Morten Messerschmidt

Morten Messerschmidt
Messerschmidt in 2023
Leader of the Danish People's Party
Incumbent
Assumed office 23 January 2022
Preceded by	Kristian Thulesen Dahl
Member of the European Parliament
In office 1 July 2009 – 30 June 2019
Constituency	Denmark
Member of the Folketing
Incumbent
Assumed office 5 June 2019
Constituency	North Zealand
In office 8 February 2005 – 18 June 2009
Constituency	East Jutland (2007—2009) Aarhus (2005—2007)
Personal details
Born	(1980-11-13) 13 November 1980 (age 44) Frederikssund, Denmark
Political party	Danish People's Party
Spouse	Dot Wessmann
Alma mater	University of Copenhagen

Morten Messerschmidt (born 13 November 1980) is a Danish politician and since 2022 leader of the Danish People's Party.^[1] He was an elected Member of the Folketing at the 2019 Danish general election having previously served from 2005 to 2009.^[2] At the 2014 European Parliament election, he was elected a Member of the European Parliament for Denmark with 465,758; the highest number of personal votes ever cast at a Danish election.

Personal life

Morten Messerschmidt was born on 13 November 1980 in Frederikssund as the son of worker Carsten Christoffersen and municipal secretary Inge Messerschmidt.^[1] He graduated from Sankt Annæ Gymnasium in 1999 and became a cand.jur (Master of Laws) from the University of Copenhagen in 2009.^[1] He served as a church singer in Islebjerg Church from 1999 to 2005.^[3] In 2003, Messerschmidt participated in the TV program Big Brother V.I.P. with i.a. Carl-Mar Møller, Helena Blach Lavrsen and Lise Lotte Lohmann.^[4][5] The latter later introduced him to Bakkens Hvile singer Dot Wessman, with whom he became girlfriend and cohabitant with in 2007.^[6] Together in 2008, they released and jointly performed on the Christmas album Jul i Europa (Christmas in Europe).^[7] On 9 June 2015, Messerschmidt announced that they had separated^[8] later announcing their reunion on 1 July 2016.^[9]

In November 2019, Messerschmidt's sister, Line Messerschmidt, was murdered in a double homicide by Martin Christensen Degn;^[10] after which in 2021 Morten became the legal guardian of her children.^[11]

Political career

Early career

Messerschmidt was a member of the national committee of the Danish People's Party Youth 2000–2005. He was political deputy chairman of the youth party 2001–2005.^[1] In 2002, he founded the association Kritiske Licensbetalere, of which he was also chairman.^[12]

Messerschmidt was convicted in 2002, receiving a suspended sentence of prison for 14 days for violating the Danish hate speech law by publishing material that attempted to link Islamic societies to rape, violence and forced marriages.^[13][14]

Between 2003 and 2005 he was assistant to the Danish People's Party's European parliamentarian Mogens Camre

First election to the Folketing

Before taking his seat in the European Parliament, Messerschmidt was a member of the Danish Parliament, the Folketing from 8 February 2005, having won his seat with 3,812 personal votes,^[15] and being re-elected in 2007, this time getting 11,466 votes.

For a short period of time in 2007, Messerschmidt left the Danish People's Party due to accusations of showing Nazi sympathies, as he according to the tabloid newspaper B.T. had praised Adolf Hitler in Tivoli.^[16] In 2009, Messerschmidt won a lawsuit against the former editor-in-chief of B.T. Arne Ullum and journalist Jacob Heinel Jensen which both were punished with 10 daily fines of 500 kr. each and had to pay compensation of 25,000 kr. for defamation. The court accepted Messerschmidt's explanation that his use of the Nazi salute "Heil" and singing of Deutschland, Deutschland über alles was not an attempt to praise Hitler, but made as a joke.^[17][18]

In the European Parliament

Messerschmidt as a member of the European Parliament, February 2013

At the 2009 European Parliament election, Messerschmidt was elected to the European Parliament, winning his seat with 284,500 personal votes, the highest number of personal votes among all the Danish candidates in the election.^[19]

Messerschmidt has been associated with the counter-jihad movement, and has been described as a proponent of the ideology associated with the blog Gates of Vienna^[20] for which he gave an interview at a 2009 conference in Washington, D.C.^[21] He has in counterjihad-associated interviews "blamed left-wing parties and governments for capitulating to the Muslim ‘invasion’,"^[20] and stated that the European Union would be overrun by a civil war with Muslims in 20 years.^[21]

At the 2014 European Parliament election, he received 465,758 personal votes, the highest number of personal votes ever received in any European Parliament election in Denmark.^[22] Afterwards he was the group leader of his party in the European Parliament from 2014 until his resignation in August 2016.

