Jeppe Sebastian Kofod (born 14 March 1974) is a former Danish politician of the

Social Democratic Party The name Social Democratic Party or Social Democrats has been used by many political parties in various countries around the world. Such parties are most commonly aligned to social democracy as their political ideology. Active parties Form ...

who served as

Minister of Foreign Affairs In many countries, the ministry of foreign affairs (abbreviated as MFA or MOFA) is the highest government department exclusively or primarily responsible for the state's foreign policy and foreign relations, relations, diplomacy, bilateralism, ...

Denmark Denmark is a Nordic countries, Nordic country in Northern Europe. It is the metropole and most populous constituent of the Kingdom of Denmark,, . also known as the Danish Realm, a constitutionally unitary state that includes the Autonomous a ...

between 27 June 2019 to 15 December 2022. Kofod previously served as 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 ...

(MEP) from 2014 to 2019. Within the

Party of European Socialists The Party of European Socialists (PES) is a Social democracy, social democratic European political party. The PES comprises national-level political parties from all the European Economic Area, European economic area states (EEA) plus the Unit ...

group, he led the

Social Democrats Social democracy is a social, economic, and political philosophy within socialism that supports political and economic democracy and a gradualist, reformist, and democratic approach toward achieving social equality. In modern practice, s ...

from Denmark. Kofod was a member of the

Folketing The Folketing ( , ), also known as the Parliament of Denmark or the Danish Parliament in English, is the unicameral national legislature (parliament) of the Kingdom of Denmark — Denmark proper together with the Faroe Islands and Greenland. E ...

(the Danish Parliament) from the

from 1998 until 2014 and again briefly as a substitute member for two months in 2023.

Education

From 2006 to 2007 Kofod completed a Master in Public Administration at

Harvard University Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...

John F. Kennedy School of Government The John F. Kennedy School of Government, commonly referred to as Harvard Kennedy School (HKS), is the school of public policy of Harvard University, a private university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Harvard Kennedy School offers master's de ...

Political career

Member of the Danish Parliament, 1998–2014

Jeppe Kofod was a member of the Danish Parliament, the

, first elected after the

1998 Danish general election 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The '' Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for frozen water, in soil in permanent ...

for the constituency of

Bornholm Bornholm () is a List of islands of Denmark, Danish island in the Baltic Sea, to the east of the rest of Denmark, south of Sweden, northeast of Germany and north of Poland. Strategically located, Bornholm has been fought over for centuries. I ...

.. Retrieved on 2017-02-06. During his time in the Danish Parliament he served as chairman of the Committee on Foreign Affairs. At

Easter Easter, also called Pascha ( Aramaic: פַּסְחָא , ''paskha''; Greek: πάσχα, ''páskha'') or Resurrection Sunday, is a Christian festival and cultural holiday commemorating the resurrection of Jesus from the dead, described in t ...

in 2008, the then 34-year-old Jeppe Kofod appeared in the media because it emerged that in the evening after giving a lecture for the

Social Democratic Youth of Denmark The Social Democratic Youth of Denmark (, DSU) is the national youth wing of the Danish Social Democrats (Denmark), Social Democrats. It is not to be confused with Frit Forum, which is for those in higher education, and whose membership is not re ...

(DSU), he had sex with a 15-year-old girl from DSU. Denmark's

age of consent The age of consent is the age at which a person is considered to be legally competent to consent to Human sexual activity, sexual acts. Consequently, an adult who engages in sexual activity with a person younger than the age of consent is un ...

is 15. Kofod commented at the time that he had shown a 'lack of judgment' in having a 'morally inappropriate relationship'. The episode led, among other things, to Kofod resigning from his committee posts and his post as foreign affairs spokesman for the Social Democrats. The chairman of DSU, Jacob Bjerregaard, stated that Kofod had violated DSU's rules and that he was no longer welcome in DSU.

Member of the European Parliament, 2014–2019

Kofod was the head of the Danish

Socialists and Democrats The Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats (S&D) is the Political groups of the European Parliament, political group in the European Parliament of the Party of European Socialists (PES). The Progressive Alliance of Socialists and ...

' delegation and vice-president of the

Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats The Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats (S&D) is the Political groups of the European Parliament, political group in the European Parliament of the Party of European Socialists (PES). The Progressive Alliance of Socialists and ...

in the

European Parliament The European Parliament (EP) is one of the two 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 ...

. Serving his first term, he was elected to the

at the

2014 European Parliament election The 2014 European Parliament election was held in the European Union (EU) between 22 and 25 May 2014. It was the 8th parliamentary election since the first direct elections in 1979, and the first in which the European political parties field ...

, with a total of 170.739 personal votes. He was re-elected in

2019 This was the year in which the first known human case of COVID-19 was documented, preceding COVID-19 pandemic, the pandemic which was declared by the World Health Organization the following year. Up to that point, 2019 had been described as ...

. During his time in the European Parliament, Kofod served on the following

Committees A committee or commission is a body of one or more persons subordinate to a deliberative assembly or other form of organization. A committee may not itself be considered to be a form of assembly or a decision-making body. Usually, an assembly o ...

and Delegations: * Vice-chair, European Parliament Delegation for Relations with the United States *

Rapporteur A rapporteur is a person who is appointed by an organization to report on the proceedings of its meetings. The term is a French-derived word. For example, Dick Marty was appointed ''rapporteur'' by the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Eur ...

