Anders Samuelsen (born 1 August 1967 in

Horsens Horsens () is a city on the east coast of the Jutland region of Denmark. It is the seat of the Horsens municipality. The city's population is 64,418 (1 January 2025) and the municipality's population is 97,921 (), making it the List of cities and ...

Denmark Denmark is a Nordic countries, Nordic country in Northern Europe. It is the metropole and most populous constituent of the Kingdom of Denmark,, . also known as the Danish Realm, a constitutionally unitary state that includes the Autonomous a ...

) is a Danish former

politician A politician is a person who participates in Public policy, policy-making processes, usually holding an elective position in government. Politicians represent the people, make decisions, and influence the formulation of public policy. The roles ...

who served as the

Minister of Foreign Affairs In many countries, the ministry of foreign affairs (abbreviated as MFA or MOFA) is the highest government department exclusively or primarily responsible for the state's foreign policy and foreign relations, relations, diplomacy, bilateralism, ...

from 2016 to 2019, 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 2007 to 2011 and as leader of the Liberal Alliance party from 2009 to 2019. In 1993, Samuelsen got a master's degree in

political Politics () is the set of activities that are associated with decision-making, making decisions in social group, groups, or other forms of power (social and political), power relations among individuals, such as the distribution of Social sta ...

science from

Aarhus University 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 Ut ...

. From 1994 to 1998, he was a consultant and section manager at the College for the Deaf, Castberggård.

Political career

European Parliament

From 2004 until 2007, Samuelsen was a

Member of the European Parliament A member of the European Parliament (MEP) is a person who has been Election, elected to serve as a popular representative in the European Parliament. When the European Parliament (then known as the Common Assembly of the European Coal and S ...

sitting on the

European Parliament The European Parliament (EP) is one of the two 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 ...

's Committee on Budgets. As member of the European Parliament, he was a substitute for the Committee on Foreign Affairs, a member of the Delegation for relations with

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) and also known as Persia, is a country in West Asia. It borders Iraq to the west, Turkey, Azerbaijan, and Armenia to the northwest, the Caspian Sea to the north, Turkmenistan to the nort ...

and a substitute for the Delegation for relations with the

People's Republic of China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

Career in Danish politics

Samuelsen is a former member 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 ...

, and was a Member of the Bureau of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe. He left this party on 7 May 2007, became one of the three founding members of the Liberal Alliance and was elected to the Danish parliament for Liberal Alliance in the 2007 election. By late 2016, Samuelsen threatened to bring down the government of Prime Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen because of disagreements over tax cuts, immigration and welfare policies. In September 2016, he announced that his party was ready to file a

motion of no confidence A motion or vote of no confidence (or the inverse, a motion or vote of confidence) is a motion and corresponding vote thereon in a deliberative assembly (usually a legislative body) as to whether an officer (typically an executive) is deemed fi ...

if Rasmussen failed to cut the top rate of income tax by 5 percentage points in the 2017 budget. In response, Rasmussen reshuffled his cabinet to have the Liberal Alliance join the government and take the leadership of six ministries.

Minister of Foreign Affairs

Under Samuelsen's leadership, the government won parliamentary approval in January 2017 to deploy up to 60 special forces to fight

Islamic State The Islamic State (IS), also known as the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) and Daesh, is a transnational Salafi jihadism, Salafi jihadist organization and unrecognized quasi-state. IS ...

Syria Syria, officially the Syrian Arab Republic, is a country in West Asia located in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Levant. It borders the Mediterranean Sea to the west, Turkey to Syria–Turkey border, the north, Iraq to Iraq–Syria border, t ...

as part of the U.S.-led

Operation Inherent Resolve {{Infobox military conflict , conflict = Operation Inherent Resolve , partof = the international military intervention against the Islamic State and the War on terror , image = , caption = U.S. Navy B ...

. The government later committed to sending an additional 55 soldiers to the NATO-led

Resolute Support Mission Resolute Support Mission (RSM) or Operation Resolute Support was a NATO-led multinational mission in Afghanistan. It began on 1 January 2015 as the successor to the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF), which was completed on 28 Dece ...

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. It is bordered by Pakistan to the Durand Line, east and south, Iran to the Afghanistan–Iran borde ...

; the decision was made to boost security efforts after a car bomber attacked a Danish convoy in September 2017. Following his party's poor results at the 2019 general election, Samuelsen was publicly accused of

nepotism Nepotism is the act of granting an In-group favoritism, advantage, privilege, or position to Kinship, relatives in an occupation or field. These fields can include business, politics, academia, entertainment, sports, religion or health care. In ...

by fellow party member Henrik Dahl. Due to Samuelsen failing at getting reelected, he resigned as party leader on 6 June 2019.

Other activities

Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank The Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) is a multilateral development bank and international financial institution that aims to collectively improve economic and social outcomes in Asia. It is the world's second largest multi-lateral d ...

(AIIB), Ex-Officio Member of the Board of GovernorsBoard of Governors

(AIIB). * 2017 : Grand Cross of the Order of the Crown

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Samuelsen, Anders 1967 births Danish Social Liberal Party MEPs Ministers of foreign affairs of Denmark Government ministers of Denmark Liberal Alliance (Denmark) MEPs Living people MEPs for Denmark 2004–2009 Aarhus University alumni People from Horsens Grand Crosses of the Order of the Crown (Belgium) Members of the Folketing 2001–2005 Members of the Folketing 2007–2011 Members of the Folketing 2011–2015 Members of the Folketing 2015–2019 Leaders of political parties in Denmark