Karen Ellemann Kloch, formerly Karen Ellemann Karabian, (born 26 August 1969 in

Charlottenlund Charlottenlund is a suburban area on the coast north of Copenhagen, Denmark. It is the administrative seat of Gentofte Municipality. Bordered to the east by the Øresund, to the South by Hellerup and to the north by Klampenborg, it is one of the ...

) is a

Danish Danish may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to the country of Denmark People * A national or citizen of Denmark, also called a "Dane," see Demographics of Denmark * Culture of Denmark * Danish people or Danes, people with a Danish a ...

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 Venstre political party. She is a former minister, having held the positions of Minister of Fisheries, Equality and Nordic Cooperation, Minister of the Environment and Minister of the Interior and Social Affairs. Ellemann is the daughter of former Foreign Minister,

Uffe Ellemann-Jensen 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-led Poul Schlüter Administration from 1982 to 1993. He was leader of the Da ...

. She has a background as a teacher. She is married and has two children.

Political career

Ellemann was elected in the municipal council of Rudersdal Municipality at the

2005 Danish local elections The Danish local elections of 2005 were held on 15 November 2005. 2522 municipal council members were elected in Denmark's 98 municipalities and 205 regional council members in the five regions. Most of these were newly formed municipalities, nam ...

. It was the first time she ran for a political office and became one of the most voted-for politicians in the municipality, receiving 1,502 votes. She ran with an agenda focused on children and healthcare. Following the 2007 Danish general election Ellemann was elected into parliament. She received 13,513 votes, which gave her a direct seat in the

Greater Copenhagen The urban area of Copenhagen (also known as Greater Copenhagen) ( da, Storkøbenhavn or ), lying mostly in the Capital Region of Denmark but also in Region Zealand, consist of Copenhagen and Frederiksberg municipalities and the former Copenhagen ...

constituency. She was appointed Minister of Interior and

Social Affairs A Ministry of Social Affairs or Department of Social Affairs is the common name for a government department found in states where the government is divided into ministries or departments. While there is some variation in the responsibilities of ...

in the Lars Løkke Rasmussen I Cabinet, starting 7 April 2009. On 23 February 2010 there was a cabinet reshuffle, which resulted in Ellemann becoming the new Minister for Environment and Nordic Cooperation. At the time she had not been involved in environmental politics, which was commented on by the Danish Society for Nature Conservation and the opposition parties. They were worried that she would be unable to stand up to the new Minister of Agriculture Henrik Høegh. She was reelected at the

2011 Danish general election General elections were held in Denmark on 15 September 2011 to elect the 179 members of the Folketing. Of those 179, 175 members were elected in Denmark, two in the Faroe Islands and two in Greenland. The incumbent centre-right coalition led by ...

, receiving 8,476 votes. This was the second-most votes received by a Venstre-politician in the municipality, with only

Søren Pind Søren Pind (born 20 November 1969) is a Danish lawyer and politician, a member of the center-right party Venstre. He served as Danish Minister of Justice from 2015 to 2016, and as Minister of Science, Technology, Information and Higher Educat ...

receiving more votes with 15,101. She was elected again in the 2015 election with 7,020 votes. After the election Venstre had majority support in the Folketing, and

Lars Løkke Rasmussen Lars Løkke Rasmussen (; born 15 May 1964) is a Danish politician who has served as Minister of Foreign Affairs since 2022. He previously served as the 25th Prime Minister of Denmark from 2009 to 2011 and again from 2015 to 2019. He was the le ...

became the prime minister again. In his cabinet Ellemann was appointed Minister of the Interior and

. She held this position until 28 November 2016, where Venstre went into a coalition government with Liberal Alliance and Conservative People's Party in the

Lars Løkke Rasmussen III Cabinet The Third Cabinet of Lars Løkke Rasmussen (colloquially, ''VLAK-regeringen'' or ''trekløverregeringen'') took office on 28 November 2016, and succeeded the Second Cabinet of Lars Løkke Rasmussen. It was a minority coalition government consis ...

. She became Minister for

Gender Equality Gender equality, also known as sexual equality or equality of the sexes, is the state of equal ease of access to resources and opportunities regardless of gender, including economic participation and decision-making; and the state of valuing d ...

and Nordic Cooperation. 7 August 2017 she also became the Minister for Fisheries after a scandal involving the former Minister of Food, Agriculture and Fisheries Esben Lunde Larsen forced him to resign that part of his ministry. On 2 May 2018 Ellemann left the government to become the leader of Venstre's parliamentary group. She was the first woman holding that position. Ellemann was reelected in the

2019 Danish general election General elections were held in the Kingdom of Denmark on 5 June 2019 to elect all 179 members of the Folketing; 175 in Denmark proper, two in the Faroe Islands and two in Greenland. The elections took place ten days after the European Parliament ...

, receiving 8,238 votes.Dst.dk
"Valgte kandidater og stedfortrædere, Folketingsvalg onsdag 5. juni 2019" Retrieved 3 February 2021

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Ellemann, Karen 1969 births Living people People from Gentofte Municipality Venstre (Denmark) politicians 21st-century Danish women politicians Government ministers of Denmark Women government ministers of Denmark Female interior ministers Danish Ministers for the Environment Danish municipal councillors Women members of the Folketing Members of the Folketing 2007–2011 Members of the Folketing 2011–2015 Members of the Folketing 2015–2019 Members of the Folketing 2019–2022 Members of the Folketing 2022–2026