Anders Fogh Rasmussen

His parents ran a farm. After graduating from high school in 1972, Rasmussen studied economics in Aarhus until 1978, where he received a master's degree. As a student he became interested in politics. In 1973 he joined the state board of Venstre, the Liberal Party, where he initially served until 1978. From 1974 to 1976, Rasmussen also served as state chairman of the Young Liberals. From 1978 to 1987 he worked as an economic advisor for the Danish Association of Medium and Small Industrial Enterprises. At the same time, Rasmussen was elected to the Folketing, the Danish parliament, for the first time in the fall of 1978. From 1984, Rasmussen was again a member of the Venstre state board, and he was promoted to deputy party chairman a year later. In the Folketing he was a member of the Venstre parliamentary group leadership from 1984 to 1987. In 1987, Rasmussen joined Poul Schlüter's government as Minister for Taxes, in which he also took over the office of Minister for Economic Affairs in 1990, but resigned from it in 1992. From 1992 to 1998, Rasmussen, as one of the Venstre faction leaders, also acted as party spokesman in parliament. After the Liberals Venstre's renewed electoral defeat in 1998, which was accompanied by a clear shift to the right in the political situation in Denmark, he rose to become chairman of the party. After 1998, Rasmussen appeared in the Folketing as opposition leader and as deputy chairman of the foreign policy committee. As a result of the early elections in November 2001, the Liberal Venstre Party formed a coalition with the Conservatives that same month. Since then, under Prime Minister Rasmussen, the Danish government has relied on the support of the right-wing Danish People's Party in the Folketing. In 2007 he successfully ran as head of government for the third time. Anders Fogh Rasmussen has been married to Anne-Mette since 1978 and has three children.