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Poul Nyrup Rasmussen

Born: 15 June 1943 in Esbjerg, Denmark

Parents: Mr. Oluf Nyrup Rasmussen, who was a worker, a projectionist, a Jack-of-all-trades and always full of fun.
Mrs. Vera Eline Nyrup Rasmussen, who was a cleaner and the most devoted person I have ever known.

Married to Mrs. Lone Dybkjær, Danish MP and former MEP

Children: My sweet daughter Signe, who we lost the 20th August 1993. She was only 24 years old.
Fortunately, I am so lucky to have two stepdaughters, Mette and Lotte. On top of that, I am the grandfather of Mette's two lovely children, Lukas and Nikoline.

Education

1971
Master of Science in Economics from University of Copenhagen

1962
General Certificate of Education from Esbjerg State School

Professional background

1986-1988
Director of LD Pensions

1980-1986
Chief economist for The Danish Confederation of Trade Unions, LO

1971-1980 
Economist for The Danish Confederation of Trade Unions, LO

1965-1971
Student job in the Economic Council of the Labour Movement

1950-1965
Part-time jobs as a delivery boy, general worker, assistant in a dairy as well as different jobs on the harbour of Esbjerg. In Copenhagen, I did all kind of jobs while I studied - from counting traffic to lugging beers.

Political work

2004-2009
Member of the European Parliament

- Head of delegation for the Danish Social Democrats

- Member of the Bureau of the PES Group

- Member of the