Mattias Tesfaye (born 31 March 1981 in Aarhus) is a Danish politician serving as Minister for Education and Children since 2022. He was previously Minister for Justice from February to December 2022 and Minister for Immigration and Integration from 2019 to 2022, and has been member of the

Folketing The Folketing ( da, Folketinget, ; ), also known as the Parliament of Denmark or the Danish Parliament in English, is the unicameral national legislature (parliament) of the Kingdom of Denmark—Denmark proper together with the Faroe Islands ...

since the

2015 Danish general election General elections were held in the Kingdom of Denmark on 18 June 2015 to elect the 179 members of the Folketing. 175 members were elected in the Denmark proper, two in the Faroe Islands and two in Greenland. Although the ruling Social Democrats ...

as a member of the

Social Democrats Social democracy is a political, social, and economic philosophy within socialism that supports political and economic democracy. As a policy regime, it is described by academics as advocating economic and social interventions to promote so ...

Background

He was born in Aarhus in 1981 to Tesfaye Momo (an

Ethiopia Ethiopia, , om, Itiyoophiyaa, so, Itoobiya, ti, ኢትዮጵያ, Ítiyop'iya, aa, Itiyoppiya officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a landlocked country in the Horn of Africa. It shares borders with Eritrea to the ...

n refugee) and Jytte Svensson, and is currently married to Signe Hagel Andersen. The couple has two children.

Political career

Before he joined the

in 2015 Tesfaye was a prominent member and former vice chairman of the Socialist People's Party. He has also previously been a member of both the

Red–Green Alliance In politics, a red–green alliance or red–green coalition is an alliance of "red" (often social-democratic or democratic socialist) parties with "green" (often green and/or occasionally agrarian) parties. The alliance is often based on commo ...

and the now defunct

Communist Party of Denmark/Marxist–Leninists The Communist Party of Denmark/Marxist–Leninists ( da, Danmarks Kommunistiske Parti/Marxister-Leninister, ''DKP/ML'') was a political party in Denmark, that advocated revolutionary communism. The party was established in 1978 from the merger of ...

. He was elected member of

Folketinget The Folketing ( da, Folketinget, ; ), also known as the Parliament of Denmark or the Danish Parliament in English, is the unicameral national legislature (parliament) of the Kingdom of Denmark—Denmark proper together with the Faroe Islands an ...

for the

in 2015. Tesfayer was appointed Minister for Immigration and Integration in the

Frederiksen Cabinet Frederiksen Cabinet may refer to the following cabinets of Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen: * Frederiksen I Cabinet (2019-Dec 2022) * Frederiksen II Cabinet (Dec 2022-present) {{disambiguation ...

on 27 June 2019. Under his leadership, Denmark’s government approached countries both in and outside the European Union about a potential asylum deal, including Tunisia and Ethiopia. Denmark also signed a diplomatic agreement with Rwanda on asylum and political matters.Nikolaj Skydsgaard and Terje Solsvik (20 April 2022)
Denmark in talks with Rwanda on transfer of asylum-seekers
''

Reuters Reuters ( ) is a news agency owned by Thomson Reuters Corporation. It employs around 2,500 journalists and 600 photojournalists in about 200 locations worldwide. Reuters is one of the largest news agencies in the world. The agency was esta ...

''.

Political positions

On the right for asylum, Tesfaye has a very restrictive position, setting the goal of having "no asylum seekers any more at all". The Social Democrats in Denmark push for stricter immigration laws, and the party talks about certain neighbourhoods as "ghettos" based on set jobless quotas, above-average criminality, lower-than-average levels of education and income, and the presence of people with non-Western backgrounds.

References

External links

Biography on the website of the Danish Parliament (Folketinget)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Tesfaye, Mattias People from Aarhus 1981 births Living people Government ministers of Denmark Social Democrats (Denmark) politicians Danish people of Ethiopian descent Members of the Folketing 2015–2019 Members of the Folketing 2019–2022