Cecilia Malmström

Cecilia Malmström is Global Outlook Senior Advisor at Lindholmen Science Park in Göteborg, Sweden and a Nonresident Senior Fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics. She served as European Commissioner for Trade from 2014 to 2019, having previously served as European Commissioner for Home Affairs from 2010 to 2014. She is Vice Chair of the MPI Board of Trustees.

As Commissioner for Trade, she represented the European Union in the World Trade Organization (WTO) and other international trade fora. She was responsible for negotiating bilateral trade agreements with key countries, including concluded agreements with Canada, Japan, Singapore, and Mexico. From February 2010 until November 2014, she was the European Commissioner in charge of Home Affairs issues, including border control, asylum, and migration. In this role, she oversaw the European Union's fight against serious international crime and trafficking, as well as creation of a common asylum policy in Europe.

Prior to her appointment as Commissioner, Dr. Malmström was a Member of the European Parliament from 1999 to 2006, working mainly on foreign affairs, human rights, EU enlargement, and constitutional issues. After the Swedish national elections of 2006, she was appointed Minister for EU Affairs by the Swedish government. She was responsible for EU issues such as the Lisbon Treaty, the EU strategy for growth and employment, and review of the EU budget. It was also her job to build support for the European Union among Swedish citizens. In the second half of 2009, she coordinated the preparatory work and implementation of the Swedish Presidency of the European Union.

Dr. Malmström holds a Ph.D. in political science from the Department of Political Science of Göteborgs University, where she also worked for a number of years as a researcher and taught European politics, among other things. She lives in Göteborg with her family.