Henrik Dam Kristensen (born 31 January 1957) is a Danish politician and a former speaker of the

Danish parliament 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 ...

. He has been a member of the Danish parliament for the

Social Democrats Social democracy is a social, economic, and political philosophy within socialism that supports political and economic democracy and a gradualist, reformist, and democratic approach toward achieving social equality. In modern practice, s ...

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 The Nordic Council is the official body for formal inter-parliamentary Nordic cooperation among the Nordic countries. Formed in 1952, it has 87 representatives from Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, and Sweden as well as from the autonomo ...

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 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 ( , ), 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 ...

1990 Important events of 1990 include the Reunification of Germany and the unification of Yemen, the formal beginning of the Human Genome Project (finished in 2003), the launch of the Hubble Space Telescope, the separation of Namibia from South ...

, and reelected in

1994 The year 1994 was designated as the " International Year of the Family" and the "International Year of Sport and the Olympic Ideal" by the United Nations. In the Line Islands and Phoenix Islands of Kiribati, 1994 had only 364 days, omitti ...

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 Lunar water, frozen water, in soil i ...

, and

2001 The year's most prominent event was the September 11 attacks against the United States by al-Qaeda, which Casualties of the September 11 attacks, killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror. The United States led a Participan ...

. 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 elect ...

and was elected as 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 ...

. To perform in his new position, Kristensen resigned his seat in the Folketing. Margot Torp took over his seat. In the European Parliament, Kristensen sat 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 ...

Committee on Fisheries The Committee on Fisheries (PECH) is a committee of the European Parliament. Chris Davies was the chairman (2019 – 2020) - until the United Kingdom left the European Union. Committee mandate PECH is the European Parliament committee responsi ...

, the Committee on the Internal Market and Consumer Protection 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. 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 The year marked the start of a Arab Spring, series of protests and revolutions throughout the Arab world advocating for democracy, reform, and economic recovery, later leading to the depositions of world leaders in Tunisia, Egypt, and Yemen ...

. On 3 October 2011 Kristensen was appointed to the post of Minister for Transport 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 2015 was designated by the United Nations as: * International Year of Light * International Year of Soil __TOC__ Events January * January 1 – Lithuania officially adopts the euro as its currency, replacing the litas, and becomes ...

and

2019 This was the year in which the first known human case of COVID-19 was documented, preceding COVID-19 pandemic, the pandemic which was declared by the World Health Organization the following year. Up to that point, 2019 had been described as ...

elections. On 21 June 2019 Kristensen was appointed speaker of the Danish parliament, replacing Pia Kjærsgaard. Kristensen served as speaker between 2019 and November 2022, when Søren Gade became speaker. In 2011 Denmark was to appoint a president of the

and Kristensen was chosen. He was president again in 2016.

References

External links