Uffe Ellemann-Jensen (, informal: ; 1 November 1941 – 18 June 2022) was a Danish politician who served as Minister for Foreign Affairs of Denmark in the
Conservative
Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization i ...
-led
Poul Schlüter
Poul Holmskov Schlüter (; 3 April 1929 – 27 May 2021) was a Danish politician who served as Prime Minister of Denmark from 1982 to 1993. He was the first member of the Conservative People's Party to become Prime Minister, as well as the first ...
Administration from 1982 to 1993. He was leader of the Danish
Liberal
Liberal or liberalism may refer to:
Politics
* a supporter of liberalism
** Liberalism by country
* an adherent of a Liberal Party
* Liberalism (international relations)
* Sexually liberal feminism
* Social liberalism
Arts, entertainment and m ...
Party
Venstre from 1984 to 1998 and President of the
European Liberals 1995–2000.
In 1998 Ellemann-Jensen founded
Baltic Development Forum, a non-profit networking organisation dedicated to the business development of the
Baltic Sea
The Baltic Sea is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that is enclosed by Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Russia, Sweden and the North and Central European Plain.
The sea stretches from 53°N to 66°N latitude and from ...
region. He was its first chairman from its founding to 2011, and was also honorary chairman following his resignation. He was also
non-executive director
A non-executive director (abbreviated to non-exec, NED or NXD), independent director or external director is a member of the board of directors of a corporation, such as a company, cooperative or non-government organization, but not a member of the ...
of various boards of international companies.
Political career
A strong supporter of
NATO
The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO, ; french: Organisation du traité de l'Atlantique nord, ), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental military alliance between 30 member states – 28 European and two No ...
and the
European Union
The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been des ...
based upon his belief in Western cohesion, Ellemann-Jensen's stance led to many political battles with the left-wing opposition. Several times the opposition tried to topple him on issues of solidarity within NATO, but he survived. Uffe Ellemann-Jensen succeeded in convincing a majority in the Danish
Parliament
In modern politics, and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...
, the
Folketinget
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 a ...
, to actively support the U.S. led coalition against
Iraq
Iraq,; ku, عێراق, translit=Êraq officially the Republic of Iraq, '; ku, کۆماری عێراق, translit=Komarî Êraq is a country in Western Asia. It is bordered by Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq ...
during the
Gulf War
The Gulf War was a 1990–1991 armed campaign waged by a 35-country military coalition in response to the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait. Spearheaded by the United States, the coalition's efforts against Iraq were carried out in two key phases: ...
. Furthermore, he led the Danish recognition of the renewed independence of the three Baltic countries in 1991, when Denmark was the first country to re-establish diplomatic relations with the three countries.
In 1992, Ellemann-Jensen, together with his German colleague
Hans-Dietrich Genscher
Hans-Dietrich Genscher (21 March 1927 – 31 March 2016) was a German statesman and a member of the liberal Free Democratic Party (FDP), who served as Federal Minister of the Interior from 1969 to 1974, and as Federal Minister for Foreign Affa ...
, took the initiative to create the
Council of the Baltic Sea States
The Council of the Baltic Sea States (CBSS) is a regional intergovernmental organisation working on three priority areas: Regional Identity, Safe & Secure Region and Sustainable & Prosperous Region. These three priority areas aim to address ...
(CBSS) and the
EuroFaculty
EuroFaculty was an educational institution in the Baltic states in reforming higher education in Economics, Law, Public Administration and Business Administration.
History
At the founding meeting of the Council of the Baltic Sea States (CBSS) ...
.
In September 1992, Ellemann-Jensen and other senior officials visited southern
Somalia
Somalia, , Osmanya script: 𐒈𐒝𐒑𐒛𐒐𐒘𐒕𐒖; ar, الصومال, aṣ-Ṣūmāl officially the Federal Republic of SomaliaThe ''Federal Republic of Somalia'' is the country's name per Article 1 of thProvisional Constituti ...
, one of the first foreign delegations to do so since the start of
civil war
A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country).
The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies ...
there the year before.
After the fall of the centre-right government, in which he also served as Deputy Prime Minister, in 1993 following the
Tamil case The Tamil Case (Danish: Tamilsagen) was a case about family reunification in Denmark of Tamil refugees from the Sri Lankan Civil War. The affair led to the resignation of the government led by Poul Schlüter in 1993.
The scandal was first uncove ...
