Sören Axel Wibe (8 October 1946 – 29 December 2010) was a Swedish

economist An economist is a professional and practitioner in the social sciences, social science discipline of economics. The individual may also study, develop, and apply theories and concepts from economics and write about economic policy. Within this ...

and

eurosceptic Euroscepticism, also spelled as Euroskepticism or EU-scepticism, is a political position involving criticism of the European Union (EU) and European integration. It ranges from those who oppose some EU institutions and policies and seek refor ...

politician A politician is a person who participates in Public policy, policy-making processes, usually holding an elective position in government. Politicians represent the people, make decisions, and influence the formulation of public policy. The roles ...

, born in

Östersund Östersund (; ) is an Urban areas in Sweden, urban area (Stad (Sweden), city) in Jämtland in northern Sweden. It is the seat of Östersund Municipality and the capital of Jämtland County. Östersund is located at the shores of Sweden's fifth-larg ...

. He was a

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 ...

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) 1995–1999,

member Member may refer to: * Military jury, referred to as "Members" in military jargon * Element (mathematics), an object that belongs to a mathematical set * In object-oriented programming, a member of a class ** Field (computer science), entries in ...

of the

Riksdag The Riksdag ( , ; also or , ) is the parliament and the parliamentary sovereignty, supreme decision-making body of the Kingdom of Sweden. Since 1971, the Riksdag has been a unicameral parliament with 349 members (), elected proportional rep ...

2002–2006, and party leader of the

June List The June List (, jl) was a Swedish left Eurosceptic political party. Founded in 2004, it received 14% in the European Parliament election of the same year - gaining three seats. In the elections of 2009, however, it saw a drop of 11 percentage p ...

2008-2010. In January 2009 he was elected President of the EUDemocrats - Alliance for a Europe of Democracies, a eurorealist

European political party A European political party, formerly known as a political party at European levelArticle 10.4 of the 2007 Treaty on European Union states that "political parties at European level contribute to forming European political awareness" and Regul ...

with members from 15 European countries. Wibe was professor of forest industrial economics at the

Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences The Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, or Swedish Agricultural University (, SLU) is a public research university in Sweden. Although its main campus and head office is located in Ultuna, Uppsala, the university has several campuses ...

Umeå Umeå ( , , , locally ; ; ; ; ) is a city in northeast Sweden. It is the seat of Umeå Municipality and the capital of Västerbotten County. Situated on the Ume River, Umeå is the largest Urban areas in Sweden, locality in Norrland and the t ...

. He has been one of the most prominent and vocal EU critics in the Social Democratic Party. In April 2008, he announced his resignation from the party citing a number broken promises over EU policy and rulings in the

European Court of Justice The European Court of Justice (ECJ), officially the Court of Justice (), is the supreme court of the European Union in matters of European Union law. As a part of the Court of Justice of the European Union, it is tasked with interpreting ...

, which he alleged would lead to a weakening of the

trade union A trade union (British English) or labor union (American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers whose purpose is to maintain or improve the conditions of their employment, such as attaining better wages ...

s' position and limitations on

strike action Strike action, also called labor strike, labour strike in British English, or simply strike, is a work stoppage caused by the mass refusal of employees to Working class, work. A strike usually takes place in response to employee grievances. Str ...

s in Sweden. Wibe was also actively involved in the European No Campaign against the proposed European Constitution. Shortly after leaving the Social Democrats, he was nominated as one of two new party leaders for the June List together with Annika Eriksson. In January 2009, Eriksson left her post, after which Wibe was the lone leader of the party and its top candidate for the European elections 2009.Junilistan candidat list for European elections 2009
Wibe died on 29 December 2010 in Umeå after a short illness.

Bibliography

* Miljöeffekter av skattereformen (1990) * Samhällsekonomiska aspekter på ekonomisk brottslighet (1991) * Maktens geografi : statliga kommittéers regionala sammansättning (1991) * Marknaden för skogsbränsle : en analys av hur marknaden för skogsbränsle påverkar skogsindustrins råvaruförsörjning (1992) * Långtidsutredningen 1992 (1992) * Forests : market and intervention failures : five case studies (1992) * Economic growth and the environment (1994) * Non wood benefits in forestry : survey of valuation studies (1994) * Är tillväxten exponentiell? (1994) * EU problem för svensk ekonomi (1994) * Struktur och produktivitetsutveckling inom svensk industri 1970/1990 (1995) * Efterfrågan på tyst boende (1997) * "Vaxholmsfallet och den svenska modellen" : en kort beskrivning av bakgrund, argument och sakläge (2006) * Etanolens koldioxideffekt : en översikt av forskningsläget (2010)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wibe, Soren 1946 births 2010 deaths June List politicians Leaders of political parties in Sweden Members of the Riksdag 2002–2006 Members of the Royal Swedish Academy of Agriculture and Forestry Academic staff of Umeå University Swedish Social Democratic Party MEPs MEPs for Sweden 1995–1999 Members of the Riksdag from the Social Democrats