Member of the Danish Parliament, 1998–2014 Jeppe Kofod was a member of the Danish Parliament, the
Folketing, first elected after the
1998 Danish general election for the constituency of
Bornholm. During his time in the Danish Parliament he served as chairman of the Committee on Foreign Affairs. Denmark's
age of consent is 15. Kofod commented at the time that he had shown a 'lack of judgment' in having a 'morally inappropriate relationship'. The episode led, among other things, to Kofod resigning from his committee posts and his post as foreign affairs spokesman for the Social Democrats. The chairman of DSU,
Jacob Bjerregaard, stated that Kofod had violated DSU's rules and that he was no longer welcome in DSU.
Member of the European Parliament, 2014–2019 Kofod was the head of the
Danish Socialists and Democrats' delegation and vice-president of the
Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats in the
European Parliament. Serving his first term, he was elected to the
European Parliament at the
2014 European Parliament election, with a total of 170.739 personal votes. He was re-elected in
2019. During his time in the European Parliament, Kofod served on the following
Committees and
Delegations: • Vice-chair, European Parliament Delegation for Relations with the United States •
Rapporteur, European Parliament Special Committee on Tax Rulings and Other Measures Similar in Nature or Effect (TAXE 2) • Member,
European Parliament Committee on Industry, Research and Energy • Substitute,
European Parliament Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs • Substitute, European Parliament Delegation for relations with the
NATO Parliamentary Assembly In addition to his committee assignments, Kofod was a member of the following
intergroups in the
European Parliament: • European Forum for Renewable Energy Sources (EUFORES) • Intergroup on the Welfare and Conservation of Animals •
Intergroup on LGBTI Rights Kofod was also a supporter of the MEP Heart Group, a group of parliamentarians who have an interest in promoting measures that help reduce the burden of
cardiovascular diseases (CVD). He sat on the executive committee of the
Association of European Parliamentarians with Africa (AWEPA). Following the
2019 elections, Kofod was part of a cross-party working group in charge of drafting the European Parliament's four-year work program on foreign policy.
Minister of Foreign Affairs, 2019–2022 , Greenlandic premier
Múte Bourup Egede, and Greenlandic foreign minister
Pele Broberg in
Kangerlussuaq, Greenland in 2021 On 27 June 2019, Kofod was named
minister for foreign affairs in the
Frederiksen Cabinet. Early during his tenure, Kofod and Frederiksen faced a diplomatic incident when
U.S. president Donald Trump confirmed his interest in buying
Greenland from Denmark; at the time, Kofod said the island could not be bought "in dollars, yuan or roubles". He later approved the establishment of a U.S. consulate in Greenland's capital Nuuk, which was widely seen as part of a broader move by the U.S. to expand its diplomatic and commercial presence in Greenland and the Arctic. In 2020, he welcomed a $12.1 million economic aid package from the U.S. government for Greenland. Following the
Bucha massacre in April 2022, Kofod expelled 15 Russian diplomats and embassy staff from Copenhagen, joining other European Union countries in its response to alleged war crimes by Russian troops in Ukraine. In June 2022, Kofod summoned the Russian ambassador when a Russian warship twice violated Danish
territorial waters north of the Baltic Sea island of
Bornholm where a democracy festival attended by senior officials and business people – including Prime Minister Frederiksen – was taking place. At the
2022 Danish general election in November 2022 Kofod was not elected to the
Folketing, and when a new government was formed in December, he was replaced by former prime minister
Lars Løkke Rasmussen. Kofod was a substitute member of Folketinget for a couple of months from 28 February 2023, replacing
Mette Gjerskov, who was on leave of absence because of disease. Kofod withdrew from the position on 1 May, retiring from politics altogether. When Gjerskov died on 12 June 2023, Kofod confirmed again that he did not want to take her seat and become an MF again. ==References==