In 2019, Messerschmidt was elected to the Folketing with 7,554 personal votes, and in 2020 became vice chairman of the DF, replacing Søren Espersen.^[23]

Fraud allegation and acquittal

In August 2016, Messerschmidt resigned as EU parliament group leader for the DPP after allegations of fraud concerning misuse of EU funds related to the foundations FELD and MELD that Messerschmidt had managed. OLAF launched an investigation into the case, and Messerschmidt was reported to the police for identity theft by MEP Rikke Karlsson, who had left the DPP in 2015 in protest against Messerschmidt's alleged withholding of information about the foundations. Karlsson and then-fellow DPP MEP Jørn Dohrmann had been elected to the board of MELD without their knowledge. Ekstra Bladet was nominated for a European Press Prize for investigative reporting in 2017 for their coverage of the scandal.^[24]

In 2021, he was charged with misuse of 98.000 DKK in EU funds.^[25] On August 13, 2021, he was sentenced to 6 months of conditional prison, but The High Court of Eastern Denmark annulled the verdict in December 2021 due to the Independent Police Complaints Authority of Denmark finding the judge to have a conflict of interest.^[26] On 21 December 2022 Messerschmidt was acquitted of all charges by the Court of Frederiksberg.^[27]

Bibliography

• Den kristne arv (2021)
• Farvel til folkestyret: hvordan EU ødelægger frihed, folk og folkestyre - og hvad vi kan gøre ved det (2020)
• Overlad det trygt til Bruxelles – Debat om EU (2015, co-author)
• Dagbog fra EU. Om EU's spild af dine penge (2013)
• Intet over og intet ved siden af ... ‒ EU-Domstolen og dens aktivisme (2013)

References

1. "Morten Messerschmidt". Folketinget (in Danish). Retrieved 2023-04-01.
2. "Morten Messerschmidt (DF)". Ft.dk. Retrieved 16 August 2021.
3. "Messerschmidt: Politiker, kirkesanger og vinelsker". DR (in Danish). 2014-05-26. Retrieved 2023-04-01.
4. Sjöström, Af Af Ditte Giese og Louise (2003-05-09). "BB: Pigernes ven røg ud". ekstrabladet.dk (in Danish). Retrieved 2023-04-01.
5. Nyhedsbureau, Rikke Gjøl Mansø, Berlingske (2015-01-03). "Minister til Messerschmidt: »Er det ikke dig fra Big Brother?«". Berlingske.dk (in Danish). Retrieved 2023-04-01.
6. Karker, reas (2009-06-09). "Bakkesangerinde flytter med Messerschmidt til Bruxelles". www.bt.dk (in Danish). Retrieved 2023-04-01.
7. "Morten Messerschmidt udgiver jule-cd". Christiansborg (in Danish). 7 December 2008. Retrieved 2023-04-01.
8. "Dot og Messerschmidt går fra hinanden: - Det er smertefuldt | GO'". 2015-06-10. Archived from the original on 2015-06-10. Retrieved 2023-04-01.
9. Kragh, Julie (2016-07-01). "Dot og Messerschmidt afslører: Derfor er vi sammen igen". www.bt.dk (in Danish). Retrieved 2023-04-01.
10. Ruus, Af Mette Fleckner • Sune Fischer • Torsten (2019-11-15). "Søster til Morten Messerschmidt myrdet". ekstrabladet.dk (in Danish). Retrieved 2023-04-01.
11. "Morten Messerschmidt bliver værge til søsters børn: - Børnene varmer midt i tragedien". Nyheder.tv2.dk. 10 March 2021. Retrieved 16 August 2021.
12. kritiskelicensbetalere.dk, arkiveret version
13. Barker, Alex (4 June 2014). "MEPs with criminal records join Tories' eurosceptic group". Financial Times. Retrieved 25 June 2014.
14. "OVERBLIK Disse politikere er også dømt for racisme". DR (in Danish). 4 July 2019. Retrieved 2 August 2023.
15. "Afstemningsresultater FV-2005" (in Danish). Im.dk. Archived from the original on June 11, 2009. Retrieved 2010-07-13.
16. "Hyldede Hitler i Tivoli". Bt.dk. 27 April 2007. Retrieved 16 August 2021.
17. "Messerschmidt vandt over B.T." DR (in Danish). 26 February 2009. Retrieved 2 August 2023.
18. Ritzau; Nielsen, Karen (26 February 2009). "Retten: Messerschmidt hyldede ikke Hitler | stiften.dk". stiften.dk (in Danish). Retrieved 2 August 2023.
19. "Personlige stemmer ved Europa-Parlamentsvalget 7. juni 2009" (PDF). Dst.dk. Retrieved 16 August 2021.
20. Ahmed, Nafeez (25 March 2019). "'White genocide' theorists worm their way into the West's mainstream". Le Monde diplomatique.
21. Ahmed, Nafeez (22 June 2016). "The powerful neo-Nazi network destroying the European Union from within". Medium.
22. "Messerschmidt alene var i 2014 større end DF i 2019" (in Danish). TV2. 27 May 2019. Retrieved 2019-05-27.
23. "Messerschmidt ny næstformand i Dansk Folkeparti". Dr.dk. 3 August 2020. Retrieved 16 August 2021.
24. "European Press Prize 2017 nomination". European Press Prize. Retrieved 2018-12-04.
25. "Morten Messerschmidt bliver tiltalt af Bagmandspolitiet for dokumentfalsk". Dr.dk. 19 April 2021. Retrieved 16 August 2021.
26. "Messerschmidt dømt for svig med EU-støtte - anker dommen på stedet". Nyheder.tv2.dk. 13 August 2021. Retrieved 16 August 2021.
27. "Dom: Morten Messerschmidt frifindes for snyd med EU-midler". 21 December 2022.

External links

• Biography on the website of the Danish Parliament (Folketinget)

Political offices
Preceded by Kristian Thulesen Dahl	Leader of the Danish People's Party 2022–	Succeeded by Incumbent