Antti Kaikkonen

Antti Kaikkonen
Kaikkonen in 2019.
Minister of Defence
In office
28 February – 20 June 2023 (2023-06-20)
Prime MinisterSanna Marin
Preceded byMikko Savola
Succeeded byAntti Häkkänen
In office
6 June 2019 (2019-06-06) – 5 January 2023 (2023-01-05)
Prime Minister
Preceded byJussi Niinistö
Succeeded byMikko Savola
Member of the Finnish Parliament
for Uusimaa
Assumed office
19 March 2003
Leader of the Centre Party
Assumed office
15 June 2024
Preceded byAnnika Saarikko
Personal details
Born
Antti Samuli Kaikkonen

(1974-02-14) 14 February 1974 (age 50)
Turku, Southwest Finland, Finland
Political partyCentre
OccupationPolitician

Antti Samuli Kaikkonen (born 14 February 1974 in Turku, Finland) is a Finnish politician who has served as chair of the Centre Party since June 2024.[1] He has been a member of the Finnish Parliament from Uusimaa since 2003. He served as Minister of Defence from 2019 to 2023. Kaikkonen was the president of Finnish Centre Youth from 1997 to 2001. He has also been a member of Finnish Delegation to the Council of Europe since 2004.[2]

In 2013, Kaikkonen was convicted of corruption charges stemming from a campaign financing scandal.[3]

On 21 June 2016, Kaikkonen was chosen as the chairman of the Centre Party's parliamentary group.[4]

By 2019, Kaikkonen was parliamentary head of the coalition-leading Centre Party. Amidst the Oulu child sexual exploitation scandal, he called for all party heads in Parliament to meet, and declared "everyone who comes to Finland has to follow the local laws".[5]

Kaikkonen with U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin and Swedish Defence Minister Peter Hultqvist in Brussels, 13 October 2022
  1. ^ "Centre Party picks Kaikkonen as new leader, NCP re-elects Orpo". yle. yle.fi. 15 June 2024. Retrieved 15 June 2024.
  2. ^ "Antti Kaikkonen". Parliament of Finland. 20 September 2012. Archived from the original on 24 August 2012. Retrieved 26 March 2012.
  3. ^ "Suspended prison sentences in campaign financing scandal". YLE. 30 January 2013. Retrieved 7 May 2020.
  4. ^ "Antti Kaikkonen valittiin keskustan eduskuntaryhmän johtoon". Helsingin Sanomat. 21 June 2016. Retrieved 21 June 2016.
  5. ^ Tarmo Virki (13 January 2019). "Sex abuse cases color immigration debate before Finnish election". Reuters. Retrieved 31 January 2019. Antti Kaikkonen, parliamentary head of the coalition-leading Centre Party, called for a meeting of all the parliamentary party heads, tweeting: "Everyone who comes to Finland has to follow the local laws."