Not so Fogh Rasmussen

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Anders Fogh Rasmussen (2007)

Anders Fogh Rasmussen [ ˈanɐs fɔ ˈʁasmusn̩ ] (born January 26, 1953 in Ginnerup , Jutland ) is a Danish politician. From 2001 to 2009 he was Prime Minister of Denmark and from 1998 to 2009 chairman of the Venstre party. From 2009 to 2014 he was Secretary General of NATO . Rasmussen has worked as a consultant for Goldman Sachs since 2015 .

family

Anders Fogh Rasmussen (2005)

Rasmussen has been married to Anne-Mette (* 1958) since 1978. The couple have three children together: entrepreneur and author Henrik Fogh Rasmussen (* 1979), Maria (* 1981) and Christina (* 1984) as well as six grandchildren. Rasmussen is of Evangelical Lutheran faith.

Political rise

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Early political engagement

Rasmussen studied economics at the University of Aarhus and graduated there in 1978. He was active early on in the youth organizations of the conservative-liberal Venstre and was elected to the Folketing Parliament at the age of 25 .

Resignation as tax minister because of "creative accounting"

From 1987 to 1990 he was tax minister in the Schlüter II , III and IV cabinets , and from 1990 also minister for economics. In 1992, Rasmussen was forced to resign as minister after a commission of inquiry concluded that he had provided Parliament with inaccurate and incomplete information about the “creative accounting” in his ministry.

First replacement of the social democratic government since 1920

In 1998 he was elected chairman of the Venstre. In the parliamentary elections in November 2001, the Venstre won 31.3% of the vote. The result marked a turning point for the political landscape in Denmark, as the Social Democrats were no longer the strongest political force in the Folketing for the first time since 1920. Anders Fogh Rasmussen succeeded the Social Democrat Poul Nyrup Rasmussen as Prime Minister . He formed a minority coalition with the Conservative People's Party , which was supported in parliament by the right-wing populist Danish People's Party .

Term of office as Prime Minister

Rasmussen at the EU-Russia summit (2003)

Neoliberal tax policy
Rasmussen advocated business liberal principles. In his book Fra socialstat til minimalstat (Eng. "From the welfare state to the minimal state ") he pleaded for a reshaping of the Danish welfare state in the spirit of neoliberal politics. After the 2001 elections, his party initiated a “tax freeze”, which opposition supporters condemned as “anti-social” and “redeployment in favor of the rich”. In 2004 tax rates were lowered slightly. Overall, however, government spending rose faster than the inflation rate even under his government.

Presidency of the EU Council
In 2002 Fogh Rasmussen held the EU Council Presidency . His main job was to lead accession negotiations. He advocated the accession of Malta and Cyprus to the European Union , but repeatedly expressed criticism of Turkey's EU membership. At the EU summit in Brussels in 2005 , however, only Austria refused to accept Turkey into the EU, so that accession negotiations could begin.

Gulf War, entry into the war
In the Gulf War in 2003, the Fogh Rasmussen government supported the United States and sent a Danish contingent to Iraq . As in other European countries, this war was very controversial in Denmark. In March 2003, Rasmussen cited Iraq's weapons of mass destruction as one of the reasons for supporting the military intervention: “Iraq has weapons of mass destruction. It's not something we just believe. We know it. Iraq has admitted itself that it has mustard gas, nerve gas and anthrax (anthrax), but Saddam does not want to rest. He doesn't want to tell us where and how the weapons were destroyed. We know from the UN inspectors, so I have no doubt. ”Rasmussen denied that the acceptance of weapons of mass destruction was the reason Denmark entered the war. However, the government's March 2003 motion to parliament for approval of the war effort mentioned weapons of mass destruction ten times. Rasmussen is said to have known from his own foreign secret service before March 18, 2003 that there was no evidence of weapons of mass destruction: The Danish secret service agent and whistleblower Frank Grevil told the Danish daily Dagbladet Information : “I knew what we had written in our reports. But when you heard the government, you got the impression that nobody had read it. ”Grevil was sentenced to six months in prison for treason.

