Uffe Ellemann-Jensen
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Uffe Ellemann-Jensen (b. 1941) was Minister for Foreign Affairs of Denmark in the Conservative led Poul Schlüter Administration 1982-1993. He was leader of the Danish Liberal Party (Libertarian) from 1984-1998 and President of the European Liberals (http://www.eldr.org) from 1995-2000. Since 1998, Ellemann-Jensen has been Chairman of Baltic Development Forum (http://www.bdforum.org), a non-profit networking organisation dedicated to the business development of the Baltic Sea region. He is non-executive Director of various boards of international companies.
A strong supporter of NATO and the European Union based upon his belief in Western cohesion led to many political battles with the left-wing opposition. Several times the opposition tried to topple him on issues of solidarity within NATO, but he survived. Uffe Ellemann-Jensen succeeded in convincing a majority in the Danish Parliament, Folketinget (http://www.ft.dk/?/samling/20031/MENU/00000005.htm), to actively support the US led coalition against Iraq during the Gulf War. Furthermore, he led the Danish recognition of the renewed independence of the three Baltic countries in 1991, when Denmark was the first country to re-establish diplomatic relations with the three countries. In 1992, Uffe Ellemann-Jensen co-founded the Council of the Baltic Sea States.
After the fall of the centre-right government in 1993, in which he also served as Deputy Prime Minister, he became leader of the opposition until the elections in 1998, which he lost with a single seat. Had his party had only 85 more votes, he would have been able to form a new centre-right government as Prime Minister. He decided then to leave politics in order to pave the way for a new young leadership of his party. The strategy succeeded, and his successor as liberal leader, Mr. Anders Fogh Rasmussen, has since 2001 served as Prime Minister of Denmark.
Uffe Ellemann-Jensen was a candidate for the post of Secretary-General of NATO when Willy Claes was forced to leave the role in 1995. He got the support of the US government, but France blocked his candidature, preferring the Spanish candidate, Javier Solana. Uffe Ellemann-Jensen never tried to hide his disappointment with not getting the post that he had wanted all his political life.
The new active Danish foreign policy continued after Uffe Ellemann-Jensen's 10 years term as Foreign Minister and ultimately became a turning point in Danish foreign and defence policy. It has since become known as the “Ellemann-Jensen-Doctrine”.
| Preceded by: Kjeld Olesen | Foreign Minister 1982 – 1993 | Succeeded by: Niels Helveg Petersen |