Sara Magdalena Skyttedal (born 6 August 1986) is a Swedish politician of the

Christian Democrats __NOTOC__ Christian democratic parties are political parties that seek to apply Christian principles to public policy. The underlying Christian democracy movement emerged in 19th-century Europe, largely under the influence of Catholic social tea ...

party. She was elected

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 ...

in the

2019 European Parliament election in Sweden European Parliament elections were held in Sweden in May 2019 to elect the country's twenty members of the European Parliament. Opinion polls Graphical summary Vote share Results Voter demographics Voter demographics of the 2019 Euro ...

. Between 2013 and 2016, she chaired the Young Christian Democrats. From 2016 to 2019, she was a municipal commissioner for

Linköping Linköping () is a city in southern Sweden, with around 105,000 inhabitants as of 2021. It is the seat of Linköping Municipality and the capital of Östergötland County. Linköping is also the episcopal see of the Diocese of Linköping (Church ...

Early life and education

Skyttedal studied political science, political economy and history science at

Stockholm University Stockholm University ( sv, Stockholms universitet) is a public research university in Stockholm, Sweden, founded as a college in 1878, with university status since 1960. With over 33,000 students at four different faculties: law, humanities, so ...

. She has also studied rhetoric, Swedish language and law. Skyttedal participated in the beauty pageant

Miss Sweden Miss Sweden or Miss Universe Sweden (in Swedish: ''Fröken Sverige''), is the title of the Swedish beauty pageant, qualifying delegates to the Miss Universe competition. In 2009 the pageant renamed as Miss Universe Sweden and the first national ...

in 2006, where she made the Top 15 in the final. It was her fiancé that sent in an application for her to compete.

Political career

Career in national politics

In September 2002, Skyttedal became a member of the Young Christian Democrats. Since then, she has been chairperson of the Haninge constituance for the party, and ombudsman for district group in Stockholm's municipality. She has been district director for the Christian Democrats for Stockholm and vice chairperson for the party in

Haninge Haninge Municipality (''Haninge kommun'') is a municipality in Stockholm County in east central Sweden. Its seat is located in Handen, a part of the Stockholm urban area. Haninge Municipality was formed in 1971 when ''Västerhaninge'' and ''Öst ...

. Skyttedal has a background in municipality politics for

, until 2010 she was first vice chairperson in the adult education and high school board and as well as juryman in

Södertörn Södertörn is a roughly triangular peninsula and artificial island in eastern Södermanland, Sweden, which is bordered by: *Lake Mälaren and the inlet of Saltsjön (a part of the Baltic Sea) to the north, *The Baltic Sea (the Stockholm Arch ...

's court. At the 2010 general elections in Sweden, she was a replacement at the Haninge City council, a job she was released from in early 2011 when she moved from the municipality. At the 2009 and 2014 elections for the European parliament, Skyttedal was a candidate for her party. At the 2010 general elections she became candidate for the municipality elections in Stockholm. She has also resided in

Växjö Växjö ( ) is a city and the seat of Växjö Municipality, Kronoberg County, Sweden. It had 70,489 inhabitants (2019) out of a municipal population of 95,995 (2021). It is the administrative, cultural, and industrial centre of Kronoberg County ...

and was part of the 2014 general election for the Kronoberg constituency. Skyttedal has been the chairperson of Young Christian Democrats since 11 May 2013 and a member of the Christian Democrats party executive board. She was previously first vice chairperson for the Young Christian Democrats. From May 2011 to May 2015, she was the vice chairperson for the

Youth of the European People's Party Youth of the European People's Party (YEPP) is an umbrella organization of European political youth organisations and is the official youth wing of the European People's Party. YEPP brings together 64 Centre-Right youth political organisations fr ...

(YEPP). In October 2015, Skyttedal became the pivotal factor in the Christian Democrats' decision to pull out of the controversial December Agreement. In July 2016, Skyttedal announced that she would resign as chairperson for the Young Christian Democrats at the next meeting, to be held in late 2016. On 8 September 2016, she announced that she had gained the office of municipal commissioner in Linköping. In the campaign for the September 2018 election for Linköping city hall, she made her party stand out as the most eager to lower municipal tax, and gained 7.5% of the votes, which compared to 4.8% in the 2014 election was the largest increase of any party.

Member of the European Parliament, 2019–present

In 2018, Skyttedal was elected as the Christian Democrats’ leading candidate for the 2019 European elections. Since becoming a

, she has been serving 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 this capacity, she has been leading the committee's work on reforming the

European Union Emissions Trading System The European Union Emissions Trading System (EU ETS) is a "cap and trade" scheme where a limit is placed on the right to emit specified pollutants over an area and companies can trade emission rights within that area. It covers around 45% of th ...

since 2021. In addition to her committee assignments, Skyttedal has been part of the Parliament's delegation to the

Conference on the Future of Europe The Conference on the Future of Europe was a proposal of the European Commission and the European Parliament, announced at the end of 2019, with the aim of looking at the medium to long term future of the EU and what reforms should be made to i ...

since 2021.Members of the delegation to the Conference on the Future of Europe

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 ...

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Skyttedal, Sara 1986 births Living people Christian Democrats (Sweden) politicians People from Tyresö Municipality People from Haninge Municipality Stockholm University alumni Christian Democrats (Sweden) MEPs MEPs for Sweden 2019–2024 21st-century women MEPs for Sweden