Mogens Lykketoft | |
|---|---|
 Lykketoft in 2011 | |
| President of the United Nations General Assembly | |
| In office 16 September 2015 – 13 September 2016 | |
| Preceded by | Sam Kutesa |
| Succeeded by | Peter Thomson |
| Speaker of the Folketing | |
| In office 29 September 2011 – 3 July 2015 | |
| Monarch | Margrethe II |
| Preceded by | Thor Pedersen |
| Succeeded by | Pia Kjærsgaard |
| Leader of theSocial Democrats | |
| In office 14 December 2002 – 12 April 2005 | |
| Preceded by | Poul Nyrup Rasmussen |
| Succeeded by | Helle Thorning-Schmidt |
| Minister of Foreign Affairs | |
| In office 21 December 2000 – 27 November 2001 | |
| Prime Minister | Poul Nyrup Rasmussen |
| Preceded by | Niels Helveg Petersen |
| Succeeded by | Per Stig Møller |
| Minister of Finance | |
| In office 25 January 1993 – 21 December 2000 | |
| Prime Minister | Poul Nyrup Rasmussen |
| Preceded by | Henning Dyremose |
| Succeeded by | Pia Gjellerup |
| Minister of Taxation | |
| In office 20 January 1981 – 10 September 1982 | |
| Prime Minister | Anker Jørgensen |
| Preceded by | Karl Hjortnæs |
| Succeeded by | Isi Foighel |
| Personal details | |
| Born | (1946-01-09)9 January 1946 (age 79) |
| Political party | Social Democrats |
| Spouse(s) | Aase Toft(1967–1979) Helle Mollerup(1980–1986) Jytte Hilden(1987–2004) Mette Holm(2005–present) |
| Children | Maja Kit |
| Alma mater | University of Copenhagen |
| Website | Official website |
Mogens Lykketoft (Danish pronunciation:[ˈmɔːwn̩sˈløkəˌtsʰʌft]; born 9 January 1946) is a Danish politician who served as Leader of theSocial Democrats (Socialdemokraterne) from 2002 to 2005.
He succeededPoul Nyrup Rasmussen as party leader. After losing the2005 parliamentary election, he resigned his office. In theCabinets of Poul Nyrup Rasmussen I,II,III andIV which governed from 1993 to 2001, he held positions asFinance Minister andForeign Minister. During the cabinet ofHelle Thorning Schmidt from 2011 to 2015 he wasSpeaker of theFolketing.
In June 2015 he was unanimously elected thePresident of the United Nations General Assembly presiding over the70th session of the General Assembly beginning 15 September 2015.[1][2]
Lykketoft was born out of wedlock and put up for adoption. He was adopted twice, since his first adoptive father died when he was only a few months old. The second time he was adopted by shopkeeper Axel Lykketoft and Martha Lykketoft. He was the only child in the family and had, according to himself, a safe and secure childhood.[3]
Lykketoft matriculated in mathematics fromFrederiksberg Gymnasium, an upper secondary school, in 1964 and went on to study at theUniversity of Copenhagen. In 1971 he becameCand.polit. (aMaster's degree in economics by the University of Copenhagen). At Copenhagen University Lykketoft became a member ofFrit Forum, the Social Democratic student organisation. From 1965 to 1970 he was part of its management committee and he was its national chairman for theacademic year 1968/69.
From 1975 to 1981 he was department head in "The Economic Council of the Labour Movement", a Danish think tank made up of trade union leaders and Social Democratic MPs.[4] He had been working at the think tank since 1966.
On 20 January 1981 Prime MinisterAnker Jørgensen picked him to be Taxation Minister. He was minister for less than 20 months before the Social Democratic government resigned. In the1981 general election he became MP for theCopenhagen County constituency. He has been member of theFolketing (the Danish parliament) ever since, standing for election eleven times. Since 2007 he has been representing Greater Copenhagen greater constituency.[5]
In 1987 he unsuccessfully tried to be kingmaker at the election of a new leader of the Danish Social Democrats. The attempt put him in opposition to the new leaderSvend Auken. Five years later he was more successful when his new candidate,Poul Nyrup Rasmussen, challenged and defeated Auken at an extraordinary congress of the Social Democrats.[6]
After theresignation of the Conservative/Liberal government in January 1993 Lykketoft became Finance Minister in the cabinets of Poul Nyrup Rasmussen (I,II,III,IV). He is the longest serving Finance Minister in modern Danish history.[6] He became Foreign Minister in December 2000 and continued as such until the government lost thegeneral election of 2001.
