Timo Harakka

Timo Olavi Harakka (born 31 December 1962) is a Finnish politician. Since April 2015, he has been representative of electoral district of Uusimaa (2015-2023) and electoral district of Helsinki (2023-) in the Parliament of Finland as a Social Democrat.

In June 2019, Harakka was appointed Minister of Employment in the Rinne Cabinet. He served in the position until the collapse of the cabinet in December 2019, after which he joined the subsequent Marin Cabinet as Minister of Transport and Communications.

Early life and education Harakka was born in Helsinki but raised at Äänekoski. Both his parents were deaf and therefore his first language is Finnish sign language. He worked as a journalist for several years and was the Editor-in-chief of Jyväskylän Ylioppilaslehti, magazine of the students' union of the University of Jyväskylä, and Managing editor of Ylioppilaslehti, magazine of the University of Helsinki. He was the Editor of Vihreä Lanka, magazine linked with the Green League, and later columnist for all major news outlets of Finland, including Helsingin Sanomat, Suomen Kuvalehti and Talouselämä. Since 1997 Harakka worked as journalist and producer for the national broadcasting company Yle and hosted television programmes called Musta laatikko, Pressiklubi, and 10 kirjaa. In 2005 he graduated from the Helsinki Theatre Academy with a master of arts in theatre and drama.

Political career In the 2014 European Parliament election Harakka received 22,839 votes and was elected substitute member of the European Parliament for the Social Democratic Party. In the 2015 Finnish parliamentary election he received 5,497 votes from Uusimaa and was elected to the Parliament. He subsequently served the Finance and budget spokesperson of the parliamentary group and member of the Grand Committee of the Parliament. He was defeated by the incumbent party leader Antti Rinne in the election on 4 February 2017.

On 6 June 2019, Harakka was appointed Minister of Employment. Early in his tenure, when Finland held the rotating presidency of the Council of the European Union in 2019, he chaired the meetings of the Employment, Social Policy, Health and Consumer Affairs Council.

During his tenure as the Minister of Transport and Communications, he was deeply involved in European Union data legislation. While still in office, he wrote the acclaimed book "Data Capitalism in the World of Crises" (available in English at ).

Political positions Harakka is well known for colourful initiatives and statements. He has described Boris Johnson's decision 2019 to prorogue parliament as "incredible", and compared it to "banning saunas in Finland".

Honors