Fredrick Erik Federley (; born 6 May 1978) is a Swedish former politician and

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 Sweden. He was a member of the Centre Party, part of the

Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe The Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe (ALDE; , ADLE) was a transnational alliance between two European political parties, the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe Party and the European Democratic Party. ALDE had political ...

. He was a member of the

Parliament of Sweden The Riksdag ( , ; also or , ) is the parliament and the supreme decision-making body of the Kingdom of Sweden. Since 1971, the Riksdag has been a unicameral parliament with 349 members (), elected proportionally and serving, since 1994, f ...

from 2006 to 2014 and MEP since 1 July 2014. On 24 September 2015 he was elected Second Vice Chairman of the Centre Party. Federley has held several posts within the Center Party. From 2002 to 2007, he was the chairman of the youth league, Centre Party Youth (CUF). He was first elected to the parliament of Sweden in 2006, and remained a member up until 2014 (with a parental leave in between). In 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 ...

, Federley passed the previous MEP for the Center Party Kent Johansson, in personal votes, whom he thereby replaced. He was Vice President of the

Renew Europe Renew Europe (or simply Renew) is a liberal, centrist to centre-right, pro-European political group of the European Parliament founded for the ninth European Parliament term. The group is the successor to the Alliance of Liberals and Dem ...

group in the European parliament since July 2019. He left politics on 11 December 2020, after heavy criticism for having a relationship during 2020 with a man who was on parole for child rape.

Youth and education

Federley was born in Munktorp in

Köping Municipality Köping Municipality () is a municipality in Västmanland County in central Sweden. Its seat is located in the city of Köping. The municipality was created in 1971, when the former ''City of Köping'' was merged with the municipalities of Kolsva ...

Västmanland County Västmanland County () is a Counties of Sweden, county or ''län'' in central Sweden. It borders the counties of Södermanland County, Södermanland, Örebro County, Örebro, Gävleborg County, Gävleborg, Dalarna County, Dalarna and Uppsala Coun ...

, but grew up in nearby

Kungsör Kungsör is a locality and the seat of Kungsör Municipality in Västmanland County, Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borde ...

. He did his

military service Military service is service by an individual or group in an army or other militia, air forces, and naval forces, whether as a chosen job (volunteer military, volunteer) or as a result of an involuntary draft (conscription). Few nations, such ...

Uppland Regiment The Uppland Regiment (), designation I 8, was a Swedish Army infantry regiment that traced its origins back to the 16th century. It was disbanded in 1957. The regiment's soldiers were originally recruited from the province of Uppland, and it was ...

(S1) in

Enköping Enköping is a locality and the seat of Enköping Municipality, Uppsala County, Sweden with 30,000 inhabitants in 2018. Geography Enköping is situated near Lake Mälaren, about 78 km west of Stockholm. A comparably large number of S ...

from 1997 to 1998. He later went on to study

legal Law is a set of rules that are created and are law enforcement, enforceable by social or governmental institutions to regulate behavior, with its precise definition a matter of longstanding debate. It has been variously described as a Socia ...

- and

political science Political science is the scientific study of politics. It is a social science dealing with systems of governance and Power (social and political), power, and the analysis of political activities, political philosophy, political thought, polit ...

Örebro University Örebro University () is a public university in Örebro, Sweden. The university has its roots in the Örebro campus of Uppsala University, and became an independent state university college in 1977, Örebro University College (''Högskolan i Ö ...

. He later moved to

Jakobsberg Jakobsberg is a suburban area (pop. ca 32 643 in the year 2022) within Stockholm urban area, and the seat of Järfälla Municipality, Stockholm County in Sweden. Jakobsberg, Järfälla's commercial and administrative centre, grew up around ...

and to work as a political editor of the newspaper '. Federley is openly gay.

Political career

Career in local politics

Federley joined the Centre Party Youth during the 1994 election, and started a local branch of the organization together with a friend. A year and a half later he became vice chairman of the Centre Party Youth Västmanland district, and the following year chairman of the district (a post he kept until October 2000). In the 1998 election he was elected a member of the

municipal council A municipal council is the legislative body of a municipality or local government area. Depending on the location and classification of the municipality it may be known as a city council, town council, town board, community council, borough cou ...

in Kungsör. In the spring of 2000 he was elected vice chairman of the Centre Party Västmanland district (a post he kept until the spring of 2002). In the 2002 election he was the Centre Party candidate to receive most votes in the Västmanland County constituency, but due to the 8%-rule regarding personal votes the mandate instead went to the first name on the list. On 18 October 2002 Federley was unanimously elected new chairman of the Centre Party Youth, succeeding . He had the post until May 2007, when Magnus Andersson was elected.

Member of the Swedish Parliament, 2006–2014

In the 2006 election Federley was elected a member of the Riksdag for the Stockholm Municipality constituency, along with the actress Solveig Ternström. He was a member of the Riksdag's Committee on Social Insurance and the Swedish delegation to the Parliamentary Assembly of the

Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) is a regional security-oriented intergovernmental organization comprising member states in Europe, North America, and Asia. Its mandate includes issues such as arms control, the p ...

