Poul Møller (politician)

Poul Møller (born October 13, 1919 in Frederiksberg , Copenhagen , † August 5, 1997 ) was a Danish lawyer , journalist and politician from Det Conservative Folkeparti , who was, among other things, finance minister and MEP.

Life

Early political engagement, studies and World War II

Møller received his education at the Skt. Jørgens High School and began his schooling influenced by the views of John Christmas Møller , chairman of the faction of the Conservative People's Party in the Folketing , in the 1930s, his political activism and was 1937-1938 as chairman of the conservative Gymnasts. In 1938, after graduating from high school ( student exams ), he began studying law , which he completed in 1947.

He was also chairman of the Conservative Student Union from 1939 to 1942. During his studies, he also worked temporarily as secretary of the guardianship authority and for some time as secretary of the housing authority.

In June 1940 he and his older brother Aksel Møller and Erik Ninn-Hansen , both of whom were later also chairmen of the Conservative People's Party in the Folketing as political leaders, began working with other political youth organizations during the occupation of Denmark by the German Wehrmacht . In September 1940 he organized a meeting of the democratic student union in the Gerlev sports school and between 1940 and 1943 was secretary of the resulting youth cooperation ( Dansk Ungdomssamvirke ) in Copenhagen.

Later, between 1943 and 1948, Møller was state chairman of the conservative Ungdom (KU), the youth association of Det Conservative Folkeparti, and at the same time a member of the party's main board.

Post-war period and member of the Folketing

As the state chairman of the KU, he worked on solving the economic and social problems of young people in the post-war period and between 1945 and 1950 was also a member of the youth commission and a member of the commission set up by the Ministry of Defense for the rationalization of the training period for conscripts .

At the age of 26 Møller ran for Det Conservative Folkeparti in the election of October 30, 1945 in the Nyborg constituency for the first time for a member of the Folketing. After another unsuccessful candidacy in the constituency of Maribo Amt in the election of October 28, 1947 , he was elected to replace Edward Tesdorph in 1950 as a member of the Folketing, before being elected a member of the Folketing shortly afterwards in the election on September 5, 1950 in the Silkeborg constituency has been. Immediately after joining the Folketing, he became a member of the National Insurance Commission and pushed through his views for an old-age pension in 1956 within his parliamentary group. At the same time he became an advocate of cooperation with the Venstre , which together with the Conservative People's Party between 1950 and 1953 formed a coalition government under Prime Minister Erik Eriksen and thus created an alternative to the governments of the Social Democrats .

In 1952 Møller was admitted to the bar, but between 1953 and 1958 he worked as an editor for politics and economics at the daily newspaper Dagens Nyheder . In the Folketing election of May 14, 1957 , he was re-elected as a member of parliament and represented the constituency of Gladsakse until the Folketing election on November 22, 1966 .

Journalist and President of the State Audit Office

After the death of his brother Aksel Møller on March 20, 1958, Poul Sørensen succeeded him as political leader and chairman of the Conservative Folkeparti faction, but Poul Møller took on numerous important tasks at Sørensen's side and was next to him the most important leader of the party. Between 1958 and 1971 he was a member of the main board of the Conservative People's Party. He also wrote editorials for Dagens Nyheder between 1958 and 1961 , before he wrote editorials for the daily Berlingske Tidende between 1961 and 1979, with the exception of his later term as minister .

Together with Henry Christensen von der Venstre, he wrote the joint program of both parties in October 1959, which, among other things, contained a tax program as the basis of a coherent liberal-conservative policy. However, the two parties did not succeed in offering real alternatives to the tax policy of the Social Democrats, which among other things called for the introduction of a withholding tax and ultimately appointed the Prime Minister of Denmark between 1953 and 1968. His 1962 demand for the taxation of potatoes and porridge for merchants and consumers ignored the fact that large customers also had to pay higher VAT . In the following years he worked for a broader cooperation between government and opposition after a coalition government of Venstre and Conservative Folkeparti he had hoped for had not received a majority in the Folketing election of November 15, 1960 . As a member of the Customs Commission between 1953 and 1959, he was largely responsible for drafting a customs law that was a prerequisite for joining the European Free Trade Association (EFTA) on January 4, 1960.

