Karl Skytte
Karl Hansen Skytte (born March 31, 1908 in Køng-Højrup, Glamsbjerg ; † June 9, 1986 ) was a Danish politician from Det Radikale Venstre (RV), who was in the governments of Prime Ministers H. C. Hansen , Viggo Kampmann and Jens Otto Krag between 1957 and 1964 Minister of Agriculture, from 1960 to 1968 Chairman of Det Radikalische Venstre and from 1968 to 1978 President of the Folketing . He was thus the first and so far only Folketing President of the Radical Venstre in the history of the Danish parliament.
Life
Origin and chairman of the radical Venstre youth association
Skytte grew up in a home characterized by liberalism and social liberalism and, like his father, worked as a farmer after attending primary school. His youth during the reign of Prime Minister Thorvald Stauning shaped his later commitment to the cooperative movement .
In the early 1920s he began making political contributions to the daily newspaper Fyns Venstreblad and also became an active member of the Radikal Ungdoms Landsforbund (RU), the youth association of the Radical Venstre. He organized a radical youth association in Fyn's office , whose central figure he became. During this time the political friendships began with the later Minister of Culture and Education Kristen Helveg Petersen , who later also worked in the party's youth association , the later Minister for Fisheries and Greenland, AC Normann , party secretary S. Bjørn Hansen, the later mayor of Fyns Amt, Edvin Rasmussen and many others other.
From 1929 to 1943 he was a member of the board of the Radikal Ungdoms Landsforbund and between 1933 and 1937 its state chairman. As such, he took part in numerous meetings during this time that opposed anti-parliamentary tendencies and a Nazi regime influenced by Germany . As RU state chairman, he advocated the abolition of the Landsting , lowering the voting age, a republic, unconditional freedom of thought and social understanding and an improvement in the opportunities for rural youth. As RU state chairman in 1933 he also became a member of the board of directors of Det Radikalische Venstre and was a youth representative until 1937 and then as a member until 1939.
Unsuccessful Folketing candidacies, farmer and local politician
Skytte, who attended Tune Agricultural School from 1930 to 1931, ran for a seat in the Folketing for the RV in the elections of October 22, 1935 in the Køgekredsen constituency , but suffered defeats as well as in his subsequent candidacy in the Holbækkredsen constituency .
In 1938 he bought the Hillerslevgård farm in Hillerslev Sogn and managed it until 1953. He was also the owner of the Bregnehøjgård farm in Sallinge. His knowledge of agriculture, land development and improvement of land distribution led him to become a member of the State Committee on Agricultural Law (Statens Jordlovsudvalg) in 1942 and was a member of it until 1957.
He was also involved in local politics and was a member of the council of Hillerslev Sogn between 1943 and 1954 and also a member of the council of Svendborg Amt from 1946 to 1957 . He was also chairman of the land consolidation commission of Svendborg Amt. During this time he was also a member of the advisory board and chairman of the supervisory board of the newspaper Fyns Venstreblad .
Member of the Folketing
In the elections of October 28, 1947, Skytte was elected for the first time as a member of the Folketing and belonged to this as a representative of the constituency of Holbækkredsen for more than thirty years until his resignation in 1978.
At the beginning of his parliamentary membership he became a member of the Agriculture Committee in 1947 and was a member of this until 1957, where he was most recently vice-chairman of the committee between 1953 and 1957. As such, he was significantly involved in the land development plans of the 1950s, which led to land reform in favor of smallholders, such as the parceling of the land around the Lerchenborg manor. Despite the growing technical progress, he advocated the preservation of family farms, which since the 1920s have often been connected to larger farms.
In addition, he became a member of the land charge commission in 1948 and the commission for vacation law in 1949. He was also a member of the Finance Committee from 1950 to 1957 and a member of the Defense Committee from 1955 to 1957 and spokesman for the Radical Venstre faction on numerous political issues.
