Mats Persson

Mats Persson was a special adviser to former UK Prime Minister David Cameron, first appointed in 2015.[1][2] In this role he advocated David Cameron's EU reform program and the UK's EU membership prior to the referendum on the UK's continuing membership of the EU. Following the failure of the EU reform program, the UK's rejection of EU membership and David Cameron's resignation he ceased to work for the UK Government.

He was previously director of Open Europe, a think tank which promotes ideas for political and economic reform in Europe 2010-2015.[3] He was instrumental in changing the organization's focus from being a UK think tank opposing UK involvement in further EU integration to become a European think tank advocating liberal EU wide reforms. To do so Persson recruited a pan-EU staff and co-founded and joining the advisory board of Open Europe Berlin.[4]

He has written and published on a broad range of issues relating to Europe and the European Union including the eurozone crisis,[5] institutional reform,[6] EU budget, financial regulation, trade policy, German politics and Britain's position in Europe. He tweets on European policy as "matsJpersson".[7]

Mats Persson was a regular commentator in UK and international media. He wrote a regular blog for the Daily Telegraph[8] and has written in The Times,[9] the Sunday Times,[10] The Guardian,[11] the Wall Street Journal,[12] Dagens Nyheter[13] and several other papers and publications. He has appeared numerous times on BBC Newsnight,[14][15] Sky News,[16] ITV News, CNBC and CNN as well as other European and international TV outlets.[17] He has contributed to various BBC radio programmes including The World Tonight [18] and the Today Programme.[19]

In a 2013 feature in Swedish left-leaning magazine Arena, author and journalist Katrine Kielos labelled Mats "one of the politically most influential Swedes in Europe".[20] In 2011, Mats Persson was selected by the Diplomatic Courier one of 99 influential international leaders aged 33 or under.[21] In 2014, UK Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne noted that "Mats and the Open Europe team are influencing the debate not just in the UK but right across Europe."[22]

Mats grew up in Bankeryd, Sweden. He received a bachelor's degree from Liberty University in Virginia, United States, where he attended on an athletic scholarship. He was a member of the 2004 Liberty Flames basketball team [23] that won the Big South Conference, qualifying for the NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Championship.[24] Mats was honored with the Christenberry Award for Academic Excellence by the Big South Conference, having graduated with a 4.0 Grade Point Average.[25] He received his master's degree from the London School of Economics and Political Science.

References

  1. ↑ "List of Special Advisers in post at 17 December 2015" (PDF). Gov.uk. Retrieved 5 March 2016.
  2. ↑ "Mats Persson, Sweden, The Alpha Think-Tanker". Politico Europe. Retrieved 5 March 2016.
  3. ↑ "Open Europe appoints new Director". London: Open Europe. Retrieved 12 April 2014.
  4. ↑ "Open Europe Berlin Kuratorium". Berlin: Open Europe Berlin. Retrieved 12 April 2014.
  5. ↑ Persson, Mats (June 1, 2012). Better Off Out? The Short-Term Options for Greece Inside and Outside of the Euro (PDF). London: Open Europe. ISBN 978-1-907668-25-8. Retrieved 12 April 2014.
  6. ↑ Persson, Mats (August 12, 2012). "Chapter 2: The Political Efficiency of the EU". In Zimmermann, Hubert. Key Controversies in European Integration. Palgrave Macmillan. pp. 30–40. ISBN 978-1-137-00614-1.
  7. ↑ "Mats Persson (@matsJpersson) op Twitter". Twitter. Retrieved 12 April 2012.
  8. ↑ "Mats Persson – Telegraph Blogs". London: Blogs.telegraph.co.uk. Retrieved 12 April 2014.
  9. ↑ "Cameron has no plan for EU reform. Here's one for him". The Times. UK. 19 December 2013. Retrieved 12 April 2014.
  10. ↑ "Sunday Times Opinion: Stop there, Brussels: let us locals take over". The Sunday Times. UK. 12 September 2011. Retrieved 12 November 2014.
  11. ↑ "Mats Persson: Ten Years On: What Britain can learn from the Swedish euro referendum". The Guardian. UK. 14 September 2013. Retrieved 12 April 2014.
  12. ↑ "Mats Persson: After the German elections". The Wall Street Journal. New York. 17 September 2013. Retrieved 12 April 2014.
  13. ↑ "DN Debatt: Flera skäl för Sverige att stödja Camerons EU-vision". Dagens Nyheter. Stockholm. 1 January 2013. Retrieved 12 April 2014.
  14. ↑ "In the news". Open Europe. 16 January 2013. Retrieved 10 April 2014.
  15. ↑ "In the news". Open Europe. 12 October 2012. Retrieved 10 April 2014.
  16. ↑ "In the news". Open Europe. 17 March 2013. Retrieved 10 April 2014.
  17. ↑ "In The News". Open Europe. April 2014. Retrieved 10 April 2014.
  18. ↑ "In the news". Open Europe. 22 June 2012. Retrieved 10 April 2014.
  19. ↑ "EU institutions could be used for eurozone-specific purposes under new 'fiscal treaty'". Open Europe. 2 March 2012. Retrieved 10 April 2014.
  20. ↑ Arena (tidskrift)"Portratt: Mats Persson". Arena. London. 19 June 2013. Retrieved 12 April 2014.
  21. ↑ "Diplomatic Courier: Top 99 under 33". 5 September 2011. Retrieved 12 April 2014.
  22. ↑ The Sunday Telegraph"Osborne's 6'7 Europe Guru". The Sunday Telegraph. London. 18 January 2014. Retrieved 12 April 2014.
  23. ↑ "Liberty Flames Men's Basketball Media Guide, 2003-2004". Lynchburg, Virginia: Liberty Flames.
  24. ↑ "NCAA Tournament history: Liberty Flames". ESPN. Retrieved 12 April 2014.
  25. ↑ "George A. Christenberry Award". Charlotte, North Carolina: Big South Network. Retrieved 12 April 2014.
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