslagen M ...

and his wife Anne-Marie (née Forneborg). Hökmark finished a B.A. in business administration and economics at

Lund University Lund University () is a Public university, public research university in Sweden and one of Northern Europe's oldest universities. The university is located in the city of Lund in the Swedish province of Scania. The university was officially foun ...

in 1975 and joined Swedish Unilever in 1976 as trainee and became product manager in 1977. After his military education, parallel with his university studies, he became an officer in the

Swedish Armoured Troops The Swedish Armoured Troops (, P) is the Armoured warfare, armoured branch of the Swedish Army. Since 2005, the Armoured Troops include the South Scanian Regiment (P 7) in Revingehed, Skaraborg Regiment (armoured), Skaraborg Regiment (P 4) in Sk� ...

of the Swedish Army and is today a captain in the reserve.

Political career

In 1979 Hökmark was elected Chairman of the

Moderate Youth League The Moderate Youth League ( ; MUF), officially known in English as the Swedish Young Conservatives, is the youth wing of the Swedish Moderate Party. Of the political youth organizations that received financial support from the Swedish Agency ...

, a position he held till 1984. From 1981 to 1983 he was Chairman of the Democratic Youth Community of Europe (DEMYC).

Member of the Swedish Parliament, 1982–2004

Hökmark was elected to the

Swedish Parliament The Riksdag ( , ; also or , ) is the parliament and the supreme decision-making body of the Kingdom of Sweden. Since 1971, the Riksdag has been a unicameral parliament with 349 members (), elected proportionally and serving, since 1994, f ...

in the 1982 elections. He served in the Swedish Parliament from 1982 to 2004 as a representative for the

Stockholm Stockholm (; ) is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, most populous city of Sweden, as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in the Nordic countries. Approximately ...

region. In the Parliament he was the spokesman on privacy policy, energy policy and economic affairs, as well as President of the Standing Committee on Constitutional Affairs. In 1986 he became managing director of Timbro Idea and developed the think tank division of

Timbro Timbro is a liberalism, liberal think tank and publishing company located in Stockholm, Sweden. In its present form Timbro was founded in 1978 by Sture Eskilsson and the Swedish Employers’ Association, a precursor to the Confederation of Swed ...

, which is today the leading think tank in Sweden. During the time at Timbro he headed the think tank and research activities and took also the initiative to and launched the City University in 1988. In 1989 Hökmark started the so-called Monday movement, a popular movement supporting the independence of the

Baltic States The Baltic states or the Baltic countries is a geopolitical term encompassing Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania. All three countries are members of NATO, the European Union, the Eurozone, and the OECD. The three sovereign states on the eastern co ...

that spread all over Sweden, which today is manifested by a monument at the main meeting place in

Norrmalmstorg Norrmalmstorg () is a town square in central Stockholm, Sweden. It connects shopping streets Hamngatan and Biblioteksgatan and is the starting point for tram travellers with the Djurgården line. Close to the southwest is the park Kungsträdg ...

. He is awarded with

Estonian Estonian may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Estonia, a country in the Baltic region in northern Europe * Estonians, people from Estonia, or of Estonian descent * Estonian language * Estonian cuisine * Estonian culture See also

...

Latvia Latvia, officially the Republic of Latvia, is a country in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is one of the three Baltic states, along with Estonia to the north and Lithuania to the south. It borders Russia to the east and Belarus to t ...

n and

Lithuania Lithuania, officially the Republic of Lithuania, is a country in the Baltic region of Europe. It is one of three Baltic states and lies on the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea, bordered by Latvia to the north, Belarus to the east and south, P ...

n orders. In 2013 he was also awarded with the Georgian Order of Excellence, for his support for freedom and democracy in the county. He was the Secretary-General of the

between 1991 and 2000, during which time he led a number of election campaigns as well as the referendum campaign about Sweden's membership in the

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational union, supranational political union, political and economic union of Member state of the European Union, member states that are Geography of the European Union, located primarily in Europe. The u ...

. He was responsible for the process of the Moderate Party joining the

as full member. In 2000 Hökmark left his office as Secretary General and took the initiative to establish the think-tank

Institute of Reform An institute is an organizational body created for a certain purpose. They are often research organisations (research institutes) created to do research on specific topics, or can also be a professional body. In some countries, institutes ca ...

, where he was managing director, with a clear agenda to prepare policies for a shift of government after the general elections 2002, policies that could not be launched as the

Social Democrats Social democracy is a social, economic, and political philosophy within socialism that supports political and economic democracy and a gradualist, reformist, and democratic approach toward achieving social equality. In modern practice, s ...

stayed in power. In 2002 Hökmark became President of the Committee on Constitutional Affairs in the Swedish Parliament, a position he held until being elected

in 2004.

