Finland’s defence minister Antti Kaikkkonen will take paternity leave for almost two months in early 2023 amid his country’s bid to join NATO. a move his Centre party praised.
“We proudly support Antti Kaikkonen’s decision,” the party leader and finance minister, Annika Saarikko, told AFP. Kaikkonen plans to take off from work from 6 January till the end of February.
“The opportunity to take and decide on family leave belongs to everyone,” Saarikko said.
“Children are only little for a moment, and I want to remember it in more than just photographs,” Kaikkkonen wrote on Twitter. Centre, the party he belongs to, praised the move. "The office of Minister of Defence is an important one. However, for me it has also meant lots of travel and time away from home, especially during this year," 48-year-old Kaikkonen told Euronews.
"Sometimes you have to put your family first. I have two small children, a two-year-old and a baby boy who is six months old. I want to have memories of this time, and not only in photographs," he added.
In Finland, fathers who have had children before September 2022 are eligible for 54 days of paternity leave. According to the government, 80 per cent of dads in Finland take paternity leave. Among the ministers, Kaikkonen is the first male to take paternity leave since the 1990s-- back then, the then-prime minister Paavo Lipponen, took paternity leave.
MP Mikko Savola will take over when Kaikkonen is away.
