Christine Edda Antorini (born 23 May 1965, in

Jyllinge Jyllinge is a town located on the eastern shores of Roskilde Fjord, midway between Roskilde and Frederikssund, Roskilde Municipality, some 40 km west of Copenhagen, Denmark. The original fishing village is surrounded by large areas of Sing ...

) is a Danish politician for the

Social Democrats Social democracy is a political, social, and economic philosophy within socialism that supports political and economic democracy. As a policy regime, it is described by academics as advocating economic and social interventions to promote so ...

, formerly for the Socialist People's Party. From 2011 to 2015 she was the Minister of Education in the Cabinet of Helle Thorning-Schmidt. She was a member of the Folketing from 1998 to 1999 and again from 2005 to 2018.

Background

Antorini was born in

, near

Copenhagen Copenhagen ( or .; da, København ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a proper population of around 815.000 in the last quarter of 2022; and some 1.370,000 in the urban area; and the wider Copenhagen metropolitan ar ...

, where her mother was a teacher and her father a dairyman. Her mother was of

Swiss Italian The Italian language in Switzerland or Swiss Italian ( it, italiano svizzero) is the variety of the Italian language taught in the Italian-speaking area of Switzerland. Italian is spoken natively by about 700,000 people in the canton of Ticino ...

descent and Antorini was brought up in the

Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

faith. She studied political science at Aarhus University 1985-1987 and public administration at Roskilde University 1989-1994, obtaining a Candidate degree. She headed the secretariat of an independent office for consumer information 1999-2003, was anchorwoman in

Danish Radio DR (), officially the Danish Broadcasting Corporation in English, is a Danish public-service radio and television broadcasting company. Founded in 1925 as a public-service organization, it is Denmark's oldest and largest electronic media enter ...

2003-2004 and worked for the Union of Commercial and Clerical Employees, part of Danish Confederation of Trade Unions, 2004-2005.

Political career

Antorini was a member of the executive board of the

Youth of the Socialist People's Party Socialistisk Folkepartis Ungdom (Popular Socialist Youth of Denmark) is the youth wing of the Green Left of Denmark, founded in 1969. In 1995, the leftist section of the SFU (essentially the Copenhagen Copenhagen ( or .; da, Københ ...

became a member of the executive board for the Socialist People's Party in 1988. In 1991, she became deputy leader for the party, a position she held to 1998. From 1998 to 1999 she was a member of the

Folketing The Folketing ( da, Folketinget, ; ), also known as the Parliament of Denmark or the Danish Parliament in English, is the unicameral national legislature (parliament) of the Kingdom of Denmark—Denmark proper together with the Faroe Islands ...

for the Socialist People's Party from Eastern Copenhagen electoral district. She was elected again to the Folketing in the general election, 2005, this time representing the

and subsequently re-elected in the 2007 election and the 2011 election. She was among other things the Social Democrats' spokesperson on education. The 2011 election brought the Social Democrats to power in a coalition cabinet led by Helle Thorning-Schmidt. Antorini was named Minister of Children and Education 3 October 2011, with the inclusion of children in the Minister of Education's portfolio being a novelty. In a cabinet reshuffle on 9 August 2013, the position was again called Minister of Education. She has been a member of a number of committees, boards and think-thanks; several related to education and science. Christine Antorini was one of two Danish nominees for EU Commissioner in August 2014.

Personal life

Antorini is twice divorced. She has two children from her first marriage. Her second marriage was to sociologist Henrik Dahl.

Bibliography

* ''Borgerlige ord efter revolutionen'' (co-author),

Gyldendal Gyldendalske Boghandel, Nordisk Forlag A/S, usually referred to simply as Gyldendal () is a Danish publishing house. Founded in 1770 by Søren Gyldendal, it is the oldest and largest publishing house in Denmark, offering a wide selection of ...

, 1999 * ''Det ny systemskifte'' (co-author), Gyldendal, 2001 * ''Fanatisme eller Idealisme'', Forum, 2003, * ''Epostler'' (co-author), Gyldendal, 2003 * ''Fremtidens partier'', Gyldendal, 2008.

References

External links

Biography on the website of the Danish Parliament (Folketinget)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Antorini, Christine 1965 births Living people People from Roskilde Municipality Danish people of Swiss-Italian descent Social Democrats (Denmark) politicians Socialist People's Party (Denmark) politicians 20th-century Danish women politicians 21st-century Danish women politicians Government ministers of Denmark Women government ministers of Denmark Education ministers of Denmark Women members of the Folketing Members of the Folketing 1998–2001 Members of the Folketing 2005–2007 Members of the Folketing 2007–2011 Members of the Folketing 2011–2015 Members of the Folketing 2015–2019