Member of the European Parliament, 2004–2019

In parliament, Hökmark served as Vice Chairman of the

EPP Group The European People's Party Group (EPP Group or simply EPP) is a political group of the European Parliament consisting of deputies (MEPs) from the member parties of the European People's Party (EPP). Sometimes it also includes independent MEP ...

from 2007 until 2014. EPP is the largest group in the

European Parliament The European Parliament (EP) is one of the two legislative bodies of the European Union and one of its seven institutions. Together with the Council of the European Union (known as the Council and informally as the Council of Ministers), it ...

with 265 members. He was the leader of the Swedish delegation to the EPP and active in the Committee of Economic and Monetary Affairs and the Committee of Industry, Energy and Research. He was also a member of the Special Committee on the Financial, Economic and Social Crisis as well as the Special Committee on the Policy Challenges and Budgetary Resources for a Sustainable European Union after 2013 and the Special committee on financial crimes, tax evasion and tax avoidance. From 2012 to 2014, Hökmark led the Parliament's work on the Bank Recovery and Resolution Directive (BRRD). From 2014 to 2019, he was the parliament's rapporteur on the banking structure reform. From 2016 to 2019, Hökmark led the Parliament's work on the Insolvency Hierarchy, the introduction of Total Loss Absorbing Capacity (TLAC) into European legislation and the revision of the Bank Recovery and Resolution Directive as well as the Single Resolution Mechanism Regulation (SRMR) As active in the Committee on Industry, Research and Energy, Hökmark negotiated, among others, the proposal to establish EU:s first multi-annual Radio Spectrum Policy Programme (2012) which laid the ground for developing more mobile broadband capacities, which was instrumental for European competitiveness and for the phasing out of roaming fees in EU. He was the rapporteur for a number of reports and legislation aiming for a more rapid deployment of broadband, higher capacities and speeds and the direction to a Gigabit society. As the EPP-group rapporteur he managed to deregulate the rules for participation in the 7th framework programme for research and innovation (2006). As rapporteur for the EPP-group, he was able to achieve a majority supporting increased competition in the

electricity market An electricity market is a system that enables the exchange of electrical energy, through an electrical grid. Historically, electricity has been primarily sold by companies that operate electric generators, and purchased by consumers or electr ...

and rules for separation between producers and distributors, a principle that also was adopted in the gas market legislation. He also represented the EPP group in the energy markets legislative process and the establishment of the governance for the energy union and climate action (2018) In addition to his committee assignments, Hökmark was the chairman of the Parliament's delegation to the EU-Croatia Joint Parliamentary Committee and active in the delegation to the

Euronest Parliamentary Assembly The EuroNest Parliamentary Assembly is the inter-parliamentary forum in which members of the European Parliament and the national parliaments of Ukraine, Moldova, Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia participate and forge closer political and economic ...

. He was Chairman of the

European Friends of Israel European Friends of Israel (EFI) was a Brussels-based organization of European parliamentarians whose stated mission is "forging a stronger political relationship and a deeper understanding between Europe and Israel." History Established in Septemb ...

and the Sweden-Israel Friendship Association. He was also a member of the

Reconciliation of European Histories Group The Reconciliation of European Histories Group is an informal all-party group in the European Parliament involved in promoting the Prague Declaration on European Conscience and Communism, Prague Process in all of Europe, aimed at coming to terms ...

and affiliated with the

Institute for Information on the Crimes of Communism The Institute for Information on the Crimes of Communism (IICC) (, ''UOK'') is a Sweden-based non-profit and non-governmental human rights organization, founded in 2008, with the stated purpose of "spreading essential information on the crimes o ...

. In 2007, Hökmark narrowly lost against

Joseph Daul Joseph Alexander Daul (born 13 April 1947) is a French politician who served as President of the European People's Party (EPP) from 2013 to 2019. He previously served as Leader of the EPP Group in the European Parliament from 2007 to 2014 and a ...

after three rounds of voting in the election of the chairman of the centre-right

European People's Party Group The European People's Party Group (EPP Group or simply EPP) is a political group of the European Parliament consisting of deputies (MEPs) from the member parties of the European People's Party (EPP). Sometimes it also includes independent ME ...

Political positions

Hökmark co-sponsored the European Parliament resolution of 2 April 2009 on European conscience and totalitarianism. Gunnar Hökmark is still working for the implementation of a European

Magnitsky act The Magnitsky Act, formally known as the Russia and Moldova Jackson–Vanik Repeal and Sergei Magnitsky Rule of Law Accountability Act of 2012, is a bipartisan bill passed by the U.S. Congress and signed into law by President Barack Obama in D ...

and in 2015, news media reported that Hökmark was included in a Russian blacklist of prominent people from the

who are not allowed to enter the country. Hökmark is also a member of the

European Leadership Network European Leadership Network (ELN) is a pan-European think-tank focusing on European foreign, defence and security issues based in London, United Kingdom. History and organisation The ELN was founded as part of a project by the Nuclear Security ...

(ELN)

Personal life

In 1979, Hökmark married Agnetha Jönsson (1951–2009), the daughter of Albert Jönsson and Else (née Mattsson). In 2014, he married Isabella Lehander.

Bibliography

** (1981) ''A New Deal'' ** (1982) ''When Might Goes Before Right'' ** (1983) ''Defending Freedom'' ** (1984) ''A Freer Sweden'' ** (1986) ''The Good Sweden'' (with Odd Eiken) ** (2005) ''Values of Freedom - A European Challenge'' ** (2007) ''The World Is Not Awaiting'' ** (2014
En ny deal - om uppbrott för Europas framtid
** (2015)
The European agenda
' ** (2016
''Sandkorn och snöstormar – ett starkare Europa i en hotfull värld''
** (2017)
Den nya upplysningen
' ** (2019)
Ett friare Europa – många steg som kräver mer
' ** (2019)
For freedom since ’52- läsebok för frihet
' **

References

External links

Official website

Official blog
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hokmark, Gunnar 1952 births Articles containing video clips Living people MEPs for Sweden 2004–2009 MEPs for Sweden 2009–2014 MEPs for Sweden 2014–2019 Moderate Party MEPs Members of the Riksdag from the Moderate Party People from Ystad Swedish male bloggers Members of the Riksdag 2002–2006 Recipients of the Order of the White Star, 3rd Class