Per Gahrton

Carl Per Gunnar Gahrton (born 2 February 1943 in Malmö) is a Swedish politician. He was a Member of Parliament, holding a seat for the Liberal Party from 1976 to 1979, and for the Green Party from 1988 to 1991, and again in 1994-95. Later, he was a Member of the European Parliament from 1995 to 2004.

Early in his career, Gahrton was elected chairman of the youth and student wing of the Swedish Liberal Party, in 1969. In 1971 he was challenged for the post by Lars Leijonborg due to ideological tensions; Leijonborg succeeded him after a narrow win. Gahrton entered in 1976 as a Member of Parliament for the Liberal Party. He was re-elected in 1979 but left the parliament and the party the same year, expressing disenchantment with the parliament bureaucracy. Turning to the nascent Green Party, in the 1980s he was one of its founders in 1981 and one of its more high-profile men for many years, one of relatively few in the new party who had several years of prior experience of professional politics before joining; he served as one of two spokespersons for the party from 1984 to 1985. He also served as a Member of Parliament for the Green Party from 1988 to 1991 and again from 1994 to 1995. From 1995 to 2004 he was a Member of the European Parliament. He is an outspoken eurosceptic and was one of the leading proponents of the "no"-side in the 1994 Swedish European Union membership referendum (which was won by the "yes"-side).

Gahrton currently serves as Presidentof the Swedish Association for Solidarity with Palestine.

...
Wikipedia