Amelia Andersdotter
Amelia Andersdotter | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Member of the European Parliament for Sweden | |
| Assumed office 1 December 2011 | |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 30 August 1987 Enköping, Sweden |
| Political party | Pirate Party (Greens–EFA) |
| Website | ameliaandersdotter.eu |
Amelia Andersdotter (born 30 August 1987, Enköping) is a Swedish politician and Member of the European Parliament (MEP), elected on the Piratpartiet list in the 2009 election.
Personal life
Amelia Andersdotter was born on 30 August 1987 at Akademiska sjukhuset in Uppsala, Sweden, the first of three children. Her mother, Lotta Lille, is a journalist, and her father, Anders Lundquist, is a teacher and chess tutor. Her sisters are Ulrika and Karolina. She also has a half-brother on her fathers side, Eirik Lundquist. After graduating at Rosendalsgymnasiet in Uppsala, she attended university in Lund, where she studied mathematics, physics, Spanish and business law, however, she got elected before completing her studies.[1]
She has lived in many parts of Europe, including Lund, Uppsala, Bucharest, Ghent and is presently residing in Brussels.
In an interview with a Lund University student newspaper, Andersdotter announced that if elected, she would consider donating part of her MEP salary to Attac, Ordfront, and Amnesty International.[1]
Political career
Andersdotter joined the Piratpartiet shortly after its formation in 2006. From June 2007 to March 2010 she was the international coordinator of Ung Pirat, the party's youth wing. In this capacity she coordinated contacts with other groups in Sweden, and other pirate political movements around the world, as well as the organization's international policy viewpoints.
In 2009 she was named the second candidate on Piratpartiet's list for the European Parliament elections in June of that year. While Piratpartiet did not gain enough votes for a second MEP under the treaty of Nice, they did get enough votes to award her a seat under the terms of the new treaty of Lisbon that was to come into effect December that year. Difficulties with the ratification process of the treaty of Lisbon meant that the seat would not be granted until December 2011.[2] She is now the youngest member of the European Parliament.[3]
In the intermittent period between her election and her inauguration she spent much time travelling to different parts of world talking about her experiences as a young politician and as an advocate of new ideas in information policy. Amongst others the Ars Electronica festival in Linz, Austria[4] and a visit to South Korea[5] in 2010, which later inspired her political involvement on the Korean peninsula delegation in the European Parliament. She also travelled extensively inside Europe during this time, involving herself in the work of Pirate Parties around Europe.
Since her inauguration, she has focused her efforts around information policy. She is a part of the Parliamentary Committee on Industry, Research and Energy (ITRE). She is also a substitute member of the Committee on International Trade (INTA) and the Committee on Budgetary Control (CONT). She also serves as a full member of the parliamentary delegation to the Korean peninsula, and a substitute member of the delegation for the Andean community.[6]
A longtime critic of the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement, her advice to reject it was carried by the ITRE committee, the first of parliamentary committees to propose a rejection of the agreement. Other committees soon followed in the rejection.[7] Ultimately the agreement was soundly rejected by the European Parliament.[8]
Other areas she's presently working on include a proposal for a recast of the Union's Re-use of Public Sector Information Directive where she has publicly criticized the Swedish government for resisting the proposed changes in access and cost regimes.[9] She is also a known supporter of public investments in fibre-to-the-home infrastructures.[10]
References
- ^ a b Ström, Viktor (1 June 2009). "Amelia 2.0". Lundagård (in Swedish).
- ^ "18 new MEPs to arrive next month". EUobserver. 14 November 2011. Retrieved 24 November 2011.
- ^ Ernesto (20 November 2011). "Pirate To Join European Parliament As Youngest Member". TorrentFreak. Retrieved 20 November 2011.
- ^ "Amelia Andersdotter: "Repair" democracy". 2010-09-17. Retrieved 2012-07-16.
- ^ "Illegal downloads? Refuse to accept copyright". gimsiyeon (in Korean). 2010-10-18. Retrieved 2012-07-16.
- ^ "Amelia ANDERSDOTTER". European Parliament. 1 December 2011. Retrieved 16 July 2012.
- ^ "Acta: Piracy treaty dealt critical blows in EU votes". BBC News. 31 May 2012. Retrieved 30 November 2012.
- ^ "European Parliament rejects ACTA". European Parliament. 2012-07-04. Retrieved 2012-07-16.
- ^ Andersdotter, Amelia (2012-06-05). "Sverige blockerar utvecklingen inom öppen data?" (in Swedish). DIK. Retrieved 2012-07-16.
{{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in:|publisher=(help) - ^ Bencze, Julien (2012-06-13). "Ambition required: pushing for faster internet". Retrieved 2012-07-16.
External links
- Stenskott Template:Sv icon, a public policy blog Andersdotter contributed to until January 2012.
- Official web site
Template:Members of the European Parliament 2009–2014
