Morten Østergaard (born 17 June 1976 in Aarhus) is a Danish politician who served as Denmark's Minister for Economic and Interior Affairs from 2 September 2014 to 28 June 2015. Leader of the

Danish Social Liberal Party The Danish Social Liberal Party ( da, Radikale Venstre, , Radical Left) is a social-liberal political party in Denmark. The party was founded as a split from the Venstre Reform Party in 1905. Historically, the centrist party has played a cent ...

from September 2014 to October 2020, he 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 ...

from 2005 to 2021. He was furthermore Minister for Research, Innovation and Higher Education from 2011 to 2014 and for a short term in 2014 also Minister for Taxation.

Background

He holds a master's degree in political science from the

University of Aarhus Aarhus University ( da, Aarhus Universitet, abbreviated AU) is a public research university with its main campus located in Aarhus, Denmark. It is the second largest and second oldest university in Denmark. The university is part of the Coimbra Gr ...

Political career

Østergaard was vice-chairman of the party from 2002 to 2005 and has been a member of parliament since the 2005 election. Following the announcement on 31 August 2014 that

Margrethe Vestager Margrethe Vestager (; born 13 April 1968) is a Danish politician currently serving as Executive Vice President of the European Commission for A Europe Fit for the Digital Age since December 2019 and European Commissioner for Competition since ...

is to become Denmark's

EU Commissioner A European Commissioner is a member of the 27-member European Commission. Each member within the Commission holds a specific portfolio. The commission is led by the President of the European Commission. In simple terms they are the equivalent ...

, Østergaard was elected leader of the Danish Social Liberal Party and was appointed Deputy Prime Minister of Denmark, as well as

Minister of the Interior An interior minister (sometimes called a minister of internal affairs or minister of home affairs) is a cabinet official position that is responsible for internal affairs, such as public security, civil registration and identification, emergency ...

. On October 7, 2020, Østergaard resigned as the leader of the

due to inappropriate sexual behaviour towards fellow

Social Liberal Social liberalism (german: Sozialliberalismus, es, socioliberalismo, nl, Sociaalliberalisme), also known as new liberalism in the United Kingdom, modern liberalism, or simply liberalism in the contemporary United States, left-liberalism ...

MP Lotte Rod.

References

External links

* * * 1976 births Living people People from Aarhus Danish Social Liberal Party politicians Government ministers of Denmark Aarhus University alumni Danish Tax Ministers Members of the Folketing 2005–2007 Members of the Folketing 2007–2011 Members of the Folketing 2011–2015 Members of the Folketing 2015–2019 Members of the Folketing 2019–2022 Leaders of the Danish Social Liberal Party {{Denmark-politician-stub