Gulf War, mistreatment of prisoners of war
In retrospect, the question arose about the role of Prime Minister Rasmussen and his government with regard to the information policy and the complicity of Danish soldiers in the mistreatment of prisoners of war. Rasmussen kept the torture a secret. Foreign Minister Villy Søvndahl accused Rasmussen of "grossly misleading" parliament, " struck out instead of informing" after five Iraqi prisoners sued the Danish state for ill-treatment in Iraqi custody. Defense Minister Søren Gade had repeatedly untruthfully asserted in parliament that Danish troops would not hand over prisoners to Iraqi authorities and that "no mistreatment" had been observed. "The government lied because it did not want any criticism of the participation in the war," said Frank Aaen , a member of the left-wing unified list. "Had it been more open, people could have been saved who were extradited and tortured or even executed."

Policy on foreigners
After taking over the chairmanship of the Venstre in 1998, he moved the party to the center-right and promised in the 2001 election campaign a change in the law on foreigners "in order to get more room to breathe".

Among other things, he announced the appointment of a “foreign minister” to limit the influx of foreigners and called for a reduction in the number of marriages between immigrants and partners from their homeland. The prospect of a turnaround in foreigner and refugee policy, which would in practice lead to the abolition of political asylum, would not have been compatible with the applicable EU regulations. Criminal Muslims were depicted on an election poster and the demand “time for change”. Politicians involved in the humanitarian field, such as the left-liberal development aid minister Anita Bay Bundegaard , were ridiculed by partisans as “white innocence”.

After the successful election campaign had made the Venstre again the strongest party in the Danish parliament for the first time in 80 years, Rasmussen's first term in office was characterized, among other things, by a sharp policy on foreigners and asylum; Development aid and environmental spending have also been cut. Reports from the Council of Europe , for example , which attested an increasing climate of intolerance and xenophobia to Denmark, ordered Rasmussen to throw it in the trash in 2006, stating that he could not take such criticism from abroad seriously.

After the restrictive changes, Danish immigration law is considered the strictest in Europe.

2005 election campaign
In the 2005 Folketing elections , Venstre lost four seats in parliament, but the minority government was able to continue due to the gains made by its coalition partners. During the election campaign, Fogh Rasmussen was particularly criticized for his crisis management after the tsunami disaster in Southeast Asia; Numerous Danish tourists were also among the victims.

Early new elections
Due to increasing political discrepancies within the government, Fogh Rasmussen announced early new elections in October 2007, which took place on November 13, 2007 ( Folketing election 2007 ). However, the “clearer conditions” that Fogh had hoped for did not materialize. The distribution of mandates between the “red block”, which supported Helle Thorning-Schmidt , and the “blue block” of the bourgeois parties remained unchanged, but Venstre lost another six seats. Since these were balanced by the Dansk Folkeparti and the new Ny Alliance party around Naser Khader , the position of the governing coalition towards its parliamentary support parties was further weakened. Nonetheless, Fogh Rasmussen continued the previous government with only one personnel change.

Resignation
After being nominated for the post of NATO Secretary General, he resigned as head of government on April 5, 2009. He handed over the office to his deputy in the party, Finance Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen .

NATO Secretary General 2009–2014

Appointment
On August 1, 2009, Fogh Rasmussen became Secretary General of NATO . It was only after fierce wrestling, especially because of Turkey's concerns about his behavior in relation to the Mohammed cartoons , that he was appointed future NATO Secretary General. A former key adviser to the White House , Damon Wilson , later vice director of the Atlantic Council think tank , said he became NATO secretary general because he supported the US in Iraq . George W. Bush personally intervened with his successor Barack Obama in favor of the Dane.

NATO strategy concept
By the end of 2010, in consultation with the alliance partners, he formulated a new NATO strategy concept that met with broad approval within the alliance.

