Morten Messerschmidt

Morten Messerschmidt (born 13 November 1980) is a Danish politician and previous Member of the European Parliament (MEP) from Denmark. He is a member of the Folketing and chairman of the Danish People's Party. He was elected into the Danish parliament at the 2019 Danish general election, having previously served from 2005 to 2009.[1]

Morten Messerschmidt
MP
Member of the European Parliament
In office
1 July 2009 – 30 June 2019
ConstituencyDenmark
Member of the Folketing
Assumed office
5 June 2019
ConstituencyNorth Zealand
In office
8 February 2005 – 18 June 2009
ConstituencyEast Jutland (2007—2009)
Aarhus (2005—2007)
Leader of the Danish People's Party
Assumed office
23 January 2022
Personal details
Born (1980-11-13) 13 November 1980
Frederikssund, Denmark
Political partyDanish People's Party
Spouse(s)Dot Wessmann
Alma materUniversity of Copenhagen

Political career

Before taking his seat in the European Parliament, Messerschmidt was a member of the Danish parliament (Danish: Folketinget) from 8 February 2005, having won his seat with 3,812 personal votes,[2] and reelected in 2007, this time getting 11,466 votes. For a short period of time in 2007, he left the Danish People's Party, due to accusations of nazism, as he according to the tabloid newspaper B.T. had praised Adolf Hitler in Tivoli.[3]

In 2009 he was elected to the European Parliament, winning his seat in a landslide in the 2009 elections with 284,500 personal votes,[4] and in 2014 he was reelected with 465,758 personal votes.[5] From 2014 to 2016, he was the group leader of the party, until his resignation in August 2016. On 1 March 2018 Messerschmidt was one of three Danish MEPs who voted against a motion to encourage national parliaments to ban "gay conversion therapies".[6] In 2019, he was elected to the Folketing with 7,554 personal votes, and in 2020 became vice chairman of the DPP, replacing Søren Espersen.[7]

Messerschmidt was convicted in 2002 for publishing material that attempted to link Islamic societies to rape, violence and forced marriages.[8]

Fraud scandal

In August 2016, Messerschmidt resigned as EU parliament group leader for the DPP, as a result of a scandal involving the related foundations FELD and MELD that he had managed. OLAF launched an investigation into misuse of EU funds, and Messerschmidt was reported to the police for identity theft by MEP Rikke Karlsson, who had left the DPP in 2015 in protest against Messerschmidt's alleged withholding of information about the foundations. Karlsson and then-fellow DPP MEP Jørn Dormann had been elected to the board of MELD without their knowledge. Ekstra Bladet was nominated for a European Press Prize for investigative reporting in 2017 for their coverage of the scandal.[9] In 2021, he was charged with misuse of 98.000 DKK in EU funds.[10] On August 13, 2021, he was sentenced to 6 months of conditional prison, but The High Court of Eastern Denmark annulled the verdict in December 2021.[11]

Personal life

In 2021, Messerschmidt became legal guardian of his sister's children, after his sister was murdered.[12]

Bibliography
  • Den kristne arv (2021)
  • Farvel til folkestyret: hvordan EU ødelægger frihed, folk og folkestyre - og hvad vi kan gøre ved det (2020)
  • Overlad det trygt til Bruxelles – Debat om EU (2015, co-author)
  • Intet over og intet ved siden af ... ‒ EU-Domstolen og dens aktivisme (2013)

References
  1. "Morten Messerschmidt (DF)". Ft.dk. Retrieved 16 August 2021.
  2. "Afstemningsresultater FV-2005" (in Danish). Im.dk. Archived from the original on June 11, 2009. Retrieved 2010-07-13.
  3. "Hyldede Hitler i Tivoli". Bt.dk. Retrieved 16 August 2021.
  4. "Personlige stemmer ved Europa-Parlamentsvalget 7. juni 2009" (PDF). Dst.dk. Retrieved 16 August 2021.
  5. "Messerschmidt alene var i 2014 større end DF i 2019" (in Danish). TV2. Retrieved 2019-05-27.
  6. "Situation of fundamental rights in the EU in 2016". Archived from the original on 2020-11-12. Retrieved 16 August 2021.
  7. "Messerschmidt ny næstformand i Dansk Folkeparti". Dr.dk. Retrieved 16 August 2021.
  8. Barker, Alex (4 June 2014). "MEPs with criminal records join Tories' eurosceptic group". Financial Times. Retrieved 25 June 2014.
  9. "European Press Prize 2017 nomination". European Press Prize. Retrieved 2018-12-04.
  10. "Morten Messerschmidt bliver tiltalt af Bagmandspolitiet for dokumentfalsk". Dr.dk. Retrieved 16 August 2021.
  11. "Messerschmidt dømt for svig med EU-støtte - anker dommen på stedet". Nyheder.tv2.dk. Retrieved 16 August 2021.
  12. "Morten Messerschmidt bliver værge til søsters børn: - Børnene varmer midt i tragedien". Nyheder.tv2.dk. Retrieved 16 August 2021.


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