, outgoing prime minister Poul Schlüter attempted to have Ellemann-Jensen appointed acting prime minister until
Henning Dyremose (Conservative) could take over, but the attempt was dropped as royal cabinet secretary
Niels Eilschou Holm considered the maneuver unconstitutional. Instead,
Poul Nyrup Rasmussen
Poul Oluf Nyrup Rasmussen (, informally Poul Nyrup, born 15 June 1943) is a retired Danish politician. Rasmussen was Prime Minister of Denmark from 25 January 1993 to 27 November 2001 and President of the Party of European Socialists (PES) from ...
(
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 ...
) was appointed prime minister following a "
Queen's round", and Ellemann-Jensen became leader of the opposition.
Ellemann-Jensen was leader of the opposition until the
1998 general election, which he lost with a single seat. If his party had only 85 more votes, he would have been able to form a new centre-right government as Prime Minister. He decided then to leave politics and his successor as the leader of
Venstre was
Anders Fogh Rasmussen
Anders Fogh Rasmussen (; born 26 January 1953) is a Danish politician who was the 24th Prime Minister of Denmark from November 2001 to April 2009 and the 12th Secretary General of NATO from August 2009 to October 2014. He became CEO of politi ...
, who became Prime Minister of Denmark in 2001.
The new active Danish foreign policy continued after Ellemann-Jensen's ten-year term as Foreign Minister and ultimately became a turning point in Danish foreign and defence policy. It later became known as the ''
Ellemann-Jensen doctrine''.
In 1995, Ellemann-Jensen was a candidate for the post of
Secretary-General
Secretary is a title often used in organizations to indicate a person having a certain amount of authority, power, or importance in the organization. Secretaries announce important events and communicate to the organization. The term is derived ...
of NATO when
Willy Claes
Willem Werner Hubert "Willy" Claes (; born 24 November 1938) is a Belgian politician who served as the eighth Secretary General of NATO, from 1994 to 1995. Claes was forced to resign from his NATO position after he was found guilty of corruptio ...
was forced to leave the role. He got the support of the U.S. government, but France blocked his candidature, preferring the Spanish candidate,
Javier Solana
Francisco Javier Solana de Madariaga (; born 14 July 1942) is a Spanish physicist and PSOE politician. After serving in the Spanish government as Foreign Affairs Minister under Felipe González (1992–1995) and as the Secretary General of NA ...
. Ellemann-Jensen never tried to hide his disappointment with not getting the post that he had wanted all his political life.
He participated eight times in the
Bilderberg conferences: 1984, 1987 and every year between 1993 and 1998.
After leaving politics, Ellemann-Jensen became a columnist for the Danish daily ''
Berlingske Tidende
''Berlingske'', previously known as ''Berlingske Tidende'' (, ''Berling's Times''), is a Danish national daily newspaper based in Copenhagen. It is considered a newspaper of record for Denmark. First published on 3 January 1749,
''Berlingske'' ...
'' and a contributor to
Project Syndicate
Project Syndicate is an international media organization that publishes and syndicates commentary and analysis on a variety of global topics. All opinion pieces are published on the ''Project Syndicate'' website, but are also distributed to a wi ...
.
Ellemann-Jensen became a central figure in
the controversy following the Danish daily
Jyllands-Posten
''Morgenavisen Jyllands-Posten'' (; English: ''The Morning Newspaper "The Jutland Post"''), commonly shortened to ''Jyllands-Posten'' or ''JP'', is a Danish daily broadsheet newspaper. It is based in Aarhus C, Jutland, and with a weekday circula ...
's decision to print 12 satirical images of the Islamic prophet
Muhammad
Muhammad ( ar, مُحَمَّد; 570 – 8 June 632 Common Era, CE) was an Arab religious, social, and political leader and the founder of Islam. According to Muhammad in Islam, Islamic doctrine, he was a prophet Divine inspiration, di ...
in September 2005. In his column, only days after the cartoons were printed, he argued that he thought the cartoons represented an "unnecessary provocation", believing they constituted in themselves a caricature of Denmark's "cherished
freedom of expression
Freedom of speech is a principle that supports the freedom of an individual or a community to articulate their opinions and ideas without fear of retaliation, censorship, or legal sanction. The right to freedom of expression has been recogni ...
". Ellemann-Jensen remained in that position all through the controversy at the same time never missing an opportunity to support the Danish Prime Minister's stance that the government could not and should not take punitive action against the newspaper.
Personal life
Uffe Ellemann-Jensen was the son of 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 ...
