Ulla Pedersen Tørnæs (born 4 September 1962 in

Esbjerg Esbjerg (, ) is a seaport town and seat of Esbjerg Municipality on the west coast of the Jutland peninsula in southwest Denmark. By road, it is west of Kolding and southwest of Aarhus. With an urban population of 71,698 (1 January 2022)

) is a Danish politician, who is 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

Liberal Party The Liberal Party is any of many political parties around the world. The meaning of ''liberal'' varies around the world, ranging from liberal conservatism on the right to social liberalism on the left. __TOC__ Active liberal parties This is a li ...

. She previously sat in parliament from 1994 to 2014, and served as member of the

European Parliament The European Parliament (EP) is one of the legislative bodies of the European Union and one of its seven institutions. Together with the Council of the European Union (known as the Council and informally as the Council of Ministers), it adopts ...

from 2014 to 2016. She served as Minister for Development Cooperation from 2016 to 2019, Minister of Higher Education and Science in 2016, Minister of Development Cooperation from 2005 to 2010 and Minister of Education from 2001 to 2005.

Political career

Role in Danish politics

Tørnæs served as Minister for Education in the

Cabinet of Anders Fogh Rasmussen I After the 2001 Danish parliamentary election, Anders Fogh Rasmussen was able form a government coalition of his own Liberal Party Venstre and the Conservative People's Party. It was a minority government with the parliamentary support of the Dan ...

(2001–2005) and as Minister for Development Cooperation in the Cabinet of Anders Fogh Rasmussen II from 18 February 2005. From 2007, she was a member of the

World Bank Group The World Bank Group (WBG) is a family of five international organizations that make leveraged loans to developing countries. It is the largest and best-known development bank in the world and an observer at the United Nations Development Grou ...

’s High Level Advisory Council on Women's Economic Empowerment, which was chaired by Danny Leipziger and

Heidemarie Wieczorek-Zeul Heidemarie Wieczorek-Zeul (born 21 November 1942) is a German politician and a member of the Social Democratic Party (SPD) since 1965. Early life and career Wieczorek-Zeul (pronounced ''VEE‐choreck TSOIL'') began her career as a teacher 1965� ...

. She was also a member of the Prime Minister’s Commission on Effective Development Cooperation with Africa which held meetings between April and October 2008. From 2010 until 2016, Tørnæs was a member of the management committee of the Danish Liberal Democracy Programme (DLDP).

Member of the European Parliament, 2014–2016

Tørnæs became a

Member of the European Parliament A Member of the European Parliament (MEP) is a person who has been elected to serve as a popular representative in the European Parliament. When the European Parliament (then known as the Common Assembly of the ECSC) first met in 1952, its ...

following the

2014 European elections Fourteen or 14 may refer to: * 14 (number), the natural number following 13 and preceding 15 * one of the years 14 BC, AD 14, 1914, 2014 Music * 14th (band), a British electronic music duo * ''14'' (David Garrett album), 2013 *''14'', an unrel ...

. A member of the ALDE (Group of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe) political faction, she served as Vice-Chairwoman of the

Committee on Employment and Social Affairs The Committee on Employment and Social Affairs (EMPL) is a committee of the European Parliament. It is responsible for issues of employment and social policy, including labour rights, social security, inclusion, free movement for workers and pensio ...

. In 2015, she was the lead negotiator for the ALDE group on the

eCall eCall (an abbreviation of "emergency call") is an initiative by the European Union, intended to bring rapid assistance to motorists involved in a collision anywhere within the European Union (and the UK post-Brexit). The aim is for all new cars ...

system. In addition to her committee assignments, Tørnæs was a member of the parliament’s delegation for relations with the countries of

Southeast Asia Southeast Asia, also spelled South East Asia and South-East Asia, and also known as Southeastern Asia, South-eastern Asia or SEA, is the geographical United Nations geoscheme for Asia#South-eastern Asia, south-eastern region of Asia, consistin ...

and the

Association of Southeast Asian Nations ASEAN ( , ), officially the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, is a political and economic union of 10 member states in Southeast Asia, which promotes intergovernmental cooperation and facilitates economic, political, security, militar ...

(ASEAN).

Return to Danish politics

Tørnæs left the European Parliament on 29 February 2016, becoming Minister for Science, Technology, Information and Higher Education in the

Lars Løkke Rasmussen II Cabinet The Second Cabinet of Lars Løkke Rasmussen was the Government of Denmark, in office between 28 June 2015 and 28 November 2016, where Lars Løkke Rasmussen third cabinet took over. It was a single-party minority government consisting of Venstr ...

, where she proposed the education ceiling. Her successor is

Morten Løkkegaard Morten Løkkegaard (born 20 December 1964) is a Danish politician who has served as a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) and the Danish Parliament intermittently since 2009. He has held his current position as a member of the European Parlia ...

. From 28 November 2016 until 2019, Tørnæs again served as Minister for Development Cooperation.

Personal life

Tørnæs is the daughter of former minister

Laurits Tørnæs Laurits is a masculine given name, a Danish and Estonian variant of the Scandinavian Lauritz, related to the English names Laurence and Lawrence. It may refer to: *Laurits, fire god related to St. Lawrence in Estonian mythology Given name * Hans ...

and Katty Tørnæs.

References

External links