(OSCE), and a substitute to the

Committee on European Union Affairs The Committee on European Union Affairs (, also called ''EU-nämnden'') is a Parliamentary committees in the Riksdag, governmental body in the Swedish Riksdag, where the Riksdag and the Swedish Government consult matters and issues about the Euro ...

. He was re-elected in the 2010 election.

First mandate in the European Parliament, 2014–2019

Federley was elected

in the elections held on 25 May 2014, defeating the incumbent Center Party MEP, Kent Johansson. In parliament, he has taken seats as ordinary member of the

Committee on Industry, Research and Energy 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 ...

(ITRE) and Committee of inquiry into Emission Measurements in the Automotive Sector (EMIS); on ITRE, he serves as coordinator for ALDE. Federley is also a substitute member of the

Committee on Agriculture and Rural Development The Committee on Agriculture and Rural Development (AGRI) is a committee of the European Parliament. Responsibilities of the Committee AGRI is the European Parliament committee responsible for: #The operation and development of the Common Agricul ...

(AGRI) and the Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety (ENVI). He is vice president for the European Parliament's delegation to the

Pan-African Parliament The Pan-African Parliament (PAP), also known as the African Parliament, is the legislative body of the African Union. It held its inaugural session in March 2004. The Parliament exercises oversight, and has advisory and consultative powers, ha ...

. On 1 September 2015 Federley announced that he was running for President of the ALDE Party. He later stepped down to candidate as vice president along with the presidential candidate

Siim Kallas Siim Kallas (; born 2 October 1948) is an Estonian former politician, having served as Prime Minister of Estonia and European Commissioner. From 1972-90 Kallas was a member of the CPSU (Communist Party of the Soviet Union). In 1987, Kallas was ...

; Kallas did not make it, but Federley was elected vice president under the new president Hans van Baalen. In addition to his committee assignments, Federley is a member of the European Parliament Intergroup on Integrity (Transparency, Anti-Corruption and Organized Crime).

Second mandate in the European Parliament 2019–2020

In the

2019 European Parliament election The 2019 European Parliament election was held in the European Union (EU) between 23 and 26 May 2019. It was the ninth parliamentary election since the first direct elections in 1979. A total of 751 Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) we ...

Fredrick Federley was re-elected for a second term. After the election the ALDE-group reformed and created the new Renew Europe group. Fredrick Federley ran for president of the group against, among others,

Dacian Cioloș Dacian Julien Cioloș (; born 27 July 1969) is a Romanian Agronomy, agronomist who served as Prime Minister of Romania from November 2015 to January 2017. He previously served as Ministry of Agriculture, Forests and Rural Development (Romania), A ...

and

Sophie in 't Veld Sophia Helena "Sophie" in 't Veld (born 13 September 1963) is a Dutch politician (Volt, previously D66). She was elected as a Member of the European Parliament in 2004, and reelected in 2009, 2014 and 2019. She was D66's top candidate for the ...

but dropped out of the race after it was clear that Cioloș had secured enough votes to win. He was subsequently appointed Vice president of the group and in November 2019 he was appointed to Chair of the Renew Europe working group for Sustainability and structural policies, the working group that handles the majority of EU spending. '' '' He has taken seats as ordinary member of the Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety (ENVI) and is a substitute member of the

(AGRI).

Resignation

On 11 December 2020, Federley resigned from all politics immediately. Emma Wiesner was announced as Federleys replacement in the European Parliament the same day.

Political positions

When the Swedish Government announced that it intended to increase the penalty for purchasing sex from six months to one year's imprisonment, effective 1 July 2011, and debated and voted on this on 12 May 2011, the vote was: For 282, Against 1. The sole opponent was Federley, however he claimed that attempts were made to prevent him from speaking against the proposal by the Centre Party. In 2017, Federley was instrumental in blocking

Five Star Movement The Five Star Movement ( , M5S) is a political party in Italy, led by Giuseppe Conte. It was launched on 4 October 2009 by Beppe Grillo, a political activist and comedian, and Gianroberto Casaleggio, a web strategist. The party is primarily d ...

from joining the ALDE group, which was widely interpreted as a first sign of organized rebellion against group leader

Guy Verhofstadt Guy Maurice Marie Louise Verhofstadt (; ; born 11 April 1953) is a Belgian politician who served as the prime minister of Belgium from 1999 to 2008. He was a member of the European Parliament (MEP) from Belgium from 2009 until 2024. He was a me ...

.The 40 MEPs who matter in 2017

Politico Europe ''Politico Europe'' (stylized as ''POLITICO Europe'') is the European edition of the American news organization '' Politico'' reporting on political affairs of the European Union. Its headquarters are located in Brussels with additional offices in ...

, 9 March 2017.

References

External links

www.federley.se
, official website
federley.blogspot.com
primary (political) blog
Federleys andra sida
secondary (more personal) blog , - , - , - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Federley, Frederick 1978 births Centre Party (Sweden) MEPs LGBTQ members of the European Parliament Swedish gay politicians Living people Swedish male bloggers Members of the Riksdag from the Centre Party (Sweden) MEPs for Sweden 2014–2019 MEPs for Sweden 2019–2024 Örebro University alumni People from Kungsör Municipality