Due to his many years of experience and knowledge of state finances, he held the position of auditor (state auditor ) between 1961 and 1968 and was most recently President of the State Court of Justice (state auditor ) between 1964 and 1968 .

Finance minister

In the 1960s, Møller was involved in Scandinavian cooperation in the Nordic Council and, as a member of the Council of Europe between 1964 and 1968, was an energetic champion for Denmark's accession to the European Communities . In the 1966 Folketing elections, he was re-elected as a member of the parliament and represented the interests of the Fredensborg constituency until the election on September 21, 1971 .

As the Conservative People's Party after fifteen years of opposition after the general election of 23 January 1968 , together with Det Radical Venstre (RV) and Venstre of Prime Minister Hilmar Baunsgaard of the RV on 2 February 1968 formed a coalition government, was Møller Finance ( finance minister ) in this Government .

Immediately afterwards, he suspended the introduction of the withholding tax planned by the previous government of the Social Democratic Prime Minister Jens Otto Krag , because, in his opinion, the preliminary work had not been completed. In addition, there was growing pressure to regulate financial legislation in connection with local government reforms and the implementation of an income reform.

After the death of Interior Minister Poul Sørensen on June 29, 1969, he succeeded him as political leader and thus as chairman of the faction of Det Conservative Folkeparti in the Folketing.

Due to his poor health, he had to be represented as finance minister for four months by then defense minister Erik Ninn-Hansen himself shortly afterwards and finally resign from his ministerial office on March 17, 1971 due to renewed health problems, whereupon Ninn-Hansen was officially appointed finance minister . At the same time, Ninn-Hansen took over the office of political leader of the party in the Folketing. Ultimately, Møller decided not to run again in the Folketing elections on September 21, 1971.

Almost two months later, however, in November 1971 at the party's regional council meeting, he announced that he would be available for a candidacy as party chairman if the previous state chairman, Knud Thestrup , resigned as announced in 1972. Ultimately, however, Erik Haunstrup Clemmensen was elected as Thestrup's successor as chairman of the Conservative People's Party in 1972.

Economic manager and MEP

After leaving the government, he was a member of the board of the United Credit Cooperatives ( Forenede Kreditforeninger ) from 1971 and chairman of the Foreningen Dansk Arbejde organization between 1971 and 1979 , which has been promoting Danish goods since it was founded in 1908. Furthermore, he became a board member of the Kgl. Bratidassurance and 1972 chairman of the Danish Sales Fairs ( Dansk Købestævne ).

In the 1979 European elections , Møller had a political comeback when he was elected member of the European Parliament with a large number of personal votes and was a member of it during the first and second legislative periods until he resigned in 1986. During his membership in the European Parliament he was temporarily one of its vice-presidents. Since 1979 he has also been an advisor to the daily Morgenavisen Jyllands-Posten .

family

Poul Møller was married three times. His first marriage on February 28, 1942 to the journalist Lis Jakobsen, who was also a member of the Conservative People's Party in the Folketing between 1966 and 1973 and 1981 until her death in 1983, had three children, including the politician Per Stig Møller , who Det Conservative Folkeparti has been a member of the Folketing since 1984 and was both party and parliamentary group chairman and minister of the environment from 1990 to 1993, foreign minister from 2001 to 2010 and minister of culture and church from 2010 to 2011.

After the death of his first wife in 1984 he married the former actress Line Bro, who represented the Social Democrats in the Folketing as a member of parliament. In 1988 he was divorced from Line Bro.

His last marriage was on April 1, 1990, with actress Grethe Thordahl , from whom he divorced in 1997.

Publications

• De islandske håndskrifter , 1965
• Mennesker and Meninger , 1970
• Politics , 1972
• Politics på vrangen , 1974
• Fra kamp til samarbejde. En fortælling om to partier , 1975
• Gennembrudsår , 1977
• Europe's vej , 1979.

For his literary work he was awarded the Renault Prize in 1972 and the Merconom Prize in 1976.

Web links

• Entry in Den Store Danske Encyklopædi (online version)
• Entry in the store Danske (online version II)
• Entry on Poul Møller in the Members' database of the European Parliament