Danish politician
Karsten Hønge stood as a candidate for the
Socialist People's Party in the
2019 European parliamentary election. He was second on the
party's list, and was elected as one of its two MEPs (the other being
Margrete Auken) in
Denmark. However he chose not to take his seat to seek re-election in the
2019 Danish general election. Peter-Hansen was nominated to become an MEP, in his place, as she had received the next highest number of votes of any of the party's candidates. At the age of 21 years, 3 months, and 3 days, she is the youngest ever MEP. The previous youngest was the German politician
Ilka Schröder who was one month older when she was elected as an
Alliance 90/The Greens MEP in the
1999 European parliamentary election. In order to concentrate on her political career, Peter-Hansen
dropped out of her economics course at
Copenhagen University. In the
European Parliament, Peter-Hansen is a member of the
Committee on Employment and Social Affairs, in which she serves as coordinator for the Greens, and a substitute member of the
Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs. In addition to her committee assignments, Peter-Hansen is part of the parliament's delegation for relations with India. She is also a member of the
European Parliament Intergroup on LGBT Rights and the European Parliament Intergroup on Trade Unions. Since 2021, Peter-Hansen has been serving as vice-chair of the
Greens–European Free Alliance group, under the leadership of co-chairs
Ska Keller and
Philippe Lamberts. In September 2022, Peter-Hansen was the recipient of the People's Choice: Best Young Leader Award at
The Parliament Magazine's annual
MEP Awards In March 2024, she was one of twenty MEPs to be given a "Rising Star" award at that year's
MEP Awards ceremony. ==Political positions==