Alice Bah Kuhnke

Alice Bah Kuhnke
MEP
Vice-Chair of the Group of the Greens/European Free Alliance
Incumbent
Assumed office
2 July 2019
Co-chairsSka Keller
Philippe Lamberts
Serving alongsideGwendoline Delbos-Corfield
Bas Eickhout
Terry Reintke
Molly Scott Cato
Alyn Smith
Ernest Urtasun
Member of the European Parliament
Incumbent
Assumed office
2 July 2019
ConstituencySweden
Minister for Culture and Democracy
In office
3 October 2014 – 21 January 2019
Prime MinisterStefan Löfven
Preceded byLena Adelsohn Liljeroth (Culture)
Birgitta Ohlsson (Democracy)
Succeeded byAmanda Lind
Personal details
Born
Alice Bah

(1971-12-21) 21 December 1971 (age 53)
Malmö, Sweden[1]
Political partyGreen Party
Spouses
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​
(m. 1998; div. 2002)​
​
​
(m. 2003; div. 2023)​
Children3
WebsiteAlice Bah Kuhnke (mp)

Alice Bah Kuhnke (née Bah; 21 December 1971) is a Swedish politician for the Green Party who is currently a Member of the European Parliament since 2019. Previously she served as the Minister of Culture and Democracy From October 2014 to January 2019. Before going into politics, she was a television presenter. She also helped found the think tank Sektor3.[2][3]

She was elected Member of the European Parliament in the 2019 European Parliament election in Sweden.[4]

Biography

Bah grew up in Horda in Jönköping, Sweden, the daughter of a Gambian father and a Swedish mother.[citation needed] She attended a track-and-field-oriented high school in Växjö and was one of the country's best female sprinters in the late 1980s, with the 200-meter dash her speciality.[5][6]

Television career

Bah's television career began with SVT's "Disney Club" in 1992. Between 1998 and 1999, she had her own talk show at TV4[7] and many other television assignments, including the current-event show "Kalla fakta".[8]

On 16 January 2001, She hosted the televised music festival Artister mot nazister in Globen.[9]

Private and public sector career

Alice Bah Kuhnke was Director General for the Swedish Agency for Youth and Civil Society 2013–2014.[10] She also worked as General Secretary for the NGO Fairtraide Sweden (Rättvisemärkt) 2004-2007[11] In September 2009, Bah took the position of manager of environmental quality and corporate social responsibility at ÅF.[12] Alongside that job, she served on the board of a small[13] internet design firm, Doberman.[14]

Political career

In 1994, Bah campaigned actively for her country to join the EU in a referendum.[15] After leaving television to study political science, she headed a philanthropic fund at the Swedish insurance company Skandia.[1]

Bah was a member of the Swedish Church synod from 2006 until 2010,[16] a member of the board of the Royal Dramatic Theatre,[17] and Vice President of YMCA-YWCA Sweden.[18]

On 3 October 2014, Bah was appointed Minister of Culture and Democracy in the Löfven Cabinet.[19] In addition to her role in government, she served as the Green Party's representative at the European Green Party from 2016.

Member of the European Parliament, (2019–present)

Alice Bah Kuhnke presenting herself in a video produced by Heinrich Böll Foundation/Green European Foundation.

In 2019, Bah stood down as minister to lead her party's list for the European elections.[15] In parliament, she has since been serving as deputy chairwoman of the Greens–European Free Alliance (Greens/EFA) group, under the leadership of co-chairs Ska Keller (2019–2022), Philippe Lamberts (2019–2024), Terry Reintke (since 2022) and Bas Eickhout (since 2024).[20][21] She also joined the Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs and the Committee on Women's Rights and Gender Equality.

In addition to her committee assignments, Bah is a member of the European Parliament Intergroup on Anti-Corruption,[22] the European Parliament Intergroup on Anti-Racism and Diversity,[23] the European Parliament Intergroup on LGBT Rights[24] and the European Parliament Intergroup on the Welfare and Conservation of Animals.[25]

In January 2022, she was the Greens/EFA candidate as a new President of the European Parliament.[26] She was not elected, having garnered only 101 votes in the first round.[27]

In September 2022, Bah was the recipient of the Environment and Climate Action Award at The Parliament Magazine's annual MEP Awards.[28] At the 2024 MEP Awards ceremony, Bah was one of twenty MEPs to be given a "Rising Star" award.[29]

Personal life

In her late teens, Bah was engaged for two years to long jump Olympic finalist and World Silver Medalist Mattias Sunneborn.[30] In 1998, she married TV personality Henrik Johnsson, from whom she was divorced in 2002.[31] The following year, she married actor and singer Johannes Kuhnke,[31] with whom she has three daughters.[30]