NATO mission in Libya , affront to Germany
During NATO ’s mission in Libya , he suffered a disappointing defeat. He did not succeed in reconciling the conflicting positions of the member countries. During one of his speeches in the North Atlantic Council , the political decision-making body of the alliance, the German and French ambassadors left the room. Among other things, he had said that it was absurd that the Germans did not take part in the combat mission.

Missile defense shield in Eastern Europe
According to Oliver Jehins , the atmosphere between NATO and Russia was "poisoned" by the discussion about the establishment of a missile defense shield , since Moscow saw this measure as an open threat to Russia. “On the one hand, Moscow has used this issue to define its territory in terms of partnership with NATO. On the other hand, NATO did not want to seriously cooperate with Russia on this issue either. The Secretary General's hands were therefore tied. ”In response to criticism from Russia, Rasmussen said that the planned defense system should protect against missiles that could threaten Europe as well as Russia. He was referring to a threat from countries like Iran.

Association agreement with Ukraine in
2013 he accused Russia of refusing to open the alliance to the east. He was particularly critical of Russia's pressure to prevent Ukraine from signing the Association Agreement with the European Union (EU). "The association agreement with Ukraine would have been an important pillar for Euro-Atlantic security," said Rasmussen. The end of the planned agreement at the end of November triggered the mass protests in Kiev . Rasmussen had previously asked the Ukrainian government to enter into dialogue with the opposition.

NATO eastward expansion
In March 2014, Rasmussen spoke out in favor of a further expansion of NATO. The accession of Eastern European countries to the Western military alliance was one of the great success stories of this time, he told Welt am Sonntag . "However, the task has not yet been completed."

Conflict in Eastern Ukraine
During his visit to Kiev on August 7, 2014, during which he was awarded the Ukrainian Order of Freedom , he demonstratively supported the Ukrainian government in the conflict with Russia. “NATO is ready to support Ukraine”. On August 3, he said in an interview that the military alliance was developing new defense plans in the face of "Russian aggression". On August 29, 2014, he declared: "We strongly condemn Russia's continued disregard of its international obligations."

Arms spending
He called for a rethink in Europe. “Don't keep reducing your defense spending, invest more money in defense!” He said in an interview with the Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung . He also claimed Moscow supported anti-fracking activists - "to keep Europe dependent on Russian natural gas".

NATO reform In Spiegel magazine
, he described the existing veto right of the people's representatives as a risk for joint operations by NATO. "In a multilateral context, every country has to accept that the others have a say."

Newport
Summit At the summit on 4/5 At the beginning of September 2014 in Newport , Wales , he said: “We are dealing with a dramatically changed security environment. In the east, Russia is attacking Ukraine. ”The focus of the meeting was on the conflict in eastern Ukraine - and the question of how NATO should react to it.

There he formulated the following goals:

  • Demonstrate strength against Russia.
  • Signal support for the government in Kiev.
  • Action plan for a stronger presence in their Eastern European member states.
  • Establishment of an intervention force known as the “spearhead”, which should be ready for action within two to three days.

Rasmussen demanded:

  • that Russia must withdraw its troops from the border with Ukraine
  • stop guns and fighters from seeping into the country
  • cease supporting armed separatists and
  • constructive political efforts to find a solution should begin.

From October 1, 2014, the former Norwegian Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg followed him as NATO Secretary General.

On the same day, Rasmussen announced the establishment of his agency Rasmussen Global , which offers advice on security policy , transatlantic relations, the European Union and economic policy development. He is also writing a book about his world political views.

Reception of his tenure as NATO Secretary General

Jan Techau , Director of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace Europe, judged the administration of office rather critically due to the great self-confidence of Rasmussen: “The NATO ambassadors, who were always something like the electors of NATO and the actual rulers in this house, felt of thoroughly attacked and pushed to the side. That was partly the case. If you, as NATO Secretary General, negotiate directly with the heads of state and government, then the importance of the ambassadors is diminished ”.

