Peter Lundgren (politician)

Peter Lundgren
MEP
Lundgren in 2014
Vice-chair of the European Conservatives and Reformists
In office
2 July 2019 – 4 April 2022
Succeeded byCharlie Weimers
Co-chairs
Serving alongside
Member of the European Parliament
In office
14 July 2014 – 16 July 2024
ConstituencySweden
Personal details
Born
Kent Peter Lundgren

(1963-02-02) 2 February 1963 (age 61)
Bjuv, Sweden
Political partyIndependent (2019-)
Other political
affiliations		Sweden Democrats

Kent Peter Lundgren (born 2 February 1963) is a Swedish politician who was Member of the European Parliament (MEP), from Sweden, from 2014 to 2024.[1] He was a member of the Sweden Democrats, part of European Conservatives and Reformists.[2]

Lundgren was elected as Member of the European Parliament (MEP) in the May 2014 European Parliament election in Sweden. He was re-elected Member of the European Parliament in the 2019 European Parliament election in Sweden. In 2022, he left the Sweden Democrats in response to sexual misconduct allegations.[3]

Career

Lundgren is a former truck driver. He has been a member of the executive board of the Sweden Democrats since November 2013. Lundgren was launched as one of his party's top candidates to the European Parliament on 27 January 2014. On 25 May 2014, Lundgren and Kristina Winberg became the first representatives of the Sweden Democrats to be elected Members of the European Parliament.[4][5][6][7]

In 2015, Lundgren was one of the nominees for the Parliament Magazine award as the best EU parliamentarian in the transport section.[8][9] This was the very first nominee from the EFDD group. Lundgren did not win the award but said he was happy to be nominated.[10]

Following his re-election to the European Parliament in 2019, Lundgren was elected one of six Vice-Chairs of the European Conservatives and Reformists Group.[11]

Sexual assault controversy

In March 2018, Lundgren was accused of groping a female colleague at a Sweden Democrats party event in Stockholm. In 2019, ahead of the 2019 European Parliament election in Sweden, Kristina Winberg, an MEP for the same party, was dropped from the party's ballot and later forced to leave the party on grounds of having "conspired to smear party colleagues with the help of the media" after Lundgren was confronted by an Expressen journalist over the allegations.[12] Lundgren remained a candidate and was re-elected.[13] In November 2021, the Göta Court of Appeal convicted him for the sexual assault, finding that it was "beyond a reasonable doubt" that he had "touched the breasts of the plaintiff against her will."[14] He was sentenced to pay a 60-day fine.[15]

In March 2022, the Swedish Supreme Court announced that it would not grant leave to appeal to Lundgren for him to work as an MEP. In response, it was announced that Lundgren would no longer represent the Sweden Democrats in Brussels over the conviction but would continue to sit in the European Parliament as an independent while keeping his party membership. Lundgren also stated he would contest the verdict at the European Court of Justice, arguing that he had been wrongly convicted.[16]

Personal life

He lives in Kulltorp and was member of the city council in Gnosjö Municipality until his election to the European Parliament in 2014.[17]

References

  1. ^ "Home | Peter LUNDGREN | MEPs | European Parliament". www.europarl.europa.eu. Retrieved 2 January 2022.
  2. ^ "SD-kandidat: Jag vill avveckla EU" (in Swedish). europaportalen.se. 31 March 2014. Retrieved 26 May 2014.
  3. ^ Final results from European Parliament elections in Sweden Archived 21 September 2019 at the Wayback Machine Read 2019-05-31 (in Swedish)
  4. ^ Högström, Erik; Baas, David; Julander, Oscar (25 May 2014). "Succé för SD – tar plats i parlamentet | Val 2014". Expressen (in Swedish). Retrieved 26 May 2014.
  5. ^ "Både Lundgren och Winberg till Bryssel" (in Swedish). Sveriges Radio. 25 April 2014.
  6. ^ Duxbury, Charles (25 May 2014). "Top Two Swedish Parties Lose Ground in European Vote". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 26 May 2014.
  7. ^ "EXTRA Sweden Democrats win two of Sweden's 20 seats". europeonline-magazine.eu. Retrieved 26 May 2014.
  8. ^ "Två svenskar nominerade som bästa EU-parlamentariker". 2 February 2015. Retrieved 4 July 2017.
  9. ^ "Shortlist - MEP Awards". 13 April 2015. Archived from the original on 13 April 2015. Retrieved 4 July 2017.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
  10. ^ Lindholm, Emilia (19 March 2015). "Ingen vinst för Lundgren (SD)". vn.se. Archived from the original on 17 July 2015. Retrieved 4 July 2017.
  11. ^ Peter Lundgren at European Parliament website 2019-07-06
  12. ^ "Sweden Democrats oust MEP candidate just days before EU election". The Local Sweden. 20 May 2019. Retrieved 23 November 2021.
  13. ^ Amorelli, Elisa (20 May 2019). "Peter Lundgren sexually assaulted – allowed to remain a candidate". Svenska Dagbladet (in Swedish). Retrieved 10 July 2019.
  14. ^ Renulf, Kristin (22 November 2021). "Peter Lundgren (SD) döms för sexuellt ofredande". SVT Nyheter.
  15. ^ "Sweden Democrat MEP convicted of sexual assault". The Local Sweden. 22 November 2021. Retrieved 23 November 2021.
  16. ^ "Peter Lundgren lämnar SD efter dom". SVT Nyheter. 18 March 2022. Retrieved 18 March 2022.
  17. ^ Lindholm, Emilia (27 January 2014). "Peter Lundgren kandiderar till Europaparlamentet". Värnamo Nyheter (in Swedish). Retrieved 26 May 2014.