. In 1971, his first marriage was dissolved and he married . He had four children, among them
Jakob Ellemann-Jensen
Jakob Ellemann-Jensen (born 25 September 1973) is a Danish politician who has served as Deputy Prime Minister (Denmark), Deputy Prime Minister of Denmark and Minister of Defence (Denmark), Minister of Defence since 2022. He has been the leader of ...
and
Karen Ellemann
Karen Ellemann Kloch, formerly Karen Ellemann Karabian, (born 26 August 1969 in Charlottenlund) is a Danish politician, who is a member of the Folketing for the Venstre political party. She is a former minister, having held the positions of Mini ...
. He was an avid
hunter
Hunting is the human activity, human practice of seeking, pursuing, capturing, or killing wildlife or feral animals. The most common reasons for humans to hunt are to harvest food (i.e. meat) and useful animal products (fur/hide (skin), hide, ...
and
fly fisher.
Awards
On 18 December 2002, Ellemann-Jensen was awarded the Grand Cross of the
Order of Dannebrog
The Order of the Dannebrog ( da, Dannebrogordenen) is a Danish order of chivalry instituted in 1671 by Christian V. Until 1808, membership in the order was limited to fifty members of noble or royal rank, who formed a single class known ...
.
On 12 February 2010, Ellemann-Jensen received the highest accolade of the Republic of Macedonia, the
Order 8-September for his contribution to the strengthening of Danish-Macedonian relations and for promotion of Macedonia in its initial years of independence in the early 1990s.
Illnesses and death
In 1989, Ellemann-Jensen underwent surgery for two
spinal disc herniation
Spinal disc herniation is an injury to the cushioning and connective tissue between vertebrae, usually caused by excessive strain or trauma to the spine. It may result in back pain, pain or sensation in different parts of the body, and physical ...
s in his neck,
but broke two
cervical vertebrae
In tetrapods, cervical vertebrae (singular: vertebra) are the vertebrae of the neck, immediately below the skull. Truncal vertebrae (divided into thoracic and lumbar vertebrae in mammals) lie caudal (toward the tail) of cervical vertebrae. In ...
during the operation; subsequently, he wore a
neck brace
A cervical collar, also known as a neck brace, is a medical device used to support and immobilize a person's neck. It is also applied by emergency personnel to those who have had traumatic head or neck injuries, and can be used to treat chronic m ...
for half a year.
He had a
stent
In medicine, a stent is a metal or plastic tube inserted into the lumen of an anatomic vessel or duct to keep the passageway open, and stenting is the placement of a stent. A wide variety of stents are used for different purposes, from expandab ...
inserted in his heart and, following a
blood clot
A thrombus (plural thrombi), colloquially called a blood clot, is the final product of the blood coagulation step in hemostasis. There are two components to a thrombus: aggregated platelets and red blood cells that form a plug, and a mesh of ...
, a
pacemaker.
He had another blood clot in an
IC3
The IC3 (or class MF) is a Danish-built high-comfort medium/long distance diesel multiple-unit train. The sets were built by ABB Scandia (later purchased by Adtranz, which itself was subsequently acquired by Bombardier Transportation) in Rand ...
train to
Aalborg
Aalborg (, , ) is Denmark's fourth largest town (behind Copenhagen, Aarhus, and Odense) with a population of 119,862 (1 July 2022) in the town proper and an urban population of 143,598 (1 July 2022). As of 1 July 2022, the Municipality of Aalb ...
in 2003, after which he stopped smoking.
He furthermore had
diabetes
Diabetes, also known as diabetes mellitus, is a group of metabolic disorders characterized by a high blood sugar level ( hyperglycemia) over a prolonged period of time. Symptoms often include frequent urination, increased thirst and increased ap ...
.
He had a
tumor
A neoplasm () is a type of abnormal and excessive growth of tissue. The process that occurs to form or produce a neoplasm is called neoplasia. The growth of a neoplasm is uncoordinated with that of the normal surrounding tissue, and persists ...
that pressed against his
spinal cord
The spinal cord is a long, thin, tubular structure made up of nervous tissue, which extends from the medulla oblongata in the brainstem to the lumbar region of the vertebral column (backbone). The backbone encloses the central canal of the spi ...
removed in 2019.
In a 2021 interview with Ellemann-Jensen, it was reported that an "old cancer
..was stirring again", and referring to his health problems, he stated that he was "a wandering example of
medical science
Medicine is the science and practice of caring for a patient, managing the diagnosis, prognosis, prevention, treatment, palliation of their injury or disease, and promoting their health. Medicine encompasses a variety of health care practice ...
