Mats Persson

Mats grew up in Bankeryd, Sweden. He moved at early age to the U.S., where he attended San Diego City College.[https://www.linkedin.com/in/mats-persson-15571b94/ Mats J Persson], Linkedin

He received a B.Sc. from Liberty University in Virginia, United States, where he attended on an athletic scholarship as member of the 2004 Liberty Flames basketball team.{{cite news |url= http://www.liberty.edu/flames/index.cfm?PID=10872&RosterID=6349&TeamID=6 |title= Liberty Flames Men's Basketball Media Guide, 2003-2004 |publisher= Liberty Flames |location= Lynchburg, Virginia |access-date= 2014-04-16 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20180215023418/http://www.liberty.edu/flames/index.cfm?PID=10872&RosterID=6349&TeamID=6 |archive-date= 2018-02-15 |url-status= dead }}

He then moved to London, where he received a M.Sc. from the London School of Economics and Political Science in 2006.

In January 2007 Persson was hired by the London "think tank" Open Europe as research director. Three years later, in January 2010, he became director of the group.{{cite news |url= http://www.openeurope.org.uk/Article/Page/en/LIVE?id=1485&page=PressReleases |title=Open Europe appoints new Director |publisher= Open Europe |accessdate= 12 April 2014 |location= London}} Persson contributed to its rebranding from a UK think tank opposing UK involvement in further EU integration to 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 (launched 2012).{{cite news |url= http://www.openeuropeberlin.de/Page/Board/de/LIVE |title= Open Europe Berlin Kuratorium |publisher= Open Europe Berlin |accessdate= 12 April 2014 |location= Berlin |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20140616061438/http://www.openeuropeberlin.de/Page/Board/de/LIVE |archive-date= 16 June 2014 |url-status= dead }}

He has written and published on a broad range of issues including the eurozone crisis,{{cite book|last=Persson |first=Mats |date=June 1, 2012 |title= Better Off Out? The Short-Term Options for Greece Inside and Outside of the Euro|url= http://www.openeurope.org.uk/Content/Documents/Greece_better_off_out_new.pdf |location=London |publisher=Open Europe |isbn= 978-1-907668-25-8 |accessdate= 12 April 2014}} institutional reform,{{cite book|last=Persson |first=Mats |editor-first=Hubert |editor-last=Zimmermann |title=Key Controversies in European Integration |publisher=Palgrave Macmillan |date=August 12, 2012 |pages=30–40 |chapter=Chapter 2: The Political Efficiency of the EU |isbn= 978-1-137-00614-1}} EU budget, financial regulation, trade policy, German politics and Britain's position in Europe.

During the same period Persson was a regular commentator in UK and international media. He wrote a regular blog for the Daily Telegraph{{cite news|url=http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/finance/author/matspersson// |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120110080442/http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/finance/author/matspersson/ |url-status=dead |archive-date=10 January 2012 |title=Mats Persson – Telegraph Blogs |publisher=Blogs.telegraph.co.uk |accessdate=12 April 2014 |location=London}} and has written in The Times,{{cite news|url=https://www.thetimes.com/comment/register/article/cameron-has-no-plan-for-eu-reform-heres-one-for-him-mbj38nmc082 |title=Cameron has no plan for EU reform. Here's one for him|work=The Times |location=UK |access-date=12 April 2014 |date=19 December 2013}} the Sunday Times,{{cite news|url=http://www.thesundaytimes.co.uk/sto/comment/regulars/guestcolumn/article772829.ece |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140417001331/http://www.thesundaytimes.co.uk/sto/comment/regulars/guestcolumn/article772829.ece |url-status=dead |archive-date=April 17, 2014 |title=Sunday Times Opinion: Stop there, Brussels: let us locals take over |work=The Sunday Times |location=UK |accessdate=12 November 2014|date=12 September 2011}} The Guardian,{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/sep/14/swedish-euro-referendum-britain-learn |title=Mats Persson: Ten Years On: What Britain can learn from the Swedish euro referendum|work=The Guardian |location=UK |accessdate=12 April 2014 |date=14 September 2013}} the Wall Street Journal,{{cite news|url=https://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424127887323527004579080921405174700|title=Mats Persson: After the German elections|work=The Wall Street Journal |location=New York |accessdate=12 April 2014 |date=17 September 2013}} Dagens Nyheter{{cite news|url=https://www.dn.se/debatt/flera-skal-for-sverige-att-stodja-camerons-eu-vision/ |title=DN Debatt: Flera skäl för Sverige att stödja Camerons EU-vision |work=Dagens Nyheter |location=Stockholm |date=1 January 2013 |access-date=12 April 2014}} and several other papers and publications. He has appeared numerous times on BBC Newsnight,{{cite web|url=http://www.openeurope.org.uk/Article?id=9799|title=In the news |publisher=Open Europe |date=16 January 2013 |accessdate=10 April 2014}}{{cite web|url=http://www.openeurope.org.uk/Article?id=9415|title=In the news|publisher=Open Europe |date=12 October 2012 |accessdate=10 April 2014}} Sky News,{{cite web|url=http://www.openeurope.org.uk/Article?id=100821 |title=In the news |publisher=Open Europe |date=17 March 2013 |accessdate=10 April 2014}} ITV News, CNBC and CNN as well as other European and international TV outlets.{{cite web|url=http://www.openeurope.org.uk/Page/InTheNews/en/LIVE |title=In The News |publisher=Open Europe |date=April 2014 |accessdate=10 April 2014}} He has contributed to various BBC radio programmes including The World Tonight {{cite web|url=http://www.openeurope.org.uk/Article?id=9012 |title=In the news |publisher=Open Europe |date=22 June 2012 |accessdate=10 April 2014}} and the Today Programme.{{cite web|url=http://www.openeurope.org.uk/Article?id=8566 |title=EU institutions could be used for eurozone-specific purposes under new 'fiscal treaty'|publisher=Open Europe|date=2 March 2012 |accessdate=10 April 2014}}

