Gunnar Hökmark

Gunnar Hökmark
Secretary of the Moderate Party
In office
4 October 1991 – 4 September 1999
Leader Carl Bildt
Preceded by Per Unckel
Succeeded by Johnny Magnusson
Personal details
Born Anders Gunnar Hökmark
(1952-09-19) 19 September 1952
Ystad, Sweden
Political party Moderate Party
Spouse(s) Isabella Lehander (2014–present)
Children 3
Alma mater Lund University
Video-Introduction

Anders Gunnar Hökmark (born 19 September 1952 in Ystad) is a Swedish politician and Member of the European Parliament for the Moderate Party; part of the European People's Party.

Hökmark is Vice Chairman of the EPP Group, the largest group in the European Parliament with 265 members.[1] He is 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 is 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.[2]

Career and life

Hökmark finished a B.A. in Business Administration and Economics at Lund university in 1975 and joined Swedish Unilever 1976 as trainee and became product manager 1977. After his military education, parallel with his university studies, he became an officer in the Armoured Forces of the Swedish Army and is today a captain in the reserve.[3]

In 1979 he was elected Chairman of the Moderate Youth League, 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 in the 1982 elections. He served in the Swedish Parliament from 1982 to 2004 as a representative for the Stockholm 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.[2]

In 1986 he became managing director of Timbro Idea and developed the think tank division of Timbro, which is today the leading think tank in Sweden.[4] 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 that spread all over Sweden, which today is manifested by a monument at the main meeting place in Stockholm, Norrmalmstorg. He is awarded with Estonian, Latvian and Lithuanian orders.

He was the Secretary-General of the Moderate Party 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. He was responsible for the process of the Moderate Party joining the European People's Party as full member.

In 2000 he left his office as Secretary General and took the initiative to establish the think-tank Institute of Reform, 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 stayed in power.

In 2002 he became President of the Committee on Constitutional Affairs in the Swedish Parliament, a position he held until being elected Member of the European Parliament in 2004.

Member of the European Parliament, 2004–present

In addition to his committee assignments, Hökmark is the chairman of the Parliament's delegation to the EU-Croatia Joint Parliamentary Committee and active in the delegation to the Euronest Parliamentary Assembly.[2] He is Chairman of the European Friends of Israel and the Sweden-Israel Friendship Association.[2] He is also a member of the Reconciliation of European Histories Group[5] and affiliated with the Institute for Information on the Crimes of Communism.[6] He co-sponsored the European Parliament resolution of 2 April 2009 on European conscience and totalitarianism.[7]

In 2007, Hökmark narrowly lost against Joseph Daul after three rounds of voting in the election of the chairman of the centre-right European People's Party Group.[8] He later lost his post of group’s vice-chairman in 2009.[9]

From 2012 to 2014, Hökmark led the Parliament’s work on the Bank Recovery and Resolution Directive (BRRD).[10] Since 2014, he has been the parliament’s rapporteur on the banking structure reform.[11]

Bibliography

References

  1. ↑ "Swedish MEP Gunnar Hökmark elected Vice-Chairman of the EPP Group - 26/11/2009 - EPP Group". Eppgroup.eu. 2009-11-26. Retrieved 2014-06-05.
  2. 1 2 3 4 "Gunnar HÖKMARK". Europarl.europa.eu. Retrieved 2014-06-05.
  3. ↑ "Biography for gunnar Hökmark". Silobreaker. Retrieved 2014-06-05.
  4. ↑ "Synen på fackets roll - Resultat av en undersökning från Demoskop | Timbro" (in Swedish). Timbro.se. Retrieved 2014-06-05.
  5. ↑ "About Us – Reconciliation of European Histories Group". Reconciliation of European Histories Group. Retrieved 1 August 2011.
  6. ↑ "UOK - Upplysning om kommunismen". Upplysningomkommunismen.se. Retrieved 2014-06-05.
  7. ↑ "Joint motion for a resolution: European Parliament resolution on European conscience and totalitarianism". Europa.eu. 30 March 2009. Retrieved 2011-05-10.
  8. ↑ Judith Crosbie (January 10, 2007), New EPP-ED leader open to one seat for Parliament European Voice.
  9. ↑ Simon Taylor (June 29, 2009), Hökmark loses EPP vice-presidency European Voice.
  10. ↑ Ian Wishart (March 27, 2013), Cyprus deal points way to future bank rescues European Voice.
  11. ↑ Toby Vogel (September 11, 2014), Committees choose rapporteurs European Voice.
Party political offices
Preceded by
Per Unckel		 Secretary of the Moderate Party
1991–1999 		Succeeded by
Johnny Magnusson
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