Sara Skyttedal

Sara Skyttedal
Skyttedal in November 2016
Member of the European Parliament
In office
2 July 2019 – 16 July 2024
ConstituencySweden
Personal details
Born
Sara Magdalena Skyttedal

(1986-08-06) 6 August 1986 (age 38)
Tyresö, Sweden
Political partyFolklistan (2024)
Other political
affiliations		Christian Democrats
(2002–2024)
Independent (2024)
Children2
Alma materStockholm University

Sara Magdalena Skyttedal (born 6 August 1986) is a Swedish politician previously of the Christian Democrats party. She was Member of the European Parliament from 2019 to 2024.[1]

Between 2013 and 2016, she chaired the Young Christian Democrats. From 2016 to 2019, she was a municipal commissioner for Linköping.

Early life and education

Skyttedal studied political science, political economy and history science at Stockholm University.[2] She has also studied rhetoric, Swedish language and law.[3] Skyttedal participated in the beauty pageant Miss Sweden in 2006,[4] where she made the Top 15 in the final. It was her fiancé who had sent in an application for her to compete.[5]

Political career

Career in national politics

Christian Democrats

In September 2002, Skyttedal became a member of the Young Christian Democrats.[6] Since then, she was chairperson of the Haninge constituance for the party, and district group ombudsman in the municipality of Stockholm.[5] She was also district director for the Christian Democrats for Stockholm and vice chairperson for the party in Haninge.[7]

Skyttedal has a background in municipality politics for Haninge; until 2010 she was first vice chairperson on the adult education and high school board, as well as juryman in Södertörn's court.[8]

At the 2010 general elections in Sweden, she was a replacement at the Haninge City council, a job she was released from in early 2011 when she moved from the municipality.[6] At the 2009 and 2014 elections for the European parliament, Skyttedal was a candidate for her party.[9][10] At the 2010 general elections she became candidate for the municipality elections in Stockholm.[11] She has also resided in Växjö and was part of the 2014 general election for the Kronoberg constituency.[6]

Skyttedal was the chairperson of Young Christian Democrats since 11 May 2013 and a member of the Christian Democrats party executive board. She was previously first vice chairperson for the Young Christian Democrats.[12] From May 2011 to May 2015, she was the vice chairperson for the Youth of the European People's Party (YEPP).[13]

In October 2015, Skyttedal became the pivotal factor in the Christian Democrats' decision to pull out of the controversial December Agreement.[14][15]

In July 2016, Skyttedal announced that she would resign as chairperson for the Young Christian Democrats at the next meeting, to be held in late 2016.[7][16] On 8 September 2016, she announced that she had gained the office of municipal commissioner in Linköping.[17] In the campaign for the September 2018 election for Linköping city hall, she made her party stand out as the most eager to lower municipal tax,[18] and gained 7.5% of the votes, which – compared to 4.8% in the 2014 election – was the largest increase of any party.[19]

In December 2022, Skyttedal wrote a debate article in which she advocates decriminalization of drug use and legalization of cannabis.[20] She later said that she herself had used cannabis on "a handful of occasions" in countries where it was legal.[21] These statements were controversial within the Christian Democrats and led to criticism from party leader Ebba Busch.[22][23][24]

Skyttedal was excluded from the Christian Democrats on 19 January 2024 after having offered to be a candidate for the Sweden Democrats party in the 2024 European Parliament election.[25][26] She was replaced by Alice Teodorescu Måwe.[27] Skyttedal ultimately left the Christian Democrats on 15 February.[28]

Founding of Folklistan (The People's List)

On 8 April 2024, Skyttedal and former Social Democratic politician and healthcare entrepreneur Jan Emanuel, founded Folklistan (The People's List), with the intention of running candidates for the upcoming 2024 European Parliament elections.[29]

Member of the European Parliament, 2019–2024

In 2018, Skyttedal was elected as the Christian Democrats’ leading candidate for the 2019 European elections.[30] Since becoming a Member of the European Parliament, she has been serving on the Committee on Industry, Research and Energy. In this capacity, she has been leading the committee's work on reforming the European Union Emissions Trading System since 2021.[31]

In addition to her committee assignments, Skyttedal has been part of the Parliament's delegation to the Conference on the Future of Europe since 2021.[32]

Personal life

Skyttedal is a practising Catholic.[33]

In May 2024 Skyttedal revealed that she has tried psychedelic mushrooms where it was legal, but did not experience any significant effects. Skyttedal believes in the potential health benefits of psychedelic mushrooms but maintains that they should not be freely available for recreational use.[34]