After Poul Nyrup resigned Lykketoft was elected Leader of the Social Democrats, a position he held until he failed to unseat theLiberal/Conservative government ofAnders Fogh Rasmussen at thegeneral election of 2005. From 2005 to 2011 he was the Foreign Policy Spokesman for the Social Democratic parliamentary group.
After the2019 Danish general election, Lykketoft stepped down from his position as an MP in the Folketing, bringing an end to his nearly 40-year tenure.[7]
In October 2009 he became member of "the Præsidium of the Folketing" (the unified leadership of the Danish parliament). And after the election victory of theSocialist-Social Democrat-Social Liberal coalition in the2011 general election he becamePresident of the Parliament of Denmark.[8]
As President or Speaker of the Folketing he has been on official visits toTurkey (2014),Iceland (2014),Slovakia (2013),[9]Greece (2013), TheBundestag in Berlin (2013) and TheUnited States Congress in Washington (2012). He has also been on work visits toMexico (2014),Palestine (2014),[10]Mongolia (2013),Burma, (2013),Albania (2012),Bulgaria (2012),Vietnam (2012) andIndonesia (2012).[11]
In March 2013, Lykketoft was nominated for the position ofPresident of the United Nations General Assembly by theDanish government. He was the sole official candidate from theWestern European and Others Group and received their nomination in November 2014. On 15 June 2015, he made history by becoming the first Dane ever to be elected to this prestigious position, and oversaw theSeventieth session of the United Nations General Assembly.[12]
During his presidency, he would not resign as a Danish MP but rather take a leave of absence returning to the Folketing after his UN appointment has ended.[13] He returned to the Danish parliament at the end of his United Nations presidency in October 2016.[14]
During his February 2014 visit toPalestine he did not at the same time meet withIsraeli officials, this made the speaker of theKnessetYuli Edelstein express regret of the fact that Lykketoft unlike other world leaders decided not to include Israel in his visit of the region. Edelstein further said:"I do not understand how a visit to Gaza, which is controlled by Hamas, goes along with Denmark's democratic values."[15][16]
Lykketoft said that he was keen to hear both parts in the conflict and he had tried to schedule a meeting with thespeaker of the Knesset. But he was told that Edelstein was unable to meet him during his visit. During an interview Lykketoft stated:"There was this Israeli reaction from the spokesman in the foreign ministry that it was kind of diplomatically impolite to go to Palestine without having an arrangement with the Israeli side."[17]
In December 2014 he was asked his opinion about the Swedish recognition of an independent Palestine state. He answered the interviewer:"I think the movement in European parliaments and from the government of Sweden to recognize the State of Palestine is a reaction to the observation that the present Israeli government has no intention to contribute to formation of a sovereign Palestinian state, while this is expressed by the vast majority of member states in the United Nations through numerous resolutions."[18]
He was married for the first time in 1967 to librarian Aase Toft. The family lived inAlbertslund and was next-door neighbors to his good friendPoul Nyrup Rasmussen and his family. in January 1979 Aase Lykketoft died from anintracranial hemorrhage. He has two children from his first marriage, Maja, born in 1969, and Kit, born in 1972. He also has five grandsons.[19]
Two years after his first wife died he got married for the second time, this time to Helle Mollerup, the ex-wife of Poul Nyrup.[6] In 1986 he divorced Helle Mollerup and later marriedMPJytte Hilden. From 1993 to 1997 they were both ministers in the Cabinets of Poul Nyrup Rasmussen (I,II,III). They divorced in 2004.[20] Since 2005 Lykketoft has been married to author Mette Holm. They have written three books together.[21]
| Party political offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Leader of theSocial Democrats 2002–2005 | Succeeded by |
| Political offices | ||
| Preceded by | Minister of Finance 1993–2000 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Minister of Foreign Affairs 2000–2001 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Speaker of the Folketing 2011–2015 | Succeeded by |
| Diplomatic posts | ||
| Preceded by | President of the United Nations General Assembly 2015–2016 | Succeeded by |
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