Lars Løkke Rasmussen

Lars Løkke Rasmussen

Lars Løkke Rasmussen (born May 15, 1964 in Vejle , Denmark ; pronunciation: [lɑːs ˈløg̊ə ˈʁasmusn̩] ) is a Danish politician of the Venstre party and was Prime Minister of Denmark from 2009 to 2011 and from 2015 to 2019 .

Life and work

Lars Løkke Rasmussen is the son of a housewife and an auditor. In 1971 the family moved to Græsted, north of Copenhagen . In 1983 Løkke obtained the general university entrance qualification. In 1992 he graduated from the University of Copenhagen with a law degree . From 1990 to 1995 Løkke worked as an independent consultant. He has been married to the Faroese Sólrun Jákupsdóttir Petersen since 1989 . They have three children together. In 2012 the von Græsted family moved to Copenhagen. Due to the origin of his wife, Løkke often spends time on the Faroe Islands . The couple's children learn the Faroese language .

Surname

Lars Løkke Rasmussen is the third Danish Prime Minister after Poul Nyrup Rasmussen and Anders Fogh Rasmussen to bear the surname “Rasmussen” without being related to either of his two predecessors. Because of such accumulation, it is common in Denmark to differentiate between people by their middle name : Nyrup Rasmussen, Fogh Rasmussen and Løkke Rasmussen. First and middle names or just the middle name are used as short names: Lars Løkke or just Løkke. Løkke is the mother's maiden name in this case .

Political career

In 1986 Løkke was elected chairman of his party's youth organization, Venstres Ungdom . He held this post until 1989. Also in 1986 he moved to the city council of the then Græsted-Gilleleje municipality , where he was promoted to First Deputy Mayor in 1994 and Mayor of the former Frederiksborg Office in 1998 , which was part of Græsted-Gilleleje. In 1998 he was also deputy Venstre party leader under Anders Fogh Rasmussen.

After Fogh's election victory in 2001, he brought Løkke into the new government as Minister of the Interior and Health . Løkke played a key role in the elaboration of the structural reform, by which in 2007 the 271 Danish municipalities were merged into 98, the offices were dissolved and instead five regions were created, primarily responsible for health care. Even after the folk election in 2005 , Løkke remained Minister of Health and pushed a.o. a. the expansion of the private hospital sector, u. a. by widening hospital choice for patients.

After the 2007 Folketing election , he worked as finance minister in Fogh Rasmussen's third cabinet.

After the NATO member states had agreed on Anders Fogh Rasmussen as the new NATO Secretary General, Lars Løkke Rasmussen was confirmed as his successor in government and party. The Queen's appointment took place on April 5, 2009. He continued the coalition government of Venstre and the Conservative People's Party , which continued to rely on the right-wing populist Danish People's Party for majorities in parliament .

In August 2011, Løkke announced new elections, which took place two months earlier than planned on September 15, 2011 . Although his party was able to record votes, the center-right alliance led by Løkke missed a parliamentary majority. Løkke then submitted his resignation on September 16, 2011. On October 3, Løkke resigned with the appointment of his successor Helle Thorning-Schmidt by Queen Margrethe II .

In the 2015 folk election , Løkke's Venstre party was only the third strongest party behind the Social Democrats and the Danish People's Party. Nevertheless, the so-called "Blue Bloc" from Venstre, Danish People's Party, Liberal Alliance and Conservatives was able to unite the majority of the votes, so that Venstre again became the ruling party under Løkke's leadership. He became Prime Minister for the second time ( see government Lars Løkke Rasmussen II ).

Jakob Ellemann-Jensen succeeded him as Venstre Chairman on September 21, 2019 .