See also

References

  1. ^ "Final results from European Parliament elections in Sweden" (in Swedish). Archived from the original on 21 September 2019. Retrieved 31 May 2019.
  2. ^ "Sara Skyttedal vill ge Sverige en rak höger". Dagen (in Swedish). 16 July 2015. Retrieved 8 September 2016.
  3. ^ "Sara Skyttedal vill ge sverige en rak höger". Dagen (in Swedish). 16 July 2015. Retrieved 8 September 2016.
  4. ^ Ingen, Ingen (20 March 2006). "Växjö tjej vidare i Nya fröken Sverige". Smålandsposten (in Swedish). Archived from the original on 16 September 2016. Retrieved 8 September 2016.
  5. ^ a b "Sara Skyttedal: KD måste komma ut som äkta höger". Dagens Nyheter (in Swedish). 27 May 2016. Archived from the original on 2 September 2016. Retrieved 8 September 2016.
  6. ^ a b c "Sara Skyttedal utsatt för sabotage i Växjö". Expressen (in Swedish). 14 September 2014. Archived from the original on 17 February 2017. Retrieved 8 September 2016.
  7. ^ a b "KDU-ordföranden Sara Skyttedal avgår". Aftonbladet (in Swedish). 26 July 2016. Archived from the original on 1 September 2016. Retrieved 8 September 2016.
  8. ^ "Kommunorganisation" (PDF) (in Swedish). Haninge Municipality. 19 May 2010. Archived from the original (PDF) on 24 November 2010.
  9. ^ "Personröster" (in Swedish). Valmyndigheten. 2009. Archived from the original on 8 June 2009. Retrieved 8 September 2016.
  10. ^ Skyttedal, Sara (29 October 2013). "Debattartikel: Låt effektivitet bli en ny ledstjärna för EU" (in Swedish). Sveriges Television. Archived from the original on 11 September 2016. Retrieved 8 September 2016.
  11. ^ "Stockholms län - Personröster" (in Swedish). Election Authority. 2010. Archived from the original on 3 March 2016. Retrieved 8 September 2016.
  12. ^ "Partistyrelsen" (Press release) (in Swedish). Christian Democrats. Archived from the original on 3 April 2012.
  13. ^ "Sara Skyttedal vald till vice ordförande i Yepp" (Press release) (in Swedish). Kristdemokratiska Ungdomsförbundet. Archived from the original on 16 October 2011.
  14. ^ "Fears deal collapse could spark Swedish vote". The Local. 9 October 2015. Archived from the original on 18 October 2016. Retrieved 16 October 2016.
  15. ^ "Christian Democrats reject December Agreement". Sveriges Radio. 9 October 2015. Archived from the original on 18 October 2016. Retrieved 16 October 2016.
  16. ^ Lundgren, Rasmus (26 July 2016). "Sara Skyttedal slutar som KDU-ordförande". Svenska Dagbladet (in Swedish). Archived from the original on 16 August 2016. Retrieved 8 September 2016.
  17. ^ "Skyttedal om nya uppdraget: Uppenbart inte någon expert". Aftonbladet (in Swedish). 7 September 2016. Archived from the original on 8 September 2016. Retrieved 8 September 2016.
  18. ^ KD vill sänka skatten med en krona Archived 8 June 2019 at the Wayback Machine, Östgöta Correspondenten, 8 June 2017.
  19. ^ Skyttedaleffekt hos väljarna Archived 8 June 2019 at the Wayback Machine, Östgöta Correspondenten, 10 September 2018.
  20. ^ Wahlund, Isak (10 December 2022). "KD-toppen vill legalisera cannabis: "Har ändrat mig"". SVT Nyheter. Sveriges Television. Archived from the original on 8 April 2024. Retrieved 8 April 2024.
  21. ^ Nilsson, Mimmi (2 February 2023). "Skyttedal har använt cannabis: "Har haft mina personliga skäl"". SVT Nyheter. Archived from the original on 1 June 2024. Retrieved 2 February 2023.
  22. ^ Bergström, Ebba (15 April 2023). "Sara Skyttedal lovar att lämna drogerna ifred". Göteborgs-Posten. Archived from the original on 8 April 2024. Retrieved 8 April 2024.
  23. ^ Golster, Moa & Jönsson, Nils (21 March 2023). "Ebba Busch kritiserar Sara Skyttedal efter narkotikauttalande". SVT Nyheter. Sveriges Television. Archived from the original on 8 April 2024. Retrieved 8 April 2024.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  24. ^ Wahlund, Isak (10 December 2022). "KD-toppen vill legalisera cannabis: "Har ändrat mig"". SVT Nyheter. Sveriges Television. Archived from the original on 8 April 2024. Retrieved 8 April 2024.
  25. ^ "Sara Skyttedal petas från KD – Alice Teodorescu Måwe nytt toppnamn på EU-listan". SVT Nyheter (in Swedish). 19 January 2024. Archived from the original on 20 January 2024. Retrieved 22 January 2024.
  26. ^ Nordenskiöld, Tomas; Holmqvist, Anette (22 January 2024). "Åkessons sms till Busch som fällde Sara Skyttedal". Expressen (in Swedish). Archived from the original on 22 January 2024. Retrieved 22 January 2024.
  27. ^ "SD-kontakter fällde Skyttedal – ersätts av Teodorescu". Dagens Nyheter (in Swedish). 19 January 2024. Archived from the original on 24 January 2024. Retrieved 24 January 2024.
  28. ^ Hyttnäs Telin, Axel (15 February 2024). "Sara Skyttedal lämnar KD och blir vilde – litar inte på Ebba Busch". Altinget (in Swedish). Archived from the original on 2 March 2024. Retrieved 2 March 2024.
  29. ^ Nordenskiöld, Tomas; Holmqvist, Anette (2 April 2024). "Skyttedals drag – startar nytt parti". www.expressen.se (in Swedish). Archived from the original on 2 April 2024. Retrieved 2 April 2024.
  30. ^ Johan Ahlander; Simon Johnson (18 January 2019). "Braving outrage, Swedish liberal Loof dumps partners to block populists". Reuters. Archived from the original on 8 June 2019.
  31. ^ Ewa Krukowska (17 September 2021). "Christian Democrats Choose Key Lawmakers on EU Carbon Reform". Bloomberg News. Archived from the original on 10 October 2021. Retrieved 10 October 2021.
  32. ^ Members of the delegation to the Conference on the Future of Europe Archived 10 June 2021 at the Wayback Machine European Parliament.
  33. ^ "Skyttedal siktar på EU-parlamentet". Corren. 2 May 2019. Archived from the original on 3 May 2019.
  34. ^ "Sara Skyttedal: "Jag har testat psykedelisk svamp"". www.aftonbladet.se (in Swedish). 15 May 2024. Archived from the original on 15 May 2024. Retrieved 15 May 2024.

Media related to Sara Skyttedal at Wikimedia Commons