Pernille Weiss (born 12 March 1968) is a Danish politician and businesswoman who was elected as a Conservative People's Party (part of the

EPP Group The European People's Party Group (EPP Group or simply EPP) is a political group of the European Parliament consisting of deputies (MEPs) from the member parties of the European People's Party (EPP). Sometimes it also includes independent MEP ...

)

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) in the 2019 European parliamentary election in

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 the chief executive officer of Archimed, a healthcare and architectural consultancy.

Early life and career

Pernille Weiss was born on 12 March 1968 in Gamborg,

Middelfart Middelfart is a town in central Denmark, with a population of 16,749 . The town is the municipal seat of Middelfart Municipality on the island of Funen (). Etymology The name Middelfart, first recorded as "Mæthælfar" in Valdemar's Census Book ...

. She grew up in

Funen Funen (, ), is the third-largest List of islands of Denmark, island of Denmark, after Zealand and North Jutlandic Island, Vendsyssel-Thy, with an area of . It is the List of islands by area, 165th-largest island in the world. It is located in th ...

. Her early education was at the Middelfart Gymnasium. Weiss joined the Conservative People's Party at the age of 15. She qualified as a nurse in 1992 from the Odense School of Nursing in Funen and later specialised in forensic nursing. From 1996 to 2004 she was a member of the Funen County Council. Weiss obtained a Cand.scient. in Health Sciences from the

University of Southern Denmark The University of Southern Denmark (, SDU) has campuses located in Southern Denmark and on Zealand. It offers a number of joint programmes in co-operation with the University of Flensburg and the University of Kiel. Contacts with regional indu ...

in 2004. Four years later, Weiss gained a master's degree in Leadership and Innovation from

Copenhagen Business School Copenhagen Business School (Danish'': Handelshøjskolen i København'') often abbreviated and referred to as CBS (also in Danish), is a public university situated in Copenhagen, Denmark and is considered one of the most prestigious business scho ...

. In the same year, she founded Archimed, a healthcare, and architectural consultancy. She is its chief executive officer. Weiss had previously worked for consulting firm COWI and architectural firm Arkitema. In 2017, she became a certified sexologist.

Member of the European Parliament

Weiss stood as a candidate in the 2019 European parliamentary election for the Conservative People's Party. She was first on her party's list. Weiss was elected as its sole MEP in

. 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 ...

, Weiss is part of the

European People's Party Group The European People's Party Group (EPP Group or simply EPP) is a political group of the European Parliament consisting of deputies (MEPs) from the member parties of the European People's Party (EPP). Sometimes it also includes independent ME ...

. Since 2019, she has been serving on the Committee on Industry, Research, and Energy. In this capacity, she has been the parliament's

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 ...

on the European Union's Pharmaceutical Directive (2023) and the Waste Shipment Regulation (2023).Carlo Martuscelli (30 May 2023)
Danish conservative MEP deselected over bullying complaints
''

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 ...

''. In addition to her committee assignments, Weiss is part of the delegation to the ACP–EU Joint Parliamentary Assembly. She is also a member of the European Parliament Intergroup on Climate Change, Biodiversity and Sustainable Development, the European Parliament Intergroup on Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises (SMEs), the

European Parliament Intergroup on LGBT Rights The European Parliament Intergroup on LGBTI Rights is an intergroup of the European Parliament's legislators which focuses on the rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex (LGBTI) persons both inside and outside the European Uni ...

and the MEP Interest Group on Obesity & Health System Resilience. In May 2023, an internal investigation uncovered reports of bullying in Weiss’ office. Shortly after, the Conservative People's Party under its leader

Søren Pape Poulsen Søren Pape Poulsen (31 December 1971 – 2 March 2024) was a Danish politician who served as a member of the Folketing for the Conservative People's Party (Denmark), Danish Conservative Party and its leader from 2014 until his death. He was pre ...

announced that it would not nominate her as a candidate for the

2024 European Parliament election The 2024 European Parliament election was held in the European Union (EU) between 6 and 9 June 2024. It was the tenth Elections to the European Parliament, parliamentary election since the 1979 European Parliament election, first direct electio ...

. Weiss appealed the decision at the party's annual conference in

Herning Herning () is a Denmark, Danish town in the Central Denmark Region of the Jutland peninsula. It is the main town and the administrative seat of Herning Municipality. Herning has a population of 51,782 (1 January 2025)

on 23 September, where it was affirmed with 440 delegates' votes for and 145 against.

Political positions

Weiss has described her priorities in the parliament to be to strengthen the

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational union, supranational political union, political and economic union of Member state of the European Union, member states that are Geography of the European Union, located primarily in Europe. The u ...

's energy and climate policy, and controls on immigration.

Personal life

Weiss has been married twice and has three children.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Weiss, Pernille 1968 births Living people MEPs for Denmark 2019–2024 21st-century women MEPs for Denmark University of Southern Denmark alumni Copenhagen Business School alumni Conservative People's Party (Denmark) MEPs People from Middelfart Municipality Local politicians in Denmark