Vorbasse
Vorbasse with a population of 1,300 (1 January 2022)Danish politician and a former speaker of the
Danish parliament
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 an ...
. He has been a member of the Danish parliament 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 ...
from 1990 to 2004 and again from 2007, during which he served as Minister for Agriculture and Fisheries (1994–1996), Minister for Food (1996–2000), Minister for Social Affairs (2000–2001), Minister for Transport (2011–2013) and Minister for Employment (2014–2015). He served as President of the Nordic Council in 2011 and 2016.
Background
Kristensen was born in Vorbasse to Ove Dam Kristensen and Gudrun Dam Kristensen. From 1978 to 1986 he worked as a postman in Vorbasse, and also worked with the
Danish Refugee Council
Danish Refugee Council (DRC) ( da, Dansk Flygtningehjælp) is a private Danish humanitarian nonprofit organization, founded in 1956. It serves as an umbrella organization for 33 member organizations.
Formed after the Second World War in response ...
from 1986 to 1988. From 1988 to 1990 he worked as a principal at a school. He is married to Bente Dam Kristensen.
Political career
Kristensen was first elected to 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
1990
File:1990 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1990 FIFA World Cup is played in Italy; The Human Genome Project is launched; Voyager I takes the famous Pale Blue Dot image- speaking on the fragility of humanity on Earth, astrophysicist ...
, and reelected in
1994
File:1994 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1994 Winter Olympics are held in Lillehammer, Norway; The Kaiser Permanente building after the 1994 Northridge earthquake; A model of the MS Estonia, which sank in the Baltic Sea; Nelson ...
,
1998
1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''.
Events January
* January 6 – The ''Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for frozen water, in soil in permanently s ...
, and 2001. From 1996 to 2000 he was Minister of Food, until 2000, where he became Minister of Social Affairs. Kristensen ran in the
2004 European Parliament election
The 2004 European Parliament election was held between 10 and 13 June 2004 in the 25 member states of the European Union, using varying election days according to local custom. The European Parliamental parties could not be voted for, but electe ...
and was elected as 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 ...
. To perform in his new position, Kristensen resigned his seat in the Folketing.
Margot Torp Margot (; ) is a feminine French given name, a variant of Marguerite. It is also occasionally a surname. Persons named Margot include the following:
People with the given name Margot
* Margot Asquith, countess of Oxford and Asquith
* Marguerite ...
took over his seat. In the European Parliament, Kristensen sat on 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 ...
Committee on the Internal Market and Consumer Protection The Committee on the Internal Market and Consumer Protection (IMCO) is a committee of the European Parliament.
Work of the committee
The committee is responsible for:
* coordination at Community level of national legislation in the sphere of th ...
and the Delegation for Relations with the Countries of South-East Europe.
In 2006 Kristensen resigned his seat from the European Parliament, and the seat was taken over by
Christel Schaldemose
Christel Schaldemose (born 4 July 1967) is a Danish politician who has been serving as a Member of the European Parliament since 2006. She is a member of the Social Democrats, part of the Party of European Socialists.
In parliament, Schaldemose i ...
. He became the party secretary of the Social Democrats. He ran for the Folketing again in the 2007 Danish general election, where he was elected. He was reelected in 2011. On 3 October 2011 Kristensen was appointed to the post of
Minister for Transport
A ministry of transport or transportation is a ministry responsible for transportation within a country. It usually is administered by the ''minister for transport''. The term is also sometimes applied to the departments or other government ag ...
in the Cabinet of Helle Thorning-Schmidt, and left office on 9 August 2013. On 10 October 2014 he again entered the cabinet, when he was appointed the position of Minister for Employment.
Kristensen was reelected into the Folketing in the 2015 and
2019
File:2019 collage v1.png, From top left, clockwise: Hong Kong protests turn to widespread riots and civil disobedience; House of Representatives votes to adopt articles of impeachment against Donald Trump; CRISPR gene editing first used to experim ...
elections. On 21 June 2019 Kristensen was appointed speaker of the Danish parliament, replacing
Pia Kjærsgaard
Pia Merete Kjærsgaard (; born 23 February 1947) is a Danish politician who was Speaker of the Danish Parliament from 2015 to 2019, and former leader of the Danish People's Party.
She is a co-founder of the Danish People's Party, and led the ...
. Kristensen served as speaker between 2019 and November 2022, when
Søren Gade
Søren Gade Jensen (born 27 January 1963) is a Danish politician who has been Speaker of the Folketing since November 2022, representing the Liberal party, Venstre. He was a Liberal member of the Folketing from 2001 to 2019 and again in 2022. ...
became speaker.
In 2011 Denmark was to appoint a president of the Nordic Council and Kristensen was chosen. He was president again in 2016.
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