Halldór Ásgrímsson (pronounced ; 8 September 1947 – 18 May 2015) was an

Iceland Iceland ( is, Ísland; ) is a Nordic island country in the North Atlantic Ocean and in the Arctic Ocean. Iceland is the most sparsely populated country in Europe. Iceland's capital and largest city is Reykjavík, which (along with its ...

ic politician, who served as

prime minister of Iceland The prime minister of Iceland ( is, Forsætisráðherra Íslands) is Iceland's head of government. The prime minister is appointed formally by the president and exercises executive authority along with the cabinet subject to parliamentary supp ...

from 2004 to 2006 and was leader of the Progressive Party from 1994 to 2006.

Education and early life

Halldór studied at the Co-operative College in Bifröst, and became a certified public accountant in 1970. He later completed graduate commerce studies at the Universities of

Bergen Bergen (), historically Bjørgvin, is a city and municipalities of Norway, municipality in Vestland county on the Western Norway, west coast of Norway. , its population is roughly 285,900. Bergen is the list of towns and cities in Norway, secon ...

and

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 a ...

, and worked as a lecturer at the

University of Iceland The University of Iceland ( is, Háskóli Íslands ) is a public research university in Reykjavík, Iceland and the country's oldest and largest institution of higher education. Founded in 1911, it has grown steadily from a small civil servant ...

from 1973 to 1975.

Political career

He represented the Eastern constituency as a member of the

Althing The Alþingi (''general meeting'' in Icelandic, , anglicised as ' or ') is the supreme national parliament of Iceland. It is one of the oldest surviving parliaments in the world. The Althing was founded in 930 at (" thing fields" or "assemb ...

(Icelandic Parliament) from 1974 to 1978 and from 1979 to 2003, when he was elected to represent the Reykjavík North constituency. Over the years, he has served in a large number of ministerial portfolios, namely as Minister of Fisheries from 1983 to 1991, Minister of Justice and Ecclesiastical Affairs from 1988 to 1989, Minister for Nordic Cooperation from 1985 to 1987 and 1995 to 1999 and

Minister of Foreign Affairs A foreign affairs minister or minister of foreign affairs (less commonly minister for foreign affairs) is generally a cabinet minister in charge of a state's foreign policy and relations. The formal title of the top official varies between co ...

from 1995 to 2004. As Minister of Foreign Affairs, Halldór put Iceland on the

Coalition of the Willing The term ''coalition of the willing'' refers to an international alliance focused on achieving a particular objective, usually of military or political nature. Usage *One early use was by President Bill Clinton in June 1994 in relation to possib ...

, the alliance supporting the

2003 invasion of Iraq The 2003 invasion of Iraq was a United States-led invasion of the Republic of Iraq and the first stage of the Iraq War. The invasion phase began on 19 March 2003 (air) and 20 March 2003 (ground) and lasted just over one month, including ...

. Halldór took over as Prime Minister on 15 September 2004, succeeding Independence Party leader Davíð Oddsson, while Davíð replaced Halldór as Foreign Minister. On 5 June 2006, following poor results in municipal elections, Halldór announced his resignation as Prime Minister and stated that he intended to step down as leader of the Progressive Party in August 2006.

Geir H. Haarde Geir Hilmar Haarde (; born 8 April 1951) is an Icelandic politician, who served as prime minister of Iceland from 15 June 2006 to 1 February 2009 and as president of the Nordic Council in 1995. Geir was chairman of the Icelandic Independence Pa ...

, the Foreign Minister of Iceland, succeeded him on 15 June 2006. Halldór Ásgrímsson's successor as Progressive Party leader was

Jón Sigurðsson Jón Sigurðsson (17 June 1811 – 7 December 1879) was the leader of the 19th century Icelandic independence movement. Biography Born at Hrafnseyri, in Arnarfjörður in the Westfjords area of Iceland, he was the son of Þórdís Jónsdótti ...

, Ministry of Industry, Energy and Tourism, who was elected at the party's convention in August 2006. At the convention Halldór ended his political career with an emotional and dynamic farewell speech to the party. Halldór resigned as MP after the convention; he was the longest serving MP at the time. On 31 October 2006, Halldór was chosen as the Secretary-General of the Nordic Council of Ministers. Halldór Ásgrímsson was an Honorary Member o
The International Raoul Wallenberg Foundation
He died of a heart attack at a Reykjavik hospital in May 2015.

References

External links

Halldór's biography (since his tenure as PM)

Nordic Council of Ministers
, - , - , - , - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Asgrimsson, Halldor 1947 births 2015 deaths Accounting educators Halldor Asgrimsson Halldor Asgrimsson Halldor Asgrimsson Halldor Asgrimsson Halldor Asgrimsson Halldor Asgrimsson Halldor Asgrimsson Halldor Asgrimsson University of Bergen alumni University of Copenhagen alumni Halldor Asgrimsson