Bo Göran Hägglund (born 27 January 1959) 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 A politician is a person active in party politics, or a person holding or seeking an elected office in government. Politicians propose, support, reject and create laws that govern the land and by an extension of its people. Broadly speaking, a ...

of the

Christian Democrats __NOTOC__ Christian democratic parties are political parties that seek to apply Christian principles to public policy. The underlying Christian democracy movement emerged in 19th-century Europe, largely under the influence of Catholic social ...

. He was Leader of the Christian Democrats 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 List of members of the Swedish Riksdag, members ...

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 ( fi, Suomi ; sv, Finland ), officially the Republic of Finland (; ), is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It shares land borders with Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of B ...

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

Degerfors Degerfors () is a Urban areas in Sweden, 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 Mö ...

in central Sweden, but moved to

Jönköping Jönköping (, ) is a 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 of Jönköping Municipali ...

, 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 sv, riksdagen or ''Sveriges riksdag'' ) is the legislature and the supreme decision-making body of Sweden. Since 1971, the Riksdag has been a unicameral legislature with 349 members (), elected proportionally and se ...

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 political ...

Alf Svensson's personal favourite as a successor. However, when Svensson announced his plans to step down, two other candidates,

Maria Larsson Ingrid Maria Larsson (born 20 January 1956 in Långasjö) is Swedish politician of the Christian Democrats who has been Governor of Örebro County since May 2015, appointed by the cabinet of Stefan Löfven. She previously served as Minister ...

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 lean to the Right-wing politics, right of the Left–right politics, political spectrum, but are closer to the Centrism, centre. From the 1780s to the 1880s, there was a shift in the Western world of social class structure a ...

parties in Sweden, under the name

Alliance for Sweden The Alliance ( sv, Alliansen), formerly the Alliance for Sweden (''Allians för Sverige''), was a centre-right liberal-conservative political alliance in Sweden. The Alliance consisted of the four centre-right political parties in the Riksdag. Th ...

. After their victory in the elections,

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

of the

Moderate Party The Moderate Party ( sv, Moderata samlingspartiet , ; M), commonly referred to as the Moderates ( ), is a liberal-conservative political party in Sweden. The party generally supports tax cuts, the free market, civil liberties and economic liber ...

was asked by the

Speaker of the Riksdag The speaker of the Riksdag ( sv, Riksdagens talman) 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 abolis ...

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 (; abbreviated Gbg; sv, Göteborg ) is the second-largest city in Sweden, fifth-largest in the Nordic countries, and capital of the Västra Götaland County. It is situated by the Kattegat, on the west coast of Sweden, and has ...

in 2014, Hägglund was hit with a pie by a LGBT anarchist. 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 while married; born 11 February 1987) is a Swedish politician serving as the Deputy Prime Minister of Sweden and Minister for Energy (Sweden), Minister for Energy, Minister for Business, Industry and I ...

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, premier 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. Under those systems, a prime minister is not ...

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 go ...

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 medicines. It is a miscellaneous science as it links heal ...

monopoly A monopoly (from Greek language, Greek el, μόνος, mónos, single, alone, label=none and el, πωλεῖν, pōleîn, to sell, label=none), as described by Irving Fisher, is a market with the "absence of competition", creating a situati ...

was abolished on 1 July 2009, and the alcohol law 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 Protestant Charismatic Christian movement

movement, but is now a member of the

Church of Sweden The Church of Sweden ( sv, Svenska kyrkan) is an Evangelical Lutheran national church in Sweden. A former state church, headquartered in Uppsala, with around 5.6 million members at year end 2021, it is the largest Christian denomination in Sw ...

. He is married and has two children.

References

External links