, European Parliament Special Committee on Tax Rulings and Other Measures Similar in Nature or Effect (TAXE 2) * Member,

European Parliament Committee on Industry, Research and Energy The Committee on Industry, Research and Energy (ITRE) is a Committees of the European Parliament, committee of the European Parliament. Its areas of responsibility relate to industry, especially technology-intensive manufacturing, information techno ...

* Substitute,

European Parliament Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs The Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs (ECON) is a committee of the European Parliament which is responsible for the regulation of financial services, the free movement of capital and payments, taxation and competition policies, oversight ...

* Substitute, European Parliament Delegation for relations with the

NATO Parliamentary Assembly The NATO Parliamentary Assembly serves as the consultative interparliamentary organisation for the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). It consists of delegates from the parliaments of the 32 NATO member countries as well as from associate ...

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

: * European Forum for Renewable Energy Sources (EUFORES) * Intergroup on the Welfare and Conservation of Animals * Intergroup on LGBTI Rights 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 disease Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is any disease involving the heart or blood vessels. CVDs constitute a class of diseases that includes: coronary artery diseases (e.g. angina, heart attack), heart failure, hypertensive heart disease, rheumati ...

s (CVD). He sat on the executive committee of the Association of European Parliamentarians with Africa (AWEPA). Following the

2019 elections The following elections were scheduled to occur in 2019. The International Foundation for Electoral Systems has a calendar of upcoming elections around the world, and the National Democratic Institute also maintains a calendar of elections in cou ...

, Kofod was part of a cross-party working group in charge of drafting the European Parliament's four-year work program on foreign policy.

Minister of Foreign Affairs, 2019–2022

On 27 June 2019, Kofod was named

minister for foreign affairs In many countries, the ministry of foreign affairs (abbreviated as MFA or MOFA) is the highest government department exclusively or primarily responsible for the state's foreign policy and relations, diplomacy, bilateral, and multilateral re ...

in the

Frederiksen Cabinet Frederiksen Cabinet may refer to the following cabinets of Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen: * Frederiksen I Cabinet (2019-Dec 2022) * Frederiksen II Cabinet (Dec 2022-present) {{disambiguation ...

. Early during his tenure, Kofod and Frederiksen faced a diplomatic incident when

U.S. president The president of the United States (POTUS) is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president directs the Federal government of the United States#Executive branch, executive branch of the Federal government of t ...

Donald Trump Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who is the 47th president of the United States. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, he served as the 45 ...

confirmed his interest in buying

Greenland Greenland is an autonomous territory in the Danish Realm, Kingdom of Denmark. It is by far the largest geographically of three constituent parts of the kingdom; the other two are metropolitan Denmark and the Faroe Islands. Citizens of Greenlan ...

from Denmark; at the time, Kofod said the island could not be bought "in dollars, yuan or roubles". 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. In 2020, he welcomed a $12.1 million economic aid package from the U.S. government for Greenland. Following the

Bucha massacre The Bucha massacre (; ) was the mass murder of Ukrainian civilians and prisoners of war by the Russian Armed Forces during the fight for and occupation of the city of Bucha as part of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Photographic and video ...

in April 2022, Kofod expelled 15 Russian diplomats and embassy staff from Copenhagen, joining other European Union countries in its response to alleged war crimes by Russian troops in Ukraine. In June 2022, Kofod summoned the Russian ambassador when a Russian warship twice violated Danish

territorial waters Territorial waters are informally an area of water where a sovereign state has jurisdiction, including internal waters, the territorial sea, the contiguous zone, the exclusive economic zone, and potentially the extended continental shelf ( ...

north of the Baltic Sea island of

where a democracy festival attended by senior officials and business people – including Prime Minister Frederiksen – was taking place. At the

2022 Danish general election General elections were held in the Danish Realm, Kingdom of Denmark on 1 November 2022, except in the Faroe Islands, where they were held on 31 October as 1 November was a national day of mourning for victims at sea. Of the 179 members of the Fo ...

in November 2022 Kofod was not elected to the

, and when a new government was formed in December, he was replaced by former prime minister

Lars Løkke Rasmussen Lars Løkke Rasmussen (; born 15 May 1964) is a Danish politician who has served as Minister of Foreign Affairs since 2022. He previously served as Prime Minister of Denmark from 2009 to 2011 and again from 2015 to 2019. He was Leader of the Ve ...

. Kofod was a substitute member of Folketinget for a couple of months from 28 February 2023, replacing Mette Gjerskov, who was on leave of absence because of disease. Kofod withdrew from the position on 1 May, retiring from politics altogether. When Gjerskov died on 12 June 2023, Kofod confirmed again that he did not want to take her seat and become an MF again.

References

External links

Personal profile of ''Jeppe Kofod'' in the ''European Parliament's'' database of members

Official profile page on the website of the ''Socialists and Democrats''

Official website of ''Jeppe Kofod'' (in Danish)
* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Kofod, Jeppe 1974 births Living people Politicians from Copenhagen MEPs for Denmark 2014–2019 MEPs for Denmark 2019–2024 Members of the Folketing 1998–2001 Members of the Folketing 2001–2005 Members of the Folketing 2005–2007 Members of the Folketing 2007–2011 Members of the Folketing 2011–2015 Harvard Kennedy School alumni Social Democrats (Denmark) MEPs Roskilde University alumni Ministers of foreign affairs of Denmark