their environmental records. their environmentalrecords. campaigner andtookmanyinternational companiestotaskover national politicsbutalsoonthe worldstage.Shewasafearless It wasinthispostthatshebegan makinghernamenotonlyin 1991 to1994,Lindhwasappointed ministerfor theenvironment. After servingasacitycouncillorfor cultureinStockholmfrom chair oftheSwedishSocialDemocraticYouth in1984. for theSocialDemocratsin1982andbecamefirstfemale six months at a district court, Anna won her first seat in parliament University where she studied law. After graduating and working for She remained active in politics throughout her time at Uppsala ter at13. at theageof12before becomingspokesperson for itslocalchap- life inpoliticsbeganwhenshejoinedtheSocialDemocraticYouth was bornon19June1957inEnskede, asuburbofStockholm.Her Ylva AnnaMariaLindh,thedaughterofanartistandateacher, Early life on theworldstage(1957–2003) Anna Lindh:’s pro-Europevoice Sweden’s pro-Europevoice

© 2001 - EP but wasmurderedjustdaysbefore thevote tookplace. ‘Yes’ campaigninthereferendum tojointheeuroin2003, Republic ofMacedonia.SheledtheSwedish government’s her diplomacyhelptoavert warinthethenformer Yugoslav Sweden’s presidencyoftheEuropeanUnionin2001when Staunchly pro-Europe, Lindh rose to wider prominence during outspoken andcommittedforeign minister. later achieved internationalrecognitionasSweden’s came 12years laterasministerfor theenvironment.She winning aseatinparliament1982.Herfirstcabinetpost Born in1957,LindhstudiedlawatUppsalaUniversity before politics. was oneofthemostinfluentialfiguresinmodernSwedish Active inpoliticsfromayoung age,YlvaAnnaMariaLindh EU Pioneers grounds thattheUnitedNations hadnotsanctionedit.Shealso ‘lone ranger’for goingtowarwithIraq,opposingthe onthe She oncefamouslydescribed PresidentGeorgeW. Bushasa towards the . opponent ofthenIsraeliPrimeMinisterArielSharon’s policy porter ofthetwo-statesolutioninMiddleEastandafierce criticised RussianactionsinChechnya;shewasaforthright sup- cifically whenitcametohumanrights.InMoscow, sheseverely critic ofothercountries,includingsomeSweden’s allies,spe- Anna hadareputationasstraighttalker andanoutspoken successor asbothheadofthepartyandeventuallycountry. assumed thattheSwedishleaderwasgroominghertobe his media nicknamedher“Persson’s crown princess”asitwas minister in 1998 in Prime Minister Goran Persson’s cabinet. The A risingstarinSwedishpolitics,Lindhwasappointedforeign On theworldstage

EN castigated the while in Washington over the treat- referendum in September 2003 on adoption of the . Lindh ment of prisoners at Guantanamo Bay. worked the campaign trail almost fulltime, delivering impas- sioned speeches, and even persuaded her Greek and German counterparts, and , to come to Sweden to add their voices to the pro-euro campaign. ‘A person can be killed, but Tragic death

ideas cannot’ Tragically, she was attacked on 10 September 2003 by a knife- wielding assailant while shopping in a central depart-

From Anna Lindh’s eulogy for at his funeral, ment store, the day before she was due to take part in a 15 March 1986 televised debate on the referendum, and three days before the referendum took place. She died the next day.

In the end, Sweden rejected the euro with 55.9% voting against Campaigning for the euro adopting the single currency and 42.0% voting in favour.

It was the issue of Europe that really fired Lindh’s political pas- Anna Lindh’s legacy lives on through the initiatives and pro- sion. She played a major role in developing Sweden’s presence grammes established in her honour. These include the Anna in the European Union as she chaired meetings of foreign min- Lindh Euro-Mediterranean Foundation for the Dialogue Between isters during the Swedish presidency of the EU in 2001. When Cultures, a network of civil society organisations dedicated to conflict was looming in 2001 in the former Yugoslav Republic of promoting intercultural dialogue in the Mediterranean region. Macedonia (now ) Anna Lindh, as Europe’s chief The Anna Lindh Prize is awarded each year to a person or insti- envoy, was instrumental in bringing together the strands of the tution with ‘the courage to fight indifference, prejudice, oppres- EU’s usually disparate foreign policy in a harmonised action that sion and injustices in order to promote a good life for all people helped avoid war. in an environment marked by respect for human rights’. Previous recipients include US politician and diplomat , Lindh remained staunchly pro-European throughout her career, and Eren Keskin, the Turkish human rights lawyer working on while serving a country that has sometimes been sceptical of LGBT+ issues, and women’s and refugee rights. the EU. She was a leading campaign figure in Sweden’s

EU Pioneers