Morten Helveg Petersen (born 14 September 1966) is a

Danish Danish may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to the country of Denmark People * A national or citizen of Denmark, also called a "Dane," see Demographics of Denmark * Culture of Denmark * Danish people or Danes, people with a Danish ance ...

politician who has been serving as a

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) since 2014. He is a member of the

Danish Social Liberal Party The Danish Social Liberal Party ( da, Radikale Venstre, , Radical Left) is a social-liberal political party in Denmark. The party was founded as a split from the Venstre Reform Party in 1905. Historically, the centrist party has played a centra ...

, which is affiliated to the

Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe Party An alliance is a relationship among people, groups, or states that have joined together for mutual benefit or to achieve some common purpose, whether or not explicit agreement has been worked out among them. Members of an alliance are called ...

, and sits in the

Renew Europe Renew Europe (Renew) is a liberal, pro-European political group of the European Parliament founded for the ninth European Parliament term. The group is the successor to the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe (ALDE) group which exist ...

group in the European Parliament. He was elected to 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 ...

in 2014 and 2019 and served as 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 ...

1998–2009.

Early life and education

The son of former Danish foreign minister

Niels Helveg Petersen Niels Lolk Helveg Petersen (; informally Niels Helveg; 17 January 1939 – 3 June 2017) was a Danish politician. He was Minister of Foreign Affairs from 1993 to 2000, having previously held the role of Minister for Economic Affairs between 1988 ...

and brother of former minister

Rasmus Helveg Petersen Rasmus Helveg Petersen (born 17 June 1968 in Copenhagen) is a Danish politician, who is a member of the Folketing for the Danish Social Liberal Party. He served as Minister for Development Cooperation from 21 November 2013 to 3 February 2014, and ...

, Morten Helveg Petersen grew up in Denmark and in Brussels where he attended the

European School, Brussels I The European School, Brussels I (ESB1) is a European School located in Uccle, Brussels, Belgium (Uccle site), and Forest, Brussels, Belgium (Berkendael site). Originally the second of the European Schools to be founded, the European School, Brus ...

from 1974 to 1977. His paternal grandparents were former minister Kristen Helveg Petersen and former mayor of Copenhagen Lilly Helveg Petersen. He got a

Master of Science A Master of Science ( la, Magisterii Scientiae; abbreviated MS, M.S., MSc, M.Sc., SM, S.M., ScM or Sc.M.) is a master's degree in the field of science awarded by universities in many countries or a person holding such a degree. In contrast to ...

degree in economics from the

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

in 1992.

Career

After finishing his studies, Petersen worked for the

European Commission The European Commission (EC) is the executive of the European Union (EU). It operates as a cabinet government, with 27 members of the Commission (informally known as "Commissioners") headed by a President. It includes an administrative body o ...

1992–1993 and for the

Confederation of Danish Industries The Confederation of Danish Industry (DI) is Denmark's largest business organization (chambers of commerce) and employers' organization. DI's members are 18,000 private enterprises in manufacturing and the service industry, from virtually all sub-s ...

1993–1998. He then entered politics and served as a member of the Folketing from

Hvidovre Hvidovre is the main town in Hvidovre Municipality, Denmark. The town, a suburb of Copenhagen, is about 10 km southwest of the capital's center. It is the 2nd biggest suburb of Copenhagen, only beaten by Frederiksberg. History Hvidovre has ...

and later Brøndby electoral district 1999 where he obtained positions as the Social Liberal Party's spokesperson on finance, defence and IT. In 2007, he lost a fight to become deputy leader of the party's parliamentarian group to

Morten Østergaard Morten Østergaard (born 17 June 1976 in Aarhus) is a Danish politician who served as Denmark's Minister for Economic and Interior Affairs from 2 September 2014 to 28 June 2015. Leader of the Danish Social Liberal Party from September 2014 to Oct ...

.PORTRÆT: En Helveg vil bringe radikale i EU igen
Ritzau, 25 May 2014. Fyens.dk. Retrieved 28 May 2014 In 2009 Petersen temporarily left politics and became CEO of Foreningen af Danske Interaktive Medier and after a company merger became vice-CEO of Danske Medier in 2011. In September 2013, the

nominated him as their top candidate in the

2014 European Parliament election The 2014 European Parliament election was held in the European Union, from 22 to 25 May 2014. It was the 8th parliamentary election since the first direct elections in 1979, and the first in which the European political parties fielded candid ...

. Petersen won a seat in the parliament after the party received 6,7% of the votes in election; thus returning to the parliament with one mandate. He was re-elected in

2019 File:2019 collage v1.png, From top left, clockwise: Hong Kong protests turn to widespread riots and civil disobedience; House of Representatives votes to adopt articles of impeachment against Donald Trump; CRISPR gene editing first used to experim ...

. In Parliament, he serves on the

Committee on Industry, Research and Energy The Committee on Industry, Research and Energy (ITRE) is a committee of the European Parliament. Its areas of responsibility relate to industry, especially technology-intensive manufacturing, information technology, and telecommunications. It also ...

. In addition to his committee assignments, he has been a member of the Parliament's delegations for relations with

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

(2014-2019) and to the EU-Turkey Joint Parliamentary Committee (since 2019). He is also a member of the European Internet Forum and of the

European Parliament Intergroup on LGBT Rights The European Parliament Intergroup on LGBTI Rights is an intergroup Intergroups are formed of Members of the European Parliament from any political group and any committee, with a view to holding informal exchanges of views on particular subjects ...

.Members
European Parliament Intergroup on LGBTI Rights

Political positions

Petersen is considered to belong to the right flank of the party and was opposed to the party's decision to be part of

Prime Minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is not ...

Helle Thorning-Schmidt Helle Thorning-Schmidt (; born 14 December 1966) is a Danish retired politician who served as the 26th Prime Minister of Denmark from 2011 to 2015, and Leader of the Social Democrats from 2005 to 2015. She is the first woman to have held each p ...

's coalition government.

References

Books

*''Midt i maskinrummet'' (1999) *''Enter – et personligt bud på Danmarks IT-fremtid'' (2001) {{DEFAULTSORT:Petersen, Morten Helveg 1966 births Living people

Morten Morten is a common given name in Norway and Denmark. Approximately 22,138 have this name as a given name in Norway and about 52 people have it as a surname. Notable people with the name include: *Morten Abel, Norwegian singer *Morten Andersen, Dan ...

Danish Social Liberal Party politicians Members of the Folketing 1998–2001 Members of the Folketing 2001–2005 Members of the Folketing 2005–2007 Members of the Folketing 2007–2011 MEPs for Denmark 2014–2019 MEPs for Denmark 2019–2024 Alumni of the European Schools