Meris Šehović (born 14 September 1991 in

Belgrade Belgrade ( , ;, ; Names of European cities in different languages: B, names in other languages) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Serbia, largest city in Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers a ...

) is a

Luxembourgish Luxembourgish ( ; also ''Luxemburgish'', ''Luxembourgian'', ''Letzebu(e)rgesch''; Luxembourgish: ) is a West Germanic language that is spoken mainly in Luxembourg. About 400,000 people speak Luxembourgish worldwide. As a standard form of th ...

politician and political scientist. Since 9 July 2020, he has been co-chairman of the Green Party () with

Djuna Bernard Djuna Bernard (born 15 June 1992) is a Luxembourgers, Luxembourger politician and member of the The Greens (Luxembourg), Luxembourg's Green Party, Déi Gréng. She has been a member of the Chamber of Deputies (Luxembourg), Chamber of Deputies sinc ...

. From 2017 to 2020, he was spokesman of , the political youth movement of the Green Party. Šehović was the lead candidate of the Green Party for the

2019 European Parliament election The 2019 European Parliament election was held between 23 and 26 May 2019, the ninth parliamentary election since the first direct elections in 1979. A total of 751 Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) represent more than 512 million peopl ...

, together with Tilly Metz.

Early life, education, personal life

Shortly after Šehović's birth, his family decided to leave

war War is an intense armed conflict between states, governments, societies, or paramilitary groups such as mercenaries, insurgents, and militias. It is generally characterized by extreme violence, destruction, and mortality, using regular o ...

-torn

Yugoslavia Yugoslavia (; sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Jugoslavija, Југославија ; sl, Jugoslavija ; mk, Југославија ;; rup, Iugoslavia; hu, Jugoszlávia; rue, label=Pannonian Rusyn, Югославия, translit=Juhoslavija ...

and flee to

Luxembourg Luxembourg ( ; lb, Lëtzebuerg ; french: link=no, Luxembourg; german: link=no, Luxemburg), officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, ; french: link=no, Grand-Duché de Luxembourg ; german: link=no, Großherzogtum Luxemburg is a small lan ...

. Šehović completed his secondary education at the Lycée Classique d'Echternach. After graduating from high school, he began studying political science as a major and law as a minor at

Ludwig Maximilian University The Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich (simply University of Munich or LMU; german: Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München) is a public research university in Munich, Germany. It is Germany's sixth-oldest university in continuous operatio ...

Munich Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the States of Germany, German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the List of cities in Germany by popu ...

in the winter semester of 2011. He spent the winter semester of 2013 as an

Erasmus Desiderius Erasmus Roterodamus (; ; English: Erasmus of Rotterdam or Erasmus;''Erasmus'' was his baptismal name, given after St. Erasmus of Formiae. ''Desiderius'' was an adopted additional name, which he used from 1496. The ''Roterodamus'' wa ...

student at the Institut d'études politiques ("

Sciences Po , motto_lang = fr , mottoeng = Roots of the Future , type = Public university, Public research university''Grande école'' , established = , founder = Émile Boutmy , a ...

") in

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

. In his youth, Šehović was volunteering in centres for refugees run by Caritas. Since 2020, he has been a member of the Reflection Team of the Luxembourg Center against Radicalization. As a recognition for his national and European commitment, he was included in the Europe Future Leaders cohort 2020 by the UK

Foreign and Commonwealth Office The Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO) is a Departments of the Government of the United Kingdom, department of the Government of the United Kingdom. Equivalent to other countries' Ministry of Foreign Affairs, ministries of fore ...

Political career

Beginnings in youth politics

In 2011, Šehović became a member of déi gréng. When the SREL scandal came to light in Luxembourg in 2012–2013, Šehović followed the political debates and Parliament's inquiry committee and commented the process in his own political blog. In the same time, he became member of déi jonk gréng, where he campaigned for reform of the secret service law and snap elections. From 2013 to 2017, he was a member of the board of déi jonk gréng. In 2017, he ran for spokesperson and held this mandate until February 2020.

European politics

In 2013, at the age of 22, Šehović became Head of Office and

spokesperson A spokesperson, spokesman, or spokeswoman, is someone engaged or elected to speak on behalf of others. Duties and function In the present media-sensitive world, many organizations are increasingly likely to employ professionals who have receiv ...

for

Claude Turmes Claude Turmes (born 26 November 1960) is a Luxembourgish politician who served as a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) from 2009 until 2018. He is a member of the Green Party, part of the European Green Party. Turmes was elected as a member ...

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 ...

. As a policy advisor, he supported legislative work on several EU directives and

regulations Regulation is the management of complex systems according to a set of rules and trends. In systems theory, these types of rules exist in various fields of biology and society, but the term has slightly different meanings according to context. For ...

in the areas of environmental, climate, industrial and trade policy (e.g. the EU Circular Economy Package,

Right2Water Right2Water is a campaign to commit the European Union and Member state of the European Union, member states to implement the human right to water and sanitation. It has three stated goals: # Guaranteed water and sanitation for all in Europe. # ...

, emission standards for new passenger cars) and assisted the MEP's work in the European Parliament's Committee of Inquiry to investigate the VW diesel scandal. In 2017, Šehović supported Claude Turmes' work on a book about the European energy transition. After Claude Turmes moved into national politics, Šehović entered the 2019 European elections as the lead candidate of déi gréng, together with Tilly Metz. Finishing seventh, he narrowly missed entering 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 ...

Chair of the Green Party

After Christian Kmiotek announced his resignation from the position of party chair, Šehović was elected by the Green Party's Congress on 9 July 2020 to succeed him as party leader. At the party congress on 20 March 2021, he was re-elected for another three years at the party leadership, together with

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sehovic, Meris Luxembourgian politicians Green politicians Living people 1991 births