Sara Magdalena Skyttedal Dihang (; born 6 August 1986) is a Swedish politician previously of the

Christian Democrats Christian democracy is an ideology inspired by Christian social teaching to respond to the challenges of contemporary society and politics. Christian democracy has drawn mainly from Catholic social teaching and neo-scholasticism, as well a ...

party. She was

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 ...

from

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 ...

to 2024. Between 2013 and 2016, she chaired the Young Christian Democrats. From 2016 to 2019, she was a municipal commissioner for

Linköping Linköping ( , ) is a city in southern Sweden, with around 167,000 inhabitants as of 2024. It is the seat of Linköping Municipality and the capital of Östergötland County. Linköping is also the episcopal see of the Diocese of Linköping (Chu ...

Early life and education

Skyttedal studied political science, political economy and history science at

Stockholm University Stockholm University (SU) () is a public university, public research university in Stockholm, Sweden, founded as a college in 1878, with university status since 1960. With over 33,000 students at four different faculties: law, humanities, social ...

. She has also studied rhetoric, Swedish language and law. Skyttedal participated in the beauty pageant

Miss Sweden The Miss Sweden or Miss Universe Sweden (), is the title of the Swedish beauty pageant, qualifying delegates to the Miss Universe competition. In 2009 the pageant renamed as Miss Universe Sweden and the first national final was held on 6 June 200 ...

in 2006, where she made the Top 15 in the final. It was her fiancé who had sent in an application for her to compete.

Political career

Career in national politics

Christian Democrats

In September 2002, Skyttedal became a member of the Young Christian Democrats. Since then, she was chairperson of the Haninge constituance for the party, and district group ombudsman in the municipality of Stockholm. She was also district director for the Christian Democrats for Stockholm and vice chairperson for the party in

Haninge Haninge Municipality () is a municipality in Stockholm County in east central Sweden. Its seat is located in Handen, a part of the Stockholm urban area. Haninge Municipality was formed in 1971 when ''Västerhaninge'' and ''Österhaninge'' were ...

. Skyttedal has a background in municipality politics for

; until 2010 she was first vice chairperson on the adult education and high school board, as well as juryman in

Södertörn Södertörn is a roughly triangular peninsula and artificial island in eastern Södermanland, Sweden, with an area of 1,207 km² and is bordered by: *Lake Mälaren, the Hammarby Canal and the inlet of Saltsjön (a part of the Baltic Sea) t ...

's court. At the 2010 general elections in Sweden, she was a replacement at the Haninge City council, a job she was released from in early 2011 when she moved from the municipality. At the 2009 and 2014 elections for the European parliament, Skyttedal was a candidate for her party. At the 2010 general elections she became candidate for the municipality elections in Stockholm. She has also resided in

Växjö Växjö () is a city and the seat of Växjö Municipality, Kronoberg County, Sweden. It had 71,282 inhabitants (2020) out of a Municipalities of Sweden, municipal population of 97,349 (2024). It is the administrative, cultural, and industrial ce ...

and was part of the 2014 general election for the Kronoberg constituency. Skyttedal was the chairperson of Young Christian Democrats since 11 May 2013 and a member of the Christian Democrats party executive board. She was previously first vice chairperson for the Young Christian Democrats. From May 2011 to May 2015, she was the vice chairperson for the

Youth of the European People's Party Youth of the European People's Party (YEPP) is an umbrella organization of European political youth organisations and is the official youth wing of the European People's Party. YEPP brings together 64 centre-right youth political organisations fr ...

(YEPP). In October 2015, Skyttedal became the pivotal factor in the Christian Democrats' decision to pull out of the controversial December Agreement. In July 2016, Skyttedal announced that she would resign as chairperson for the Young Christian Democrats at the next meeting, to be held in late 2016. On 8 September 2016, she announced that she had gained the office of municipal commissioner in Linköping. In the campaign for the September 2018 election for Linköping city hall, she made her party stand out as the most eager to lower municipal tax, and gained 7.5% of the votes, which – compared to 4.8% in the 2014 election – was the largest increase of any party. In December 2022, Skyttedal wrote a debate article in which she advocates decriminalization of drug use and legalization of

cannabis ''Cannabis'' () is a genus of flowering plants in the family Cannabaceae that is widely accepted as being indigenous to and originating from the continent of Asia. However, the number of species is disputed, with as many as three species be ...

. She later said that she herself had used cannabis on "a handful of occasions" in countries where it was legal. These statements were controversial within the Christian Democrats and led to criticism from party leader Ebba Busch. Skyttedal was excluded from the Christian Democrats on 19 January 2024 after having offered to be a candidate for the

Sweden Democrats The Sweden Democrats ( , SD ) is a Nationalism, nationalist and Right-wing populism, right-wing populist political party in Sweden founded in 1988. As of 2024, it is the largest member of Sweden's Right-wing politics, right-wing bloc and the sec ...

party in 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 ...

. She was replaced by Alice Teodorescu Måwe. Skyttedal ultimately left the Christian Democrats on 15 February.

Founding of Folklistan (The People's List)

On 8 April 2024, Skyttedal and former

Social Democratic Social democracy is a Social philosophy, social, Economic ideology, economic, and political philosophy within socialism that supports Democracy, political and economic democracy and a gradualist, reformist, and democratic approach toward achi ...

politician and healthcare entrepreneur Jan Emanuel, founded Folklistan (The People's List), with the intention of running candidates for the upcoming 2024 European Parliament elections.

Member of the European Parliament, 2019–2024

In 2018, Skyttedal was elected as the Christian Democrats’ leading candidate for the 2019 European elections. Since becoming a

, she has been serving on 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 ...

. In this capacity, she has been leading the committee's work on reforming the

European Union Emissions Trading System The European Union Emissions Trading System (EU ETS) is a carbon emission trading scheme (or ''cap and trade'' scheme) that began in 2005 and is intended to lower greenhouse gas emissions in the EU. Cap and trade schemes limit emissions of spec ...

since 2021. In addition to her committee assignments, Skyttedal has been part of the Parliament's delegation to the

Conference on the Future of Europe The Conference on the Future of Europe was a proposal of the European Commission and the European Parliament, announced at the end of 2019, with the aim of looking at the medium- to long-term future of the EU and what reforms should be made to ...

since 2021.

Personal life

Skyttedal is a practising Catholic. In May 2024 Skyttedal revealed that she has tried

psychedelic mushrooms A mushroom or toadstool is the fleshy, spore-bearing fruiting body of a fungus, typically produced above ground on soil or another food source. ''Toadstool'' generally refers to a poisonous mushroom. The standard for the name "mushroom" is ...

where it was

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 ...

, but did not experience any significant effects. Skyttedal believes in the potential health benefits of psychedelic mushrooms but maintains that they should not be freely available for

recreational use Recreational drug use is the use of one or more psychoactive drugs to induce an altered state of consciousness, either for pleasure or for some other casual purpose or pastime. When a psychoactive drug enters the user's body, it induces an Sub ...

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Skyttedal, Sara 1986 births 21st-century women MEPs for Sweden Christian Democrats (Sweden) MEPs Christian Democrats (Sweden) politicians Drug policy reform activists Living people MEPs for Sweden 2019–2024 People from Haninge Municipality People from Tyresö Municipality Psychedelic drug advocates Stockholm University alumni Swedish Roman Catholics Swedish cannabis activists