's progress".
In August 2021, the thenfully vaccinated Ellemann-Jensen was admitted to hospital with
COVID-19
Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was COVID-19 pandemic in Hubei, identified in Wuhan, China, in December ...
for three weeks; he was then in further treatment for two weeks. Ellemann-Jensen had a successful
prostate cancer
Prostate cancer is cancer of the prostate. Prostate cancer is the second most common cancerous tumor worldwide and is the fifth leading cause of cancer-related mortality among men. The prostate is a gland in the male reproductive system that sur ...
surgery at an apparently early stage of the disease in January 2011. Subsequently, however, the cancer flared up again, and on 13 June 2022 he was admitted to
Rigshospitalet
Rigshospitalet (meaning ''The National'', ''State'' or ''Hospital of the Realm'', but not usually translated) is the largest public and teaching hospital in Copenhagen and the most highly specialised hospital in Denmark. The hospital's main buildi ...
, where he died on 18 June at the age of 80.
Bibliography
* ''De nye millionærer'' (''The new millionaires''), 1971
* ''Det afhængige samfund'' (''The dependent society''), 1972
* ''Hvad gør vi ved Gudenåen?'' (''What should we do about
Gudenåen''), 1973
* ''Den truede velstand'' (''The threatened wealth''), 1974
* ''Økonomi'' (''Economy''), 1975
* ''Da Danmark igen sagde ja til det fælles'' (''When Denmark once more said yes to the common''), 1987
* ''Et lille land, og dog'' (''A small country, or perhaps not''), 1991
* ''Olfert Fischer i Golfen'' (''
Olfert Fischer
Johan Olfert Fischer (4 August 1747 – 18 February 1829) was a Danish officer in the Royal Dano-Norwegian Navy. He commanded the Dano-Norwegian fleet against British forces under Lord Nelson during the Danish defeat at Copenhagen on 2 April 18 ...
in
the Gulf''), 1991, with Sv. E. Thiede
* ''Din egen dag er kort'' (''Your own day is short''), 1996
* ''Rent ud sagt – indfald og udfald'' (''Plainly spoken – ideas and attacks''), 1997
* ''Sådan set'' (''In a manner of speaking''), 1997 with Erik Werner
* ''EU – derfor'' (''
EU – the reason''), 1998
* ''Ude med snøren'' (''Having the fishing line out''), 2001
* ''Østen for solen'' (''East of the sun''), 2002
* ''FODfejl'' (''Stepping in it''), 2004
* ''Ude med snøren – fisk og mennesker jeg har mødt'', 2004, , autobiography featuring
recreational fishing
Recreational fishing, also called sport fishing or game fishing, is fishing for leisure, exercise or competition. It can be contrasted with commercial fishing, which is professional fishing for profit; or subsistence fishing, which is fishing ...
* ''Vejen, jeg valgte'', 2009,
* ''Nu gik det lige så godt, men så gik verden af lave'', 2009, , about the effects of the
financial crisis of 2007–2008
Finance is the study and discipline of money, currency and capital assets. It is related to, but not synonymous with economics, the study of production, distribution, and consumption of money, assets, goods and services (the discipline of fi ...
References
;Comments
;Citations
;Literature
*
External links
CV of Chairman Uffe Ellemann-Jensenat the website of
Baltic Development Forum
Commentary by Uffe Ellemann-Jensenat the website of
Project Syndicate
Project Syndicate is an international media organization that publishes and syndicates commentary and analysis on a variety of global topics. All opinion pieces are published on the ''Project Syndicate'' website, but are also distributed to a wi ...
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ellemann-Jensen, Uffe
1941 births
2022 deaths
Foreign ministers of Denmark
Members of the Folketing
People from Assens Municipality
Venstre (Denmark) politicians
Leaders of Venstre (Denmark)
Recipients of the Order of the Cross of Terra Mariana, 1st Class
Grand Crosses of the Order of the Dannebrog
Recipients of Nersornaat
Commanders Grand Cross of the Order of the Polar Star
Grand Crosses of the Order of the Lithuanian Grand Duke Gediminas
Grand Crosses of the Order of Merit of the Republic of Poland
Knights Grand Cross of the Order of Orange-Nassau
Grand Crosses of the Order of Prince Henry
Order of Duke Trpimir recipients
Knights Grand Cross of the Order of Isabella the Catholic