Morten Østergaard (born 17 June 1976) 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 (, RV, ) is a Social liberalism, social-liberal List of political parties in Denmark, political party in Denmark. The party was founded as a split from the Venstre (Denmark), Venstre Reform Party in 1905. Histori ...

from September 2014 to October 2020, he was a member of the

Folketing The Folketing ( , ), 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 and Greenland. E ...

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 (, abbreviated AU) is a public research university. Its main campus is located in Aarhus, Denmark. It is the second largest and second oldest university in Denmark. The university is part of the Coimbra Group, the Guild, and Utr ...

Political career

Østergaard was vice-chairman of the party from 2002 to 2005 and has been a member of parliament since the

2005 election The following elections occurred in the year 2005. * 2005 United Nations Security Council election Africa * 2005 Burkinabé presidential election * 2005 Burundian Senate election * 2005 Burundian communal elections * 2005 Burundian constitutio ...

. Following the announcement on 31 August 2014 that

Margrethe Vestager Margrethe Vestager (; born 13 April 1968) is a Denmark, Danish politician who formerly served as Executive Vice President of the European Commission for A Europe Fit for the Digital Age between December 2019 and November 2024 in the Von Der Leye ...

is to become Denmark's EU Commissioner, 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 7 October 2020 Østergaard resigned as the leader of the

due to inappropriate sexual behaviour towards fellow

Social Liberal Social liberalism is a political philosophy and variety of liberalism that endorses social justice, social services, a mixed economy, and the expansion of civil and political rights, as opposed to classical liberalism which favors limited g ...

Lotte Rod Lotte Rod (born 10 June 1985) is a Danish politician, who is a member of the Folketing for the Social Liberal Party. She was elected into parliament at the 2011 Danish general election. Political career Rod was first elected into parliament at ...

References

External links

* * * 1976 births Living people Politicians from Aarhus Danish Social Liberal Party politicians Government ministers of Denmark Aarhus University alumni Ministers for taxation of Denmark 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