References

  1. ^ a b "Cv Alice Bah Kuhnke". Regeringskansliet. 8 October 2014. Archived from the original on 1 May 2016.
  2. ^ Cecilia Jacobsson (3 November 2008). "Nu går hon in i en helt ny sektor" (in Swedish). DN.se. Retrieved 5 April 2010.
  3. ^ Andersson, Elisabet (3 October 2014). "Alice Bah Kuhnke (MP) är ny kulturminister". Svenska Dagbladet. Archived from the original on 4 October 2014. Retrieved 5 October 2014.
  4. ^ Final results from European Parliament elections in Sweden Archived 21 September 2019 at the Wayback Machine Read 2019-05-31 (in Swedish)
  5. ^ Sverige-bästa 1986, Svenska Friidrottsförbundets officiella friidrottsstatistik (Sweden's best 1986 – official statistics of the Swedish Athletics Federation) (in Swedish). CEWE-förlaget. 1987.
  6. ^ Sverige-bästa 1988, Svenska Friidrottsförbundets officiella friidrottsstatistik (Sweden's best 1988 – official statistics of the Swedish Athletics Federation) (in Swedish). CEWE-förlaget. 1989.
  7. ^ "Alice Bah Kuhnke - Värnamo kommun". Varnamo.se. 9 March 2008. Archived from the original on 21 August 2010. Retrieved 5 April 2010.
  8. ^ "Alice Bah Kuhnke: "Studierna gjorde att jag slapp jobba med TV"". Archived from the original on 6 October 2014. Retrieved 5 October 2014.
  9. ^ "Hela Sverige : artister mot nazister | Svensk mediedatabas (SMDB)". smdb.kb.se. Archived from the original on 19 January 2022. Retrieved 19 January 2022.
  10. ^ "Alice Bah Kuhnke ny ledare för Ungdomsstyrelsen". Dagen (in Swedish). 23 May 2013. Archived from the original on 18 January 2022. Retrieved 12 January 2022.
  11. ^ "Alice Bah sätter fart på Rättvisemärkt". kollega.se (in Swedish). 29 September 2004. Archived from the original on 18 January 2022. Retrieved 12 January 2022.
  12. ^ "ÅF recruits Alice Bah Kuhnke as VP Sustainability & CSR" (Press release). Ad Hoc News. 29 April 2009. Archived from the original on 21 December 2016. Retrieved 5 April 2010.
  13. ^ "Doberman on Agency Spotter". Agency Spotter. Archived from the original on 20 December 2016. Retrieved 11 December 2016.
  14. ^ "Resumé: Alice Bah till Doberman". Archived from the original on 6 October 2014. Retrieved 5 October 2014.
  15. ^ a b Charlie Duxbury (May 23, 2019), Big names aim to swap national politics for EU career Archived 25 May 2019 at the Wayback Machine Politico Europe.
  16. ^ "Val till Kyrkomöte - valresultat". Archived from the original on 22 September 2013. Retrieved 5 October 2014.
  17. ^ "Dramaten". Dramatens blogg. Archived from the original on 20 June 2010.
  18. ^ "KFUM Sverige". kfuk-kfum.se. Archived from the original on 31 January 2016. Retrieved 24 January 2016.
  19. ^ "Alice Bah Kuhnke ny kulturminister". DN.SE. 3 October 2014. Archived from the original on 5 October 2014. Retrieved 5 October 2014.
  20. ^ Greens/EFA group positions elected Archived 15 June 2019 at the Wayback Machine Greens–European Free Alliance (Greens/EFA), press release of June 12, 2019.
  21. ^ Greens/EFA Group elects bureau Greens–European Free Alliance (Greens/EFA), press release of 25 June 2024.
  22. ^ Intergroup on Anti-Corruption Archived 15 December 2022 at the Wayback Machine European Parliament.
  23. ^ Intergroup on Anti-Racism and Diversity Archived 5 November 2022 at the Wayback Machine European Parliament.
  24. ^ Members Archived 14 May 2020 at the Wayback Machine European Parliament Intergroup on LGBTI Rights.
  25. ^ Members Archived 31 August 2019 at the Wayback Machine European Parliament Intergroup on the Welfare and Conservation of Animals.
  26. ^ "alice bah kuhnke kandidat talman - Bing". www.bing.com. Archived from the original on 18 January 2022. Retrieved 12 January 2022.
  27. ^ "Roberta Metsola elected new President of the European Parliament | News | European Parliament". www.europarl.europa.eu. 18 January 2022. Archived from the original on 19 January 2022. Retrieved 18 January 2022.
  28. ^ "MEP Awards: Winners 2022". The Parliament Magazine. 21 September 2022. Archived from the original on 24 August 2023. Retrieved 24 August 2023.
  29. ^ "MEP Awards 2024 - The Rising Stars". The Parliament Magazine. 21 March 2024. Archived from the original on 26 March 2024. Retrieved 26 March 2024.
  30. ^ a b "Sunneborns okända förlovning – med Alice Bah Kuhnke". Expressen. 3 June 2018. Archived from the original on 12 June 2018. Retrieved 9 September 2018.
  31. ^ a b "Alice Bah har gift sig - med skådis". Aftonbladet (in Swedish). 5 August 2003. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 11 June 2016.
Political offices
Preceded by Minister for Culture
2014–2019 		Succeeded by
Preceded by Minister for Democracy
2014–2019 		Succeeded by