Minister of Agriculture
Coalition governments Hansen, Kampmann and Krag 1957 to 1964
After the Folketing elections of May 14, 1957, the radical Venstre formed under the two chairmen Jørgen Jørgensen and Bertel Dahlgaard together with the Social Democrats under HC Hansen and the Retsforbundet under Viggo Starcke on May 28, 1957 under Prime Minister HC Hansen a coalition government known as Trekantsregeringen has been.
In this government Skytte took over the office of Minister of Agriculture (Landbrugsminister) and was thus one of four Ministers of Det Radikal, alongside Minister of Education Jørgen Jørgensen, Minister of Economics and Minister for Nordic Affairs Bertel Dahlgaard and Minister for Trade, Crafts, Industry and Shipping, Kjeld Philip Venstre in the 16-person cabinet. In addition to Prime Minister Hansen, the Social Democrats provided eight other ministers, while the Retsforbundet took over three ministerial posts.
Skytte also held the office of Minister of Agriculture under Hansen's successors as Prime Ministers, Viggo Kampmann and Jens Otto Krag, for more than seven years until September 26, 1964.
Danish Agricultural Policy of the 1950s and 1960s: Successes and Crises
At the beginning of his tenure he was confronted with the problem of low prices in the agricultural export markets, which were due to the onset of the effects of the agricultural provisions of the European Economic Community (EEC), which Denmark was not yet a member of, which was founded by the Treaty of Rome in 1957 . To counteract this, a system was introduced in 1958 that through state purchases a minimum price for Danish grain such as wheat and rye, but also the sales prices for dairy products on the domestic market, was to be guaranteed. This separation of domestic prices from world market prices continued until Denmark joined the EEC on January 1, 1973. Although this system had the advantage that agriculture generated substantial income in the 1960s, it also had the disadvantage of annual, sometimes difficult price negotiations.
In addition, there were difficulties with the wage demands of those employed in agriculture, which were significantly higher than the wage demands on the general labor market, so that these were rejected by the government. Thereupon there was a supply crisis after the agricultural associations announced a delivery stop for milk. This led to consumer demonstrations, which Skytte experienced as a farmer when angry demonstrators gathered in front of his farm. The delivery stop of dairy products led to demonstrations in both rural and urban areas.
After Hansen's successor Viggo Kampmann took office, who with Skytte's consent had become Prime Minister on February 21, 1960, the agricultural budget was increased so that the crisis could be overcome. To solve future problems, he founded the Agriculture Commission (Landbokommissions) under his chairmanship in 1960 . This dealt with the changing structures of farms as a result of mechanization and rationalization and the expected new conditions for an intended accession of Denmark to the EEC.
Party chairman of Det RadISCHE Venstre 1960 to 1968 and parliamentary group chairman 1964 to 1968
After Jørgensen's resignation, Skytte became his successor as party chairman of Det Radikal Venstre. The position as the leading politician of the party was strengthened when Jørgensen and Dahlgaard resigned their ministerial offices in the second Kampmann government on September 7, 1961. In addition to him and Kjeld Philip, who took over the Ministry of Economics, his old friends from the youth association work now also belonged to the cabinet, namely Kristen Helveg Petersen as Minister of Education and AC Normann as Minister of Fisheries. In addition, the later Prime Minister Hilmar Baunsgaard joined the second Kampmann government as Minister for Trade, Crafts, Industry and Shipping, to which the Retsforbundet no longer belonged.
The government work between the Social Democrats and Radical Venstre continued after Jens Otto Krag took over the office of Prime Minister on September 3, 1962 and only ended after Krag's Social Democrats were able to form a sole government in the Folketing elections on September 22, 1964.
After finishing his tenure as minister Skytte took over the office as chairman of the faction of the radical Venstre in the Folketing. At the same time he was chairman of the Agriculture Committee between 1964 and 1968 and a member of the Nordic Council from 1964 to 1978 .
As parliamentary group leader in 1965, Skytte accepted an invitation to talks on joint political cooperation with the liberal Venstre von Poul Hartling , which began in autumn 1965. However, the Social Democrats with Krag could continue to provide the government, although after the Folketing elections of November 22, 1966 they were even more dependent on the support of Aksel Larsen's Socialistisk Folkeparti (SF) , which was able to double its mandates from ten to 20.
