Rikke Karlsson (born 29 April 1965) is a Danish politician and former

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

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 ...

. She is an

Independent politician An independent politician or non-affiliated politician is a politician not affiliated with any political party or Bureaucracy, bureaucratic association. There are numerous reasons why someone may stand for office as an independent. Some politicia ...

, but she is a member of the

European Conservatives and Reformists European Conservatives and Reformists may refer to: *European Conservatives and Reformists Party (ECR Party), a soft Eurosceptic European political party *European Conservatives and Reformists Group The European Conservatives and Reformists ...

. She is a former member of the

Danish People's Party The Danish People's Party (DPP; , DF) is a nationalist and right-wing populist political party in Denmark. It was formed in 1995 by former members of the Progress Party (FrP). The party saw a period of significant growth after its founding a ...

Rikke Karlsson leaves the Danish People's Party
(19 Oct 2015) Danmarks Radio. She is the niece of fellow Danish People's Party politician

Søren Espersen Søren Espersen (born 20 July 1953) is a Danish politician, journalist, and author, who is a member of the Folketing for the Denmark Democrats. Espersen was originally elected for the Danish People's Party in 2005, and was the party's foreign aff ...

. She was elected to 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 ...

(EP) in the 2014 EP election. She was a local politician in

Rebild Municipality Rebild Municipality () is a '' kommune'' in the North Jutland Region of Denmark. It covers an area of 628 km2 and has a total population of 30,942 (2025). On 1 January 2007, Rebild Municipality was created as the result of ''Kommunalreforme ...

and

North Denmark Region The North Jutland Region (), or in some official sources, the North Denmark Region, is an administrative region of Denmark established on 1 January 2007 as part of the 2007 Danish municipal reform, which abolished the traditional counties () an ...

council 2009–2014Anders Holm Nielsen (23 May 2014
Rikke Karlsson: Fra Rebild til Bruxelles
TV2. Retrieved 6 June 2014 and has been a substitute to the Folketing Karlsson has

social pedagogy Social pedagogy describes a holistic and relationship-centred way of working in care and educational settings with people across the course of their lives. In many countries across Europe (and increasingly beyond), it has a long-standing traditio ...

and has worked as a social worker, teacher, leader of a school for children with special problems and in healthcare sector, including

psychiatry Psychiatry is the medical specialty devoted to the diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of deleterious mental disorder, mental conditions. These include matters related to cognition, perceptions, Mood (psychology), mood, emotion, and behavior. ...

. Elected a member of the municipal council in Rebild in 2009, she was a critic of the municipal authorises in the Rebild-affair where a man had sexually abused nine children, also after concern had been raised to the municipality. Karlsson's involvement in the affair was in the beginning controversial.

Ritzau Ritzaus Bureau A/S, or Ritzau for short, sometimes stylized as /ritzau/, is a Denmark, Danish news agency founded by Erik Ritzau in 1866. It collaborates with three other Scandinavian news agencies to provide Nordic News, an English-language Scan ...

(27 May 2014
PORTRÆT: DF'eren der satte Rebild-lavinen i gang
Jyllandsposten. Retrieved 6 June 2014 The affair led to the resignation of four leaders in the municipality. A candidate to the Folketing in the 2011 election, she was elected first substitute to the parliament.Kender du dem? Disse tre DF'ere er på vej til Bruxelles
Danmarks Radio. Being a candidate to the European Parliament for the third time in 2014, she was in nominated in second spot at the party's list and was elected with 7,944

preference votes Preferential voting or preference voting (PV) may refer to different election systems or groups of election systems: * Any electoral system that allows a voter to indicate multiple preferences where preferences marked are weighted or used as cont ...

. Karlsson lives in

Støvring Støvring is a town in Rebild municipality in Region Nordjylland in the geographic region of the Jutland peninsula known as ''Himmerland'' in northern Denmark. The town has a population of 9,584 (2025), and is one of the centres of industry and ret ...

and has three children.Rikke Karlsson
Dansk Folkeparti. Retrieved 6 June 2014 She is the niece of fellow Danish People's Party politician

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Karlsson, Rikke 1965 births Living people Danish People's Party politicians Danish People's Party MEPs MEPs for Denmark 2014–2019 21st-century women MEPs for Denmark