Sören Axel Wibe (8 October 1946 – 29 December 2010) was a European

economist An economist is a professional and practitioner in the social sciences, social science discipline of economics. The individual may also study, develop, and apply theories and concepts from economics and write about economic policy. Within this ...

and

eurosceptic Euroscepticism, also spelled as Euroskepticism or EU-scepticism, is a political position involving criticism of the European Union (EU) and European integration. It ranges from those who oppose some EU institutions and policies, and seek reform ...

politician A politician is a person active in party politics, or a person holding or seeking an elected office in government. Politicians propose, support, reject and create laws that govern the land and by an extension of its people. Broadly speaking, a ...

, born in

Östersund Östersund (; sma, Staare) is an urban area (city) in Jämtland in the middle of Sweden. It is the seat of Östersund Municipality and the capital of Jämtland County. Östersund is located at the shores of Sweden's fifth-largest lake, Storsjön, ...

. He was a

Social Democratic 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 soci ...

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) 1995–1999,

member Member may refer to: * Military jury, referred to as "Members" in military jargon * Element (mathematics), an object that belongs to a mathematical set * In object-oriented programming, a member of a class ** Field (computer science), entries in ...

of the

Riksdag The Riksdag (, ; also sv, riksdagen or ''Sveriges riksdag'' ) is the legislature and the supreme decision-making body of Sweden. Since 1971, the Riksdag has been a unicameral legislature with 349 members (), elected proportionally and se ...

2002–2006, and who since 6 July 2008 was party leader of the June List. In January 2009 he was elected President of the

EUDemocrats Europeans United for Democracy – Alliance for a Europe of Democracies, formerly known as ''EUDemocrats'', was a Eurosceptic and self-described Eurorealist alliance of parties and movements from 15 European countries. It operated as a transna ...

- Alliance for a Europe of Democracies, a eurorealist European political party with members from 15 European countries. Wibe was professor of forest industrial economics at the

Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences The Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, or Swedish Agricultural University (Swedish: ''Sveriges lantbruksuniversitet'') (SLU) is a university in Sweden. Although its head office is located in Ultuna, Uppsala, the university has several c ...

Umeå Umeå ( , , , locally ; South Westrobothnian: ;). fi, Uumaja; sju, Ubmeje; sma, Upmeje; se, Ubmi) is a city in northeast Sweden. It is the seat of Umeå Municipality and the capital of Västerbotten County. Situated on the Ume River, Ume� ...

. He has been one of the most prominent and vocal EU critics in the Social Democratic Party. In April 2008, he announced his resignation from the party citing a number broken promises over EU policy and rulings in the

European Court of Justice The European Court of Justice (ECJ, french: Cour de Justice européenne), formally just the Court of Justice, is the supreme court of the European Union in matters of European Union law. As a part of the Court of Justice of the European Un ...

, which he alleged would lead to a weakening of the

trade union A trade union (labor union in American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers intent on "maintaining or improving the conditions of their employment", ch. I such as attaining better wages and benefits ( ...

s' position and limitations on

strike action Strike action, also called labor strike, labour strike, or simply strike, is a work stoppage caused by the mass refusal of employees to Labor (economics), work. A strike usually takes place in response to grievance (labour), employee grievance ...

s in Sweden. Wibe was also actively involved in the European No Campaign against the proposed European Constitution. Shortly after leaving the Social Democrats, he was nominated as one of two new party leaders for the June List together with Annika Eriksson. In January 2009, Eriksson left her post, after which Wibe was the lone leader of the party and its top candidate for the European elections 2009.Junilistan candidat list for European elections 2009
Wibe died on 29 December 2010 in Umeå after a short illness.

Bibliography

* Miljöeffekter av skattereformen (1990) * Samhällsekonomiska aspekter på ekonomisk brottslighet (1991) * Maktens geografi : statliga kommittéers regionala sammansättning (1991) * Marknaden för skogsbränsle : en analys av hur marknaden för skogsbränsle påverkar skogsindustrins råvaruförsörjning (1992) * Långtidsutredningen 1992 (1992) * Forests : market and intervention failures : five case studies (1992) * Economic growth and the environment (1994) * Non wood benefits in forestry : survey of valuation studies (1994) * Är tillväxten exponentiell? (1994) * EU problem för svensk ekonomi (1994) * Struktur och produktivitetsutveckling inom svensk industri 1970/1990 (1995) * Efterfrågan på tyst boende (1997) * "Vaxholmsfallet och den svenska modellen" : en kort beskrivning av bakgrund, argument och sakläge (2006) * Etanolens koldioxideffekt : en översikt av forskningsläget (2010)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wibe, Soren 1946 births 2010 deaths June List politicians Leaders of political parties in Sweden Members of the Riksdag 2002–2006 Members of the Royal Swedish Academy of Agriculture and Forestry Academic staff of Umeå University Swedish Social Democratic Party MEPs MEPs for Sweden 1995–1999