Jeppe Kofod

Jeppe Sebastian Kofod (born 14 March 1974) is a Danish Social Democratic (SD) politician who has been serving as Minister of Foreign Affairs of Denmark since 27 June 2019. Until then he was a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) from Denmark as a member of the Party of European Socialists since 25 May 2014. He then also was the leader of the Social Democrat Group in the European Parliament.

Jeppe Kofod
Minister for Foreign Affairs
Assumed office
27 June 2019
Prime MinisterMette Frederiksen
Preceded byAnders Samuelsen
Vice President of the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats
Assumed office
14 December 2016
PresidentSergei Stanishev
Preceded byPosition established
Member of the European Parliament
for Denmark
In office
1 July 2014 – 27 June 2019
Preceded byDan Jørgensen
Succeeded by???
Member of the Folketing
for Bornholm
In office
11 March 1998 – 30 June 2014
Preceded byEva Fatum
Succeeded byLea Wermelin
Personal details
Born
Jeppe Sebastian Kofod

(1974-03-14) 14 March 1974
Copenhagen, Denmark
Political partySocial Democrats
Other political
affiliations		Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats
EducationRoskilde University
Harvard University
WebsiteOfficial website

Kofod was a member of Danish Parliament from the Social Democrats from 1998 until 2014, where he was the lead candidate for the Social Democrats (Denmark) in the 2014 European Parliament election in Denmark.

Education

From 2006 to 2007 Kofod completed a Master in Public Administration at Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government.[1]

Political career

Member of the Danish Parliament, 1998-2014

Jeppe Kofod was a Member of the Danish Parliament, the Folketing, first elected after the 1998 Danish general election for the constituency of Bornholm.[2] During his time in the Danish Parliament he served as chairman of the Committee on Foreign Affairs.[2]

In 2008, Kofod resigned as foreign policy spokesman for the Social Democrats after being found to have had sex with a 15-year-old member of the youth wing of the political party. Kofod was 34 years old at the time. Denmark's age of consent is 15. He commented at the time that he had shown a 'lack of judgment' in having a 'morally inappropriate relationship'. The incident had occurred at a party after a Social Democratic Youth of Denmark event on 21 March 2008 at the University of Southern Denmark.[3][4][5]

Member of the European Parliament, 2014–2019

Kofod was the head of the Danish Socialists and Democrats' delegation and Vice-President of the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats in the European Parliament.[6] Serving his first term, he was elected to the European Parliament at the 2014 European Parliament election, with a total of 170.739 personal votes.[7] He was re-elected in 2019.[8]

During his time in the European Parliament, Kofod served on the following Committees and Delegations:[9]

In addition to his committee assignments, Kofod was a member of the following intergroups in the European Parliament:

Kofod was also a supporter of the MEP Heart Group, a group of parliamentarians who have an interest in promoting measures that help reduce the burden of cardiovascular diseases (CVD).[15] He sat on the Executive Committee of the Association of European Parliamentarians with Africa (AWEPA).

Danish Minister of Foreign Affairs, 2019–present

On 27 June 2019, Kofod was named Minister for Foreign Affairs in the Frederiksen Cabinet.[16][17]

Early during his tenure, Kofod and Frederiksen faced a diplomatic incident when U.S. President Donald Trump confirmed his interest in buying Greenland from Denmark;[18] at the time, Kofod said the island could not be bought “in dollars, yuan or roubles”.[19] He later approved the establishment of a U.S. consulate in Greenland’s capital Nuuk, which was widely seen as part of a broader move by the U.S. to expand its diplomatic and commercial presence in Greenland and the Arctic.[20] In 2020, he welcomed a $12.1 million economic aid package from the U.S. government for Greenland.[21]

Controversies

Sex scandal with a minor

At Easter 2008, the then 34-year-old Jeppe Kofod appeared in the media because it emerged that in the evening after giving a lecture for Denmark's Social Democratic Youth (DSU) had sex with a 15-year-old girl from DSU.[22][23] The episode led, among other things, to Jeppe Kofod resigning from his committee posts and his post as foreign affairs spokesman for the Social Democrats.[24][25] The chairman of DSU, Jacob Bjerregaard, stated that Jeppe Kofod had violated DSU's rules and that he was no longer welcome in DSU.[26][27]

References
  1. "Jeppe KOFOD | Curriculum vitae | MEPs | European Parliament". www.europarl.europa.eu. Retrieved 6 February 2017.
  2. Biography on the website of the Danish Parliament (Folketinget). Retrieved on 2017-02-06.
  3. "Jeppe Kofod trækker sig efter sex med 15-årig". BT (in Danish). 25 March 2018. Retrieved 23 August 2019.
  4. "Jeppe Kofod fældet i sex-skandale". Århus Stiftstidende (in Danish). 25 March 2008. Retrieved 22 August 2019.
  5. Beswick, Emma (14 November 2017). "How do different European countries define the age of sexual consent?". Euronews. Retrieved 23 August 2019.
  6. "KOFOD Jeppe | Socialists & Democrats". www.socialistsanddemocrats.eu. Retrieved 6 February 2017.
  7. "Personlige stemmer til Europa-Parlamentsvalget 2014". www.europarl.dk. Retrieved 6 February 2017.
  8. https://www.dr.dk/nyheder/politik/resultater/ep-valg
  9. http://www.europarl.europa.eu/meps/en/124870/JEPPE_KOFOD_home.html
  10. Florian Eder (January 15, 2019), US Congress members slam State Department for EU downgrade Politico Europe.
  11. John O'Donnell and Tom Sims (October 19, 2018), European politicians call for clampdown on tax trade trick Reuters.
  12. "EUFORES: Board of Presidents". www.eufores.org. Retrieved 6 February 2017.
  13. "Members". www.animalwelfareintergroup.eu. Retrieved 6 February 2017.
  14. "Members | The European Parliament Intergroup on LGBTI Rights". www.lgbt-ep.eu. Retrieved 6 February 2017.
  15. Supporters MEP Heart Group.
  16. "Denmark's new center-left PM presents her government". Federal News Network. 27 June 2019. Retrieved 25 March 2020.
  17. Deleuran Müller, Thea (27 June 2019). "Danmarks nye regering er nu på plads: Se hele Mette Frederiksens ministerhold her". dr.dk (in Danish). Retrieved 25 March 2020.
  18. Lauren Fedor (August 19, 2019), Trump says it would be ‘strategically nice’ to buy Greenland Financial Times.
  19. Lauren Fedor (August 19, 2019), Trump says it would be ‘strategically nice’ to buy Greenland Financial Times.
  20. Nikolaj Skydsgaard and Jacob Gronholt-Pedersen (December 18, 2019), Denmark approves new U.S. consulate in Greenland Reuters.
  21. Jacob Gronholt-Pedersen and Humeyra Pamuk (April 23, 2020), US extends economic aid to Greenland to counter China, Russia in Arctic Reuters.
  22. S-ledelse tager afstand fra Jeppe Kofod | Berlingske Politiko
  23. Ekstra Bladet - Sex med 15-årig koster MF'er posten
  24. Jeppe Kofod trækker sig efter sex med 15-årig - Politik | www.bt.dk
  25. Sex med 15-årig fælder Jeppe Kofod - TV 2 Nyhederne
  26. Kofod ikke velkommen i DSU | Politik | DR
  27. DSU-Formand: Kofod skal ikke vise sig igen - Politiken.dk
Political offices
Preceded by
Anders Samuelsen		 Minister for Foreign Affairs
2019–present		 Incumbent
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