Bo Göran Hägglund (born 27 January 1959) is a Swedish

politician A politician is a person who participates in Public policy, policy-making processes, usually holding an elective position in government. Politicians represent the people, make decisions, and influence the formulation of public policy. The roles ...

of the

Christian Democrats Christian democracy is an ideology inspired by Christian social teaching to respond to the challenges of contemporary society and politics. Christian democracy has drawn mainly from Catholic social teaching and neo-scholasticism, as well a ...

. He was the leader of the

from 2004 to 2015,

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 ...

from 1991 to 2015, and served as Minister for Social Affairs from 2006 to 2014.

Early life and political career

Hägglund's parents are originally from

Finland Finland, officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It borders Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of Bothnia to the west and the Gulf of Finland to the south, ...

: they moved to Sweden in the 1950s. He was born in

Degerfors Degerfors () is a locality and the seat of Degerfors Municipality, Örebro County, Sweden, with 7,160 inhabitants in 2010. Degerfors is the sixth-largest city in Örebro County. It is located at the southern shore of lake Möckeln, 13 km (8 mi) so ...

in central Sweden, but moved to

Jönköping Jönköping (, ) is a Urban areas in Sweden, city in southern Sweden with 112,766 inhabitants (2022). Jönköping is situated on the southern shore of Sweden's second largest lake, Vättern, in the province of Småland. The city is the seat o ...

, a Christian Democratic stronghold, with his family in 1978. He started his political career in the Christian Democratic youth organisation. From 1978 he was employed by the party, first as ombudsman for the local Christian Democratic Youth, and from 1981 for the regional party branch. From 1982 to 1986 he was also a member of the Municipal Council in Jönköping. Following the 1985 elections, he began work as parliamentary secretary for the Christian Democrats. He temporarily left politics in 1988, to start working for an insurance company. In the parliamentary elections of 1991 he was elected a Member of Parliament. Hägglund became the

Riksdag The Riksdag ( , ; also or , ) is the parliament and the parliamentary sovereignty, supreme decision-making body of the Kingdom of Sweden. Since 1971, the Riksdag has been a unicameral parliament with 349 members (), elected proportional rep ...

Father of the House Father of the House is a title that has been traditionally bestowed, unofficially, on certain members of some legislatures, most notably the House of Commons in the United Kingdom. In some legislatures the title refers to the longest continuously ...

on 1 January 2015, being the eldest among those first elected in 1991.

Party leader

Hägglund was generally considered to be long-time

party leader In a governmental system, a party leader acts as the official representative of their political party, either to a legislature or to the electorate. Depending on the country, the individual colloquially referred to as the "leader" of a politica ...

Alf Svensson's personal favourite as a successor. However, when Svensson announced his plans to step down, two other candidates, Maria Larsson and Mats Odell, had the support of a greater number of regional party organisations. Not even Hägglund's own Jönköping district stood behind him. Eventually, however, all Hägglund's possible contenders withdrew from the race, and his election as party leader on 3 April 2004 was unanimous. Prior to the Swedish general election in 2006 Hägglund's Christian Democrats formed a closer alliance with the three other

centre-right Centre-right politics is the set of right-wing politics, right-wing political ideologies that lean closer to the political centre. It is commonly associated with conservatism, Christian democracy, liberal conservatism, and conservative liberalis ...

parties in Sweden, under the name

Alliance for Sweden The Alliance (, from 2004-10 the ''Alliance for Sweden,'' ), was a Centre-right politics, centre-right liberal-conservative political alliance in Sweden. The Alliance consisted of the four centre-right list of political parties in Sweden, politic ...

. After their victory in the elections,

Fredrik Reinfeldt John Fredrik Reinfeldt (pronounced ; born 4 August 1965) is a Swedish economist, lecturer, former Prime Minister of Sweden from 2006 to 2014 and chairman of the liberal conservative Moderate Party from 2003 to 2015. He was the last rotating Presi ...

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 ...

was asked by the

Speaker of the Riksdag The speaker of the Riksdag () is the speaker (politics), presiding officer of the national unicameral legislature in Sweden. The Riksdag underwent profound changes in 1867, when the medieval Riksdag of the Estates was abolished. The new form of ...

to form a new government. Following negotiations between the leaders of the parties in the Alliance for Sweden, Göran Hägglund was named Minister for Social Affairs on 6 October 2006. In the autumn of 2011 he was challenged for the post of party leader by colleague Mats Odell. In an extra congress held on 28 January 2012, Odell's challenge failed and Hägglund retained the party leadership. During a party rally in

Gothenburg Gothenburg ( ; ) is the List of urban areas in Sweden by population, second-largest city in Sweden, after the capital Stockholm, and the fifth-largest in the Nordic countries. Situated by the Kattegat on the west coast of Sweden, it is the gub ...

in 2014, Hägglund was hit with a pie by an

LGBT rights activist A list of notable LGBTQ social movements, LGBTQ rights activists who have worked to advance LGBTQ rights by political change, legal action or publication. Ordered by country, alphabetically. Albania * Xheni Karaj, founder of Aleanca LGBT org ...

. On 29 January 2015, Hägglund announced that he would step down as

at an extra party congress on 25 April.

Ebba Busch Thor Ebba-Elisabeth Busch (, formerly Busch Thor; born 11 February 1987) is a Swedish politician, serving as the Deputy Prime Minister of Sweden, Minister for Energy and the Minister for Business and Industry since October 2022. She has served as ...

was elected the new party leader at that congress.

Minister for Social Affairs

Hägglund was appointed Minister for Social Affairs on 6 October 2006 by

Prime Minister A prime minister or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. A prime minister is not the head of state, but r ...

Fredrik Reinfeldt. As minister, Hägglund enforced several reforms including the reform of the health insurance system which became a highly controversial reform. Hägglund also implemented

municipal A municipality is usually a single administrative division having corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality'' may also mean the gov ...

allowance which replaced the former state allowance. The

pharmacy Pharmacy is the science and practice of discovering, producing, preparing, dispensing, reviewing and monitoring medications, aiming to ensure the safe, effective, and affordable use of medication, medicines. It is a miscellaneous science as it ...

monopoly A monopoly (from Greek language, Greek and ) is a market in which one person or company is the only supplier of a particular good or service. A monopoly is characterized by a lack of economic Competition (economics), competition to produce ...

was abolished on 1 July 2009, and the

alcohol law Alcohol laws are laws relating to manufacture, Drinking alcohol, use, as Drunkeness, being under the influence of and sale of Alcohol (drug), alcohol (also known formally as ethanol) or alcoholic beverages. Common alcoholic beverages include bee ...

was liberalized in 2010. Deduction for household services, so-called RUT deduction was introduced in 2007 as well as the legislation of same-sex marriages in 2009. The bill was supported by all parties except the Christian Democrats and one member of the Center Party.

Personal life

Hägglund grew up in the

Pentecostal Pentecostalism or classical Pentecostalism is a movement within the broader Evangelical wing of Protestantism, Protestant Christianity that emphasizes direct personal experience of God in Christianity, God through Baptism with the Holy Spirit#Cl ...

movement, but is now a member of the

Church of Sweden The Church of Sweden () is an Evangelical Lutheran national church in Sweden. A former state church, headquartered in Uppsala, with around 5.5 million members at year end 2023, it is the largest Christian denomination in Sweden, the largest List ...

. He is married and has two children.

References

External links