Further career

At the annual meeting of the AP Møller-Mærsk group on March 31, 2014 in Copenhagen, Rasmussen was appointed director of the logistics company Maersk Line . Weapons are also transported with Maersk containers and ships. At the same time, a new collaboration between the group and NATO for global troop movements in Mali , the Central African Republic and the Baltic States was announced.

After the controversial entry of the US investment bank Goldman Sachs into the Danish state-owned utility Dong Energy with 19 percent and the receipt of important veto rights, Rasmussen was recruited as a consultant for the bank in 2015.

On May 28, 2016, the Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko appointed Rasmussen as his advisor by decree; the pro-Western Ukrainian leadership is striving for rapprochement with the EU and NATO. Rasmussen wrote in a Facebook post that he wanted to work for “the greatest possible security and reforms in Ukraine”, including in the fight against corruption . At the time of his appointment, the peace process for eastern Ukraine was bogged down and fighting between the army and separatists continued to flare up. Separatists in the Luhansk region accused the military of deploying military equipment at the front, despite the Minsk peace plan, and on May 27, 2015, an OSCE observer patrol was shot at. Regarding Rasmussen's appointment, the deputy head of the Defense Committee of the State Duma (Russian lower house of parliament) said: "Of course, this is largely a gesture, but it is a gesture ... and it is a hostile gesture." Konstantin Kosachev, head of the Foreign Affairs Committee in the upper house of parliament, Rasmussen's appointment called a “ostentatious show” with no “military or practical purpose”. He compared it to the appointment of former Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili as governor in the Odessa region of southern Ukraine and other foreigners such as Economics Minister Aivaras Abromavičius from Lithuania and Finance Minister Natalija Jaresko from the USA.

Trivia

At the beginning of 2003 he duped European heads of government because he had secretly recorded his conversations with them for a TV portrait about himself.

In 2007, the mockumentary AFR - I sandhed en utrolig løgn ("AFR - In Truth An Unbelievable Lie") started in Denmark , in which Rasmussen is murdered. The film had already caused a sensation in advance and was strongly polarized. AFR was mostly cut from original recordings and manipulated the meaning of this material. The director Morten Hartz Kapler justified the fictitious statements of the collages by referring to freedom of expression and advocating the thesis that a free society can only progress through courageous people who dared to criticize authorities.