In 2011, Mats Persson was selected by the Diplomatic Courier one of 99 influential international leaders aged 33 or under.{{cite web|url=http://www.diplomaticourier.com/lists/top-99-under-33/2011/991-mats-persson |title= Diplomatic Courier: Top 99 under 33 |date=5 September 2011 |accessdate=12 April 2014}} 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". 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."The Sunday Telegraph{{cite news|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/economics/10580528/The-EU-is-ripe-for-change-says-Open-Europe.html|title= Osborne's 6'7 Europe Guru|work=The Sunday Telegraph |location=London |date=18 January 2014|accessdate=12 April 2014}}

In March 2010, David Rennie writing in a blog on The Economist's website, praised Open Europe for being a "Eurosceptic campaign group" that was capable of "spoon-feeding lazy journalists" and "controlling British coverage of the EU" but also noted the group was "assiduous" and "admirably multilingual".{{cite news|title=Open Europe: the Eurosceptic group that controls British coverage of the EU|url=https://www.economist.com/blogs/charlemagne/2010/03/spoon_feeding_lazy_journalists|accessdate=15 January 2014|newspaper=The Economist|date=31 March 2010}} In 2012, however, Rennie noted that Open Europe had by then fallen in with the Europhile consensus saying "the hostility of earlier reports" was "muted" under Open Europe's then director, Mats Persson, and that the group had "worked to shake off an early reputation as a partisan campaign group, which concentrated exclusively on negative aspects of the European project". He credited the group for eschewing "the nationalism of many eurosceptic groups" and defending the concept of freedom of movement, but added that the organisation "remains as much a campaign group as think tank."{{cite journal|last=Rennie|first=David|title=The Continent or the Open Sea? Does Britain have a European future?|year=2012|url=http://www.cer.org.uk/sites/default/files/publications/attachments/pdf/2012/rp_096_km-6277.pdf|accessdate=21 January 2014|publisher=Centre for European Reform}}

After Persson's departure to work for No.10, Open Europe decided not to support David Cameron's campaign to stay in the EU, adopting instead a neutral stance in the 2016 EU referendum in the UK.{{cite news| url=http://openeurope.org.uk/today/vision/ | work=Open Europe website | title=Our vision | accessdate=5 March 2016}}

Persson was recruited in 2015 as special adviser to UK Prime Minister David Cameron.{{cite news|url=https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/486829/List_of_Special_Advisers_in_post_at_17_December_2015.pdf| publisher=Gov.uk| title=List of Special Advisers in post at 17 December 2015|accessdate=5 March 2016}}{{cite news|url=http://www.politico.eu/list/politico-28/mats-persson/| publisher=Politico Europe| title=Mats Persson, Sweden, The Alpha Think-Tanker|accessdate=5 March 2016}}

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. In May 2015 he advised Cameron not to rush into a referendum vote in order to ensure a better renegotiation of the UK's place in the Union.[https://www.ft.com/content/fb18d020-0096-11e5-a8e0-00144feabdc0 FT]

Following the UK vote to leave the European Union and David Cameron's resignation he ceased to work for the UK Government.

Since November 2016 Persson is head of international trade (Brexit) for the London-based consultancy Ernst & Young.{{cite web |title=Former Cameron special adviser joins EY Brexit unit |website=The Daily Telegraph |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210119164946/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2016/11/14/former-cameron-special-adviser-joins-ey-brexit-unit/ |archive-date=19 January 2021 |url-status=live |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2016/11/14/former-cameron-special-adviser-joins-ey-brexit-unit/}}

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Category:Living people

Category:Swedish journalists

Category:Liberty University alumni

Category:Alumni of the London School of Economics

Category:1978 births

Category:People from Bankeryd