After this election he was together with Baunsgaard chairman of Det RadISCHE Venstre between 1966 and 1968.
President of the Folketing 1968 to 1978
In the following years, however, there were different views between Skytte and Baunsgaard regarding the political orientation of the party, which were reinforced after the Folketing elections of January 23, 1968. Baunsgaard was able to prevail and on February 2, 1968, as Prime Minister, together with Hartlings Venstre and Det Konservative Folkeparti von Knud Thestrup and Poul Sørensen, formed a coalition government. The radical Venstre with 27 were actually the smallest coalition partner, since the conservative Folkeparti had 37 and Venstre 34 members.
Skytte was not convinced of the idea of this coalition because, due to its political orientation, he saw the social democrats as the natural partner of his party. Ultimately, however, after lengthy discussions between Baunsgaard and him, an agreement and an internal appointment was reached. This led to Skytte not joining the Baunsgaard government as a minister, but instead taking over the office of chairman of the Folketing on February 6, 1966 from the social democrat Julius Bomholt and thus becoming President of Parliament. He was thus the first and so far only Folketing President of the Radical Venstre in the history of the Danish parliament.
Skytte held the office of President of the Folketing for more than ten years until he voluntarily resigned his mandate on September 30, 1978. His successor was then on October 3, 1978 with Knud Børge Andersen again a representative of the Social Democrats. He was also a member of the board of the Nordic Cultural Fund from 1975 to 1978 and, most recently, its chairman in 1978. During his presidency, a group of representatives visited the German Democratic Republic in June 1977 .
As President of Parliament, he took a neutral position and subsequently refrained from commenting on the work of the Baunsgaard government, even though he took part in the parliamentary group meetings of his party in an advisory capacity. As chairman of the Folketing, he was so regarded that he was re-elected even after his party's losses in the elections December 4, 1973 (20 seats), January 9, 1975 (13 seats) and February 15, 1977 (6 seats). Growing international cooperation, especially after he had prepared for accession to the EEC in the 1960s, led him to increasingly travel abroad in order to strengthen parliamentary cooperation between the individual member states.
In 1978 he became an honorary member of the board of directors of Det Radiefe Venstre.
The son Anders Skytte emerged from his marriage to Dagny Skytte (1910-1999), but he died in 1959 at the age of 17.
publication
- “Forord” and “Christiansborg som arbeijdsplads”, in: Christiansborg Slot , published by the Presidium of the Folketing. Editing: Kristian Hvidt, Svend Ellehøj and Otto Norn. Photo editing: Chr Bang, 2 volumes, Nyt Nordisk Forlag, København 1975, Volume 1, p. 5 and Volume 2, pp. 333–346.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ^ Danske regeringer 1953-1968. Kort oversigt over de danske regeringer from 1953-1968
- ^ Regeringen HC Hansen II
- ^ Regeringen Viggo Kampmann I
- ^ Regeringen Viggo Kampmann II
- ^ Regeringen Jens Otto Krag I
- ↑ 1959: Karl Skytte satte also prisdannelsen på landbrugsprodukter and because of the strength and sørgede for artificially overbetaling to bønderne
- ↑ FREE TRADE ZONE: Reginald's coup . In: Der Spiegel from July 8, 1959
- ↑ Formænd gennem tiderne. Kronologi over Folketingets formænd fra 1933 og foreign (homepage of the Folketing)
- ↑ Siegfried Bock, Ingrid Muth, Hermann Schwiesau (editor): GDR foreign policy: an overview: data, facts, people (III), Volume 3 , 2010, p. 169, ISBN 3-64310-559-2
- ↑ Entry in gravsted.dk
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Skytte, Karl |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Skytte, Karl Hansen (full name) |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Danish politician (Venstre), member of the Folketing |
| DATE OF BIRTH | March 31, 1908 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Køng-Højrup, Glamsbjerg |
| DATE OF DEATH | June 9, 1986 |