Jasenko Selimović (born 1 January 1968) is a Bosnian-born

Swedish Swedish or ' may refer to: Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically: * Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland ** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...

director, artistic director, writer and politician representing the Liberal People's Party. He was a

Member of the European Parliament A member of the European Parliament (MEP) is a person who has been Election, elected to serve as a popular representative in the European Parliament. When the European Parliament (then known as the Common Assembly of the European Coal and S ...

from 2015 until 2019.

Biography

Culture

Selimović was educated at the academy of creative arts in

Sarajevo Sarajevo ( ), ; ''see Names of European cities in different languages (Q–T)#S, names in other languages'' is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Bosnia and Herzegovina, largest city of Bosnia and Herzegovina, with a population of 2 ...

and at the Dramatic Institute in

Stockholm Stockholm (; ) is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, most populous city of Sweden, as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in the Nordic countries. Approximately ...

. He fled from the

war in Bosnia The Bosnian War ( / Рат у Босни и Херцеговини) was an international armed conflict that took place in Bosnia and Herzegovina between 1992 and 1995. Following several earlier violent incidents, the war is commonly seen as ha ...

in 1992. After a period at the Uppsala City Theatre, where he set up the play ''Pingst ''(Pentecost), he was engaged as a director at the

Gothenburg City Theatre Gothenburg City Theatre () opened in 1934 at Götaplatsen square in Gothenburg, Sweden. The theatre was designed by Swedish architect Carl Bergsten who gave the exterior a Neoclassical architecture, Neo-Classical look with a touch of Streamline ...

and in 1998 was appointed artistic director. That same year, his play ''1948 ''premiered at

Backa Theatre Backa Theatre ( Swedish: ''Backa Teater'') is a youth theater located in Gothenburg, Sweden. It focuses on producing theater for children and their families.

. He put up in 2003

Sophocles Sophocles ( 497/496 – winter 406/405 BC)Sommerstein (2002), p. 41. was an ancient Greek tragedian known as one of three from whom at least two plays have survived in full. His first plays were written later than, or contemporary with, those ...

' ''

Antigone ANTIGONE (Algorithms for coNTinuous / Integer Global Optimization of Nonlinear Equations), is a deterministic global optimization solver for general Mixed-Integer Nonlinear Programs (MINLP). History ANTIGONE is an evolution of GloMIQO, a global ...

''at the Swedish

Royal Dramatic Theatre The Royal Dramatic Theatre (, colloquially ''Dramaten'') is Sweden's national stage for "spoken drama", founded in 1788. Around one thousand shows are put on annually on the theatre's five running stages. The theatre has been at its present lo ...

. In the summer of 2004 he was the host of SVT's talk show'' Allvarligt talat''. He has received a number of theater prices, the ''Svenska Dagbladets Thaliapris '' in 2000 and'' Expressens teaterpris ''in 1997. He was named Gothenburger of the year in 1999 and European of the Year (''Årets Europé'') in 2006. He has written columns for the news magazine Fokus. He was director of ''Radioteatern ''in 2006–09.

Politics

In September 2009, Selimović announced that he would leave the post of head of the Radioteatern in order to contend the

2010 Swedish general election General elections were held in Sweden on 19 September 2010 to elect the 349 members of the Riksdag. The main contenders of the election were the governing centre-right coalition the Alliance, consisting of the Moderate Party, the Centre Party, ...

for the ''Folkpartiet''. He was nominated for second place in the Liberal Party's parliamentary list for Gothenburg on 16 January 2010 but he did not manage to get into Parliament. In October 2010 Selimović was appointed Secretary of State for the Integration Minister Erik Ullenhag. Selimović was a candidate in the European elections in Sweden in 2014 in third place on the Liberal Party list. 30 September 2015, he became an MEP when

Marit Paulsen Marit Eli Paulsen (; 24 November 1939 – 25 July 2022) was a Norwegian-born Swedish journalist, author and politician for the Liberals. She was a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) from 1999 to 2004 and from 2009 to 2015. She was a well-k ...

left her seat in the European Parliament. He left his post in July 2019, having decided not to run for re-election.

Controversies

* In 2016, the then EU parliament member Jasenko Selimović was formally reprimanded by EU parliament for harassment of colleagues. Jasenko appealed, but lost in

court A court is an institution, often a government entity, with the authority to adjudicate legal disputes between Party (law), parties and Administration of justice, administer justice in Civil law (common law), civil, Criminal law, criminal, an ...

. * In 2023, Jasenko Selimović was caught vandalizing two buildings in Stockholm by drawing "Hitlers kuksugare" (

for "Hitler's cocksuckers") on the walls. The buildings were

Nationalmuseum Nationalmuseum is the List of national galleries, national gallery of fine arts of Sweden, located on the peninsula Blasieholmen in central Stockholm. The museum's operations stretch far beyond the borders of Blasieholmen, including the Natio ...

and

Skeppsholmen Church The Skeppsholmen Church () is a former church on the islet of Skeppsholmen in central Stockholm, Sweden. History Named after its location, the church was built 1823-1849 to replace a minor wooden church on Blasieholmen destroyed in the devastat ...

. During police interrogation and search for motive, the former politician said that he holds "a strong resentment against Sweden".

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Selimovic, Jasenko Liberals (Sweden) politicians Swedish theatre directors 1968 births Living people MEPs for Sweden 2014–2019