Björn Bjarnason (born 14 November 1944) is an

Iceland Iceland is a Nordic countries, Nordic island country between the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic and Arctic Oceans, on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge between North America and Europe. It is culturally and politically linked with Europe and is the regi ...

ic politician. His father was Bjarni Benediktsson,

Prime Minister of Iceland The prime minister of Iceland () is head of government of the Republic of Iceland. The prime minister is appointed formally by the president of Iceland, president and exercises executive authority along with the Cabinet of Iceland, cabinet subje ...

, Minister of Justice and Ecclesiastical Affairs and Mayor of

Reykjavík Reykjavík is the Capital city, capital and largest city in Iceland. It is located in southwestern Iceland on the southern shore of Faxaflói, the Faxaflói Bay. With a latitude of 64°08′ N, the city is List of northernmost items, the worl ...

. Matriculating from

Reykjavík Junior College Reykjavík is the capital and largest city in Iceland. It is located in southwestern Iceland on the southern shore of the Faxaflói Bay. With a latitude of 64°08′ N, the city is the world's northernmost capital of a sovereign state. Reyk ...

in 1964 and graduating in law (cand. jur.) from the

University of Iceland The University of Iceland ( ) is a public research university in Reykjavík, Iceland, and the country's oldest and largest institution of higher education. Founded in 1911, it has grown steadily from a small civil servants' school to a modern co ...

in 1971, Björn was active in student politics and after graduation worked as a publishing director of Almenna bókafélagið from 1971 to 1974. As foreign news editor he worked at daily ''

Vísir ''Vísir'' was an Icelandic newspaper founded in December 1910 by Einar Gunnarsson, originally only distributed in and around Reykjavík. In 1967, Jónas Kristjánsson (newspaper editor), Jónas Kristjánsson became its editor. In 1975, he left t ...

'' in 1974, as Deputy Secretary General in the Prime Minister's office from 1974 to 1975. Björn also served in the

Icelandic Coast Guard The Icelandic Coast Guard (, or simply ) is the Icelandic defence service responsible for search and rescue, maritime safety and security surveillance, national defense, and law enforcement. The Coast Guard maintains the Iceland Air Defence ...

in the 1960s. During the

Cold War The Cold War was a period of global Geopolitics, geopolitical rivalry between the United States (US) and the Soviet Union (USSR) and their respective allies, the capitalist Western Bloc and communist Eastern Bloc, which lasted from 1947 unt ...

, alongside his job as a journalist, Björn regularly met with U.S. intelligence to share with them information regarding Icelandic politics and Icelandic leftist politicians and activists. Björn worked in the Prime Minister's Office from 1975 to 1979, as a journalist on Icelandic daily ''

Morgunblaðið ''Morgunblaðið'' (, ''The Morning Paper'') is an Icelandic daily newspaper. ''Morgunblaðið''s website, mbl.is, is the most popular website in Iceland. It is currently the country's only daily printed newspaper and the newspaper of record. Hi ...

'' from 1979 to 1984 and as deputy editor of ''Morgunblaðið'' from 1984 to 1991. Björn attended the

Bilderberg Group The Bilderberg Meeting (also known as the "Bilderberg Group", "Bilderberg Conference" or "Bilderberg Club") is an annual off-the-record forum established in 1954 to foster dialogue between Europe and North America. The group's agenda, originally ...

conference 11 times (in 1982, 1983, 1984, 1985, 1988, 1989, 1990, 1991, 1992, 1993 and 1995). Björn was elected to the

Althing The (; ), anglicised as Althingi or Althing, is the Parliamentary sovereignty, supreme Parliament, national parliament of Iceland. It is the oldest surviving parliament in the world. The Althing was founded in 930 at ('Thing (assembly), thing ...

in 1991 for the Independence Party, for the

constituency An electoral (congressional, legislative, etc.) district, sometimes called a constituency, riding, or ward, is a geographical portion of a political unit, such as a country, state or province, city, or administrative region, created to provi ...

. On 23 April 1995 he became

Minister for Education An education minister (sometimes minister of education) is a position in the governments of some countries responsible for dealing with educational matters. Where known, the government department, ministry, or agency that develops policy and deli ...

, serving until 2002. In 2002, he led the unsuccessful attempt of the Independence Party to win elections to Reykjavík

city council A municipal council is the legislative body of a municipality or local government area. Depending on the location and classification of the municipality it may be known as a city council, town council, town board, community council, borough counc ...

. From 2003 to 2009, he was the Minister for Justice and Ecclesiastical Affairs. He is also the first Icelandic politician to keep his own website, which he started on 19 February 1995 and thus makes him one of the Internet's earliest bloggers.

References

External links

Personal website

Official biography

Ministerial CV
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bjarnason, Bjorn Bjorn Bjarnason Bjorn Bjarnason Bjorn Bjarnason 1944 births Living people Independence Party (Iceland) politicians 20th-century Icelandic people Politicians from Reykjavík University of Iceland alumni