Awards

Honors

Web links

Commons : Anders Fogh Rasmussen  - Collection of Images

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Anders Fogh Rasmussen joins Goldman . In: manager-magazin , August 5, 2015; Retrieved September 19, 2015.
  2. ^ Anne-Mette: Sådan var with bryllup med Fogh . bt.dk, November 7, 2010 (Danish)
  3. ↑ politiske skandaler the rystede Danmark - TV 2nd December 5th 2011, accessed on 19 March 2019 (da-DK).
  4. ↑ "Iraq har masseødelæggelsesvåben. Det er ikke noget vi tror. Vi ved det. Iraq har selv indrømmet, at det har haft sennepsgas, nervegas, miltbrand, men Saddam vil ikke afregne. Han vil ikke fortælle os, hvor and hvordan de våben er blevet destrueret. Det ved vi fra FN's inspector, who he ingen tvivl i are with. ” Fem gange Fogh - på godt og ondt (Danish minutes of the application). Ekstra Bladet , April 4, 2009.
  5. ↑ Her lyver Anders Fogh Rasmussen om Grundlaget for dansk deltagelse i Iraq . Denmarkonline.dk
  6. ↑ information.dk
  7. ^ Government under pressure due to war in Iraq. In: taz.de. April 19, 2004, accessed December 7, 2014 .
  8. ↑ news.bbc.co.uk
  9. ↑ Iraqi Dominoes. In: Spiegel Online . April 20, 2004, accessed December 7, 2014 .
  10. ↑ Charlotte Aagaard: I nationens tjeneste. Frank Grevil, majors of the fik nok. Information, København 2005, ISBN 87-7514-117-5 ( Danish )
  11. Jump to jail for secret Iraq truth. In: taz.de. December 1, 2004, accessed December 7, 2014 .
  12. ↑ fr-online.de
  13. ↑ a b Rasmussen, Anders Fogh . Federal Agency for Political Education . Quote from: Fischer Weltalmanach : Biographien. Fischer World Almanac Edition 2010.
  14. ↑ a b Manfred Ertel: Place to breathe . In: Der Spiegel . No. 48 , 2001, p. 186 f . ( online ).
  15. ^ Rasmussen versus Rasmussen . Deutsche Welle , November 20, 2001.
  16. ↑ Manfred Ertel: Place to breathe . In: Der Spiegel . No. 48 , 2001, p. 186 f . ( online ).
  17. ↑ a b Jyllands-Posten - journalistic escort. In: sueddeutsche.de. May 11, 2010, accessed December 7, 2014 .
  18. ↑ Bruno Kaufmann: Something is still fishy in Denmark. In: Tages-Anzeiger, May 22, 2006. Archived from the original on July 18, 2012 ; Retrieved November 14, 2012 .
  19. ↑ Who is this Anders Fogh Rasmussen? In: welt.de. April 4, 2009, accessed December 7, 2014 .
  20. ↑ fr-online.de
  21. ↑ Nikolas Busse, Brussels: Respect for Rasmussen's journeyman piece. In: faz.net. November 19, 2010, accessed December 7, 2014 .
  22. ↑ fr-online.de
  23. ↑ tagesschau.de ( Memento from September 21, 2014 in the Internet Archive )
  24. ↑ www.tagesschau.de ( Memento from September 21, 2014 in the Internet Archive )
  25. ↑ "Missile defense is not directed against Russia". In: faz.net. May 4, 2012, accessed December 7, 2014 .
  26. ↑ nzz.ch
  27. ↑ Rasmussen wants to expand NATO. In: faz.net. March 30, 2014, accessed December 7, 2014 .
  28. ↑ deutschlandfunk.de
  29. ↑ Merkel calls on Putin to exert influence on separatists. In: faz.net. August 7, 2014, accessed December 7, 2014 .
  30. ^ NATO: NATO: Moscow should end illegal military actions. In: zeit.de. August 29, 2014, accessed December 7, 2014 .
  31. ↑ "It's about more than Ukraine". In: faz.net. May 4, 2014, accessed December 7, 2014 .
  32. ↑ Ingo doctor Joachim Cotaru: NATO reveals Putin's new weapon. In: taz.de. June 22, 2014, accessed December 7, 2014 .
  33. ↑ NATO chief sees the Bundestag's right of veto as an obstacle. In: Spiegel Online . July 6, 2014, accessed December 7, 2014 .
  34. ^ NATO Summit in Wales - News ( Memento of September 4, 2014 in the Internet Archive ). Website of the ARD / Tagesschau. Retrieved September 5, 2014.
  35. ↑ www.rasmussenglobal.com
  36. ↑ Former NATO General Rasmussen founds consulting company. In: sueddeutsche.de. October 1, 2014, accessed December 7, 2014 .
  37. ↑ tagesschau.de ( Memento from September 21, 2014 in the Internet Archive )
  38. ↑ arbejderen.dk
  39. ↑ politiken.dk
  40. ↑ manager-magazin.de
  41. ↑ de.sputniknews.com
  42. ↑ kleinezeitung.at
  43. ↑ theguardian.com
  44. ↑ Ukraine: OSCE patrol in Donetsk shot at. In: Spiegel Online . May 29, 2016. Retrieved June 9, 2018 .
  45. ↑ Manfred Ertel, Sylvia Schreiber, Thomas Schulz: Full in the press . In: Der Spiegel . No. 18 , 2003, p. 74 f . ( online ).
  46. ↑ Poroshenko awards Rasmussen the Order of Freedom. RIA Novosti, August 7, 2014, accessed September 17, 2014 .
personal data
SURNAME Rasmussen, Anders Fogh
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Danish politician, member of the Folketing and Prime Minister, Secretary General of NATO
DATE OF BIRTH January 26, 1953
PLACE OF BIRTH Ginnerup