Controversy

As chairman of the Venstre Youth, Løkke organized a fundraising campaign in 1988, in which 600,000 Danish kroner were collected for the construction of educational institutions in the Afghan province of Kunar , which is controlled by the Soviet armed forces . The 25-year-old led the delegation that brought the funds to Afghanistan. A photo published in Se & Hør magazine shows Løkke in Afghan clothing and with a Kalashnikov assault rifle in his hands next to some mujahideen fighters. Some of the money is also said to have flowed to these predecessors of the Taliban. After the incidents of September 11, 2001 , the photo was republished in Danish media. The political left in Denmark then criticized Venstres' expressions of solidarity for the United States and its war on terror in view of the party's years of support for Islamist groups in the fight against the Soviet Union.

In 2009, the Danish Court of Auditors came to the conclusion that Løkke, when he was minister of health, gave too much money to private hospitals by overestimating the cost of treatment to be paid by the state for patients who had been taken over by private providers from the overburdened public system. According to the opposition, the scandal lay in the fact that Løkke initially ordered drastic savings in the public health system and at the same time the private competition and the like. a. promoted by the intake of patients.

Also in 2009, Løkke's conduct of negotiations during the closing session of the UN climate conference in Copenhagen in December 2009 was criticized by those involved as chaotic.

Løkke's attempt in May 2011 to reintroduce controls at the national borders with Germany and Sweden was internationally controversial. The controls were intended to ward off criminals and illegal immigrants, but were criticized as a violation of the Schengen Agreement and as a concession to the Danish People's Party.

Beyond political controversy, Løkke was embroiled in several inconsistencies. During his time as mayor, for example, he had expenses totaling almost 150,000 kroner reimbursed from public funds without these having any relation to his office, including a. Cigarettes and travel expenses. Løkke later repaid some of the money or donated corresponding amounts to charity. In 2012 it became known that Løkke had a smoking cabin built into his office during his first term as head of government. The bill for 154,000 kroner was paid from public funds. After the fact became known, Løkke announced that he would repay the amount. In 2015 it was reported that on Løkke's trips with the Challenger of the Danish Air Force intended for the head of government, "a noticeable amount of alcohol" had been consumed.

bibliography

• Foreningshåndbogen , 1994
• Hvis jeg bli'r gammel , 1997
• Kirsten Jacobsen: Statsministerens Løkkeland. 2nd Edition. 2009

Web links

Commons : Lars Løkke Rasmussen  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b} CV at Folketinget.dk accessed on October 9, 2016.
2. ↑ Nu kan du leje Lars Løkkes hus - endda til nedsat pris . In: www.bt.dk . ( bt.dk [accessed October 9, 2016]).
3. ↑ Løkke tager over i morgen ( Memento of the original from April 7, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (“Løkke takes over tomorrow”) Politiken , April 4, 2009. 
4. ↑ Lars Løkke leder lands ( Memento of the original from April 8, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (“Lars Løkke leads the country”), Politiken, April 5, 2009. 
5. ^ The press : Denmark: Prime Minister Rasmussen calls new elections . August 26, 2011.
6. ↑ SF Tagesschau : Denmark moves to the left - Rasmussen resigns . September 16, 2011.
7. ↑ 100 pictures - 10 months - 1 life © Jørn Stjerneklar / Mayday Press. (No longer available online.) In: www.maydaypress.com. Archived from the original on October 9, 2016 ; accessed on October 9, 2016 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
8. ↑ De danske støtter . In: Information . September 21, 2001 ( information.dk [accessed October 9, 2016]).
9. ↑ Rig revisions: Løkke gav privathospitalerne overpris . In: Altinget.dk . June 17, 2009 ( altinget.dk [accessed October 9, 2016]).
10. ↑ VIDEO Uheldige Løkke: Se sagerne gennem årene . In: DR . ( dr.dk [accessed October 9, 2016]).
11. ↑ Danes complain about cheap symbolism Stern , July 5, 2011.
12. ↑ VIDEO Uheldige Løkke: Se sagerne gennem årene . In: DR . ( dr.dk [accessed October 9, 2016]).
13. ↑ Løkke betaler sin rygekabine . In: DR . ( dr.dk [accessed October 9, 2016]).
14. ↑ Løkke on Facebook: Vi drak 'et par glas vin' til maden . ( ekstrabladet.dk [accessed October 9, 2016]).