Karen Melchior Explained

Party:Social Liberal Party
(until August 2022)
Constituency Mp:Denmark
Term Start:2 July 2019[1] [2]
Parliament:European
Birth Date:15 October 1980
Birth Place:Copenhagen, Denmark
Nationality:Danish
Alma Mater:University of Copenhagen
Website:https://karenmelchior.eu/

Karen Melchior (born 15 October 1980)[3] is a Danish lawyer and politician, formerly of the Social Liberal Party, who has served as a Member of the European Parliament in 2019–2024.

Political career

Career in local politics

Melchior was a member of the Copenhagen Municipal Council.[4] In the council, she served on the Social Committee and the Health and Care Committee from the local elections of 2017 as a member of the Social Liberal Party.[5]

Melchior ran on the Danish Social Liberal Party's ticket in the European Parliament Election of 2014, where she was elected to the position of first alternate MEP for the party.[6]

Member of the European Parliament, 2019–present

Melchior was eventually elected to the European Parliament in 2019.[7] She has since been serving on the Committee on Legal Affairs and on the Committee on Women's Rights and Gender Equality.

In addition to her committee assignments, Melchior is part of the parliament's delegations to the EU-Armenia Parliamentary Partnership Committee, the EU-Azerbaijan Parliamentary Cooperation Committee and the EU-Georgia Parliamentary Association Committee, as well as to the Euronest Parliamentary Assembly.[8] She is also a member of the European Parliament Intergroup on Anti-Corruption,[9] the European Parliament Intergroup on LGBT Rights,[10] the European Internet Forum,[11] the Responsible Business Conduct Working Group,[12] and the Spinelli Group.[13]

Melchior resigned from the Social Liberal Party in August 2022 but remains a member of the European Parliament.[14]

Alleged harassment of employees

In 2021, it was alleged that Melchior on several occasions harassed her assistants in her office in the European Parliament. At least three of her assistants ended up on sick leave due to the harassment.[15] In May 2022, her Danish party, the Social Liberal Party, requested her to resign from the European Parliament immediately and declared that she will not be allowed to run for the party for the next election to the European Parliament,[16] followed by her leaving the party.

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Key dates ahead. European Parliament . 28 May 2019 . 20 May 2017.
  2. Web site: Key dates ahead. BBC News . 28 May 2019 . 22 May 2017.
  3. News: Søren Øhlers . 27 May 2019 . Radikal står til at forlade København til fordel for EU .
  4. News: Karen Melchior. Københavns Kommune. 2018-08-08. da.
  5. News: 2013-08-21 . Karen Melchior . 2018-08-08 . Radikale Hovedstaden . da-DK.
  6. Web site: Karen Melchior. Altinget.dk. da-DK. 2018-08-08.
  7. Web site: Valgresultat EP-valg Danmark - Følg resultatet for EP-valget her | DR. www.dr.dk.
  8. https://www.europarl.europa.eu/meps/en/197567/KAREN_MELCHIOR/home Karen Melchior
  9. https://www.europarl.europa.eu/about-parliament/files/organisation-and-rules/organisation/intergroups/list-of-members-anti-corruption.pdf Intergroup on Anti-Corruption
  10. https://lgbti-ep.eu/who-we-are/members/ Members
  11. https://www.internetforum.eu/members.html Members
  12. https://responsiblebusinessconduct.eu/wp/members/ Members
  13. https://thespinelligroup.eu/board-members/ Board & Members
  14. News: EU-parlamentariker melder sig ud af De Radikale . Danish . 10 August 2022 . . 10 August 2022.
  15. Web site: Guldberg . Af Cecilie . 2021-09-23 . Flere sygemeldte: Knækket af radikal profil . 2022-06-23 . ekstrabladet.dk . da.
  16. Web site: 2022-05-21 . De radikale opfordrer Karen Melchior til at trække sig - TV 2 . 2022-06-23 . nyheder.tv2.dk . da-DK.