Christian Engström
| Christian Engström | |
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| Member of the European Parliament for Sweden |
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| Incumbent | |
| Assumed office 14 July 2009 |
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| Personal details | |
| Born | 9 February 1960 Stockholm, Sweden |
| Nationality | Swedish |
| Political party | Pirate Party (Greens–EFA) |
| Alma mater | Stockholm University |
| Profession | Programmer |
Lars Christian Engström (born 9 February 1960) is a Swedish computer programmer, activist and politician. He is deputy chairman of the Swedish Pirate Party. Engström was elected a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) in the 2009 election.[1]
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Education and career[edit]
Christian Engström was born in Högalid, Stockholm. He graduated from Stockholm University in 1983 with a degree in mathematics and computer science.[2] While studying, Engström worked as a tutor at the university, teaching object-oriented programming in Simula.[2] From 1978 he also worked part-time as a programmer at Skriptor, a small company which specialized in phonetic similarity searches for trademark names.[2] After finishing his studies he started working full-time at the company.[2] He became a partner in the firm in 1987 and in 1991 he became vice president.[2] In 1997 the company was sold to the leading European trademark search house CompuMark.[2] Engström stayed on in a similar capacity as before until 2001, when he left the company to set up his own consultancy firm Glindra AB.[2]
Activism and politics[edit]
For five years Engström worked as an unpaid activist within the Foundation for a Free Information Infrastructure (FFII), lobbying against software patents.[2] He was active in the campaign against the EU software patent directive, which was rejected by the European Parliament in July 2005.[2] He also co-founded the Swedish section of FFII and served as its deputy chairman during the first year.[2]
In the late 1980s, Engström became a member of the Swedish Liberal People's Party.[2] He served as a lay assessor (Swedish: nämndeman) for the party in the Stockholm District Court between 1992 and 1998 and was active in local politics in Bromma, Stockholm.[2] He left the Liberal People's Party on 1 January 2006, following the founding of the Pirate Party.[2]
Engström was elected a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) in the election held on 7 June 2009, in which the Pirate Party won 7.1% of the votes and received one mandate.[1][3] However when the Lissabon treaty came into effect a second mandate Amelia Andersdotter entered parliament for Piratpartiet [citation needed?]. Engström was placed as his party's top candidate and received 43,808 votes (19% of the Pirate Party's total votes).[4][5] After negotiations with some of the political groups of the European Parliament it was announced on 25 June 2009 that Engström will join the green group (Greens–EFA).[6]
Personal life[edit]
Engström is married and has one son.[2] He lives with his family in Nacka, Stockholm County.[2]
References[edit]
- ^ a b "Val till Europaparlamentet - Valda" (in Swedish). Swedish Election Authority. 2009-06-11. Retrieved 2009-06-11.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o "Christian Engström" (in Swedish). Christian Engström. Retrieved 2013-06-10.
- ^ "Val till Europaparlamentet - Röster" (in Swedish). Swedish Election Authority. 2009-06-11. Retrieved 2009-06-11.
- ^ "Val till Europaparlamentet - Valsedlar" (in Swedish). Swedish Election Authority. 2009-05-21. Retrieved 2009-05-22.
- ^ "Val till Europaparlamentet - Personröster" (in Swedish). Swedish Election Authority. 2009-06-11. Retrieved 2009-06-11.
- ^ Landes, David (25 June 2009). "Pirate Party to sit with Greens in European Parliament". The Local. Retrieved 14 July 2009.
External links[edit]
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Christian Engström |
- Christian Engström's blog
- The Pirate Party Makes a Bid for the European Parliament Wired.com article, features interview with Christian Engström.
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