Kira Marie Peter-Hansen (born 23 February 1998) is a Danish politician. She is a Socialist People's Party (part of the Greens–European Free Alliance group)

Member of the European Parliament A Member of the European Parliament (MEP) is a person who has been elected to serve as a popular representative in the European Parliament. When the European Parliament (then known as the Common Assembly of the ECSC) first met in 1952, its ...

(MEP) elected in the 2019 European parliamentary election. Peter-Hansen is the youngest ever MEP.

Early life

Kira Marie Peter-Hansen was born on 23 February 1998 in

Frederiksberg Frederiksberg () is a part of the Capital Region of Denmark. It is formally an independent municipality, Frederiksberg Municipality, separate from Copenhagen Municipality, but both are a part of the City of Copenhagen. It occupies an area of ...

, Capital Region of Denmark. She grew up in Værløse,

Furesø Municipality Furesø could refer to: * Furesø municipality, Denmark * Furesø (lake) Furesø is a lake in Northeastern Zealand, Denmark and the deepest lake in Denmark. It defined Farum municipality's southeast border and is the site of Nicolai Eigtved's 1 ...

. Peter-Hansen joined the youth wing of the Socialist People's Party, the

Youth of the Socialist People's Party Socialistisk Folkepartis Ungdom (Popular Socialist Youth of Denmark) is the youth wing of the Green Left of Denmark, founded in 1969. In 1995, the leftist section of the SFU (essentially the Copenhagen Copenhagen ( or .; da, Københ ...

in 2015. Peter-Hansen is a financial officer in the organisation. The party is

left-wing Left-wing politics describes the range of political ideologies that support and seek to achieve social equality and egalitarianism, often in opposition to social hierarchy. Left-wing politics typically involve a concern for those in soci ...

socialist Socialism is a left-wing economic philosophy and movement encompassing a range of economic systems characterized by the dominance of social ownership of the means of production as opposed to private ownership. As a term, it describes the ...

, and supports green policy. Prior to her political career, she also worked as a

barista A barista (; ; from the Italian/Spanish for "bartender") is a person, usually a coffeehouse employee, who prepares and serves espresso-based coffee drinks. Etymology and inflection The word ''barista'' comes from Italian where it means a male ...

. Peter-Hansen was the campaign manager for Astrid Aller's successful election as Copenhagen councillor in the 2017 Danish local elections.

European Parliament

Danish politician

Karsten Hønge Karsten Hønge (born 25 September 1958 in Nykøbing Mors) is a Danish politician, who is member of the Folketing for the Socialist People's Party. Karsten Hønge is one of few people who has both been elected to city councils, county councils, ...

stood as a candidate for the Socialist People's Party in the 2019 European parliamentary election. He was second on the party's list, and was elected as one of its two MEPs (the other being Margrete Auken) in

Denmark ) , song = ( en, "King Christian stood by the lofty mast") , song_type = National and royal anthem , image_map = EU-Denmark.svg , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of Denmark , establish ...

. However he chose not to take his seat to seek re-election in the

2019 Danish general election General elections were held in the Kingdom of Denmark on 5 June 2019 to elect all 179 members of the Folketing; 175 in Denmark proper, two in the Faroe Islands and two in Greenland. The elections took place ten days after the European Parliament ...

. Peter-Hansen was nominated to become an MEP, in his place, as she had received the next highest number of votes of any of the party's candidates. At the age of 21 years, 3 months, and 3 days, she is the youngest ever MEP. The previous youngest was the German politician Ilka Schröder who was one month older when she was elected as an Alliance 90/The Greens MEP in the 1999 European parliamentary election. In order to concentrate on her political career, Peter-Hansen

dropped out Dropping out refers to leaving high school, college, university or another group for practical reasons, necessities, inability, apathy, or disillusionment with the system from which the individual in question leaves. Canada In Canada, most ind ...

of her economics course at

Copenhagen University The University of Copenhagen ( da, Københavns Universitet, KU) is a prestigious public research university in Copenhagen, Denmark. Founded in 1479, the University of Copenhagen is the second-oldest university in Scandinavia after Uppsala Unive ...

. In the

European Parliament The European Parliament (EP) is one of the legislative bodies of the European Union and one of its seven institutions. Together with the Council of the European Union (known as the Council and informally as the Council of Ministers), it adopts ...

, Peter-Hansen is a member of the

Committee on Employment and Social Affairs The Committee on Employment and Social Affairs (EMPL) is a committee of the European Parliament. It is responsible for issues of employment and social policy, including labour rights, social security, inclusion, free movement for workers and pensio ...

, in which she serves as coordinator for the Greens, and a substitute member of the

Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs The Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs (ECON) is a committee of the European Parliament which is responsible for the regulation of financial services, the free movement of capital and payments, taxation and competition policies, oversight ...

. In 2020, she also joined the Subcommittee on Tax Matters. In addition to her committee assignments, Peter-Hansen is part of the parliament's delegation for relations with India. She is also a member of the

European Parliament Intergroup on LGBT Rights The European Parliament Intergroup on LGBTI Rights is an intergroup of the European Parliament's legislators which focuses on the rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex (LGBTI) persons both inside and outside the European Union ...

and the European Parliament Intergroup on Trade Unions. Since 2021, Peter-Hansen has been serving as vice-chair of the Greens–European Free Alliance group, under the leadership of co-chairs

Ska Keller Franziska Maria "Ska" Keller (; born 22 November 1981) is a German politician and member of the European Parliament for the Germany constituency. She is a member of the Alliance 90/The Greens, part of the European Green Party. She is co-presiden ...

and

Philippe Lamberts Philippe Lamberts (born 14 March 1963) is a Belgian politician serving as a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) since 2009. He is a member of Ecolo, within the Greens–European Free Alliance. Education and early career Lamberts graduated as ...

Political positions

Peter-Hansen has described her main priorities in parliament to be to promote environmentally friendly policy, and to renegotiate the

Common Agricultural Policy The Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) is the agricultural policy of the European Union. It implements a system of agricultural subsidies and other programmes. It was introduced in 1962 and has since then undergone several changes to reduce the ...

. Peter-Hansen also advocates for

LGBT rights Rights affecting lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender ( LGBT) people vary greatly by country or jurisdiction—encompassing everything from the legal recognition of same-sex marriage to the death penalty for homosexuality. Notably, ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Peter-Hansen, Kira Marie 1998 births Living people MEPs for Denmark 2019–2024 21st-century women MEPs for Denmark Socialist People's Party (Denmark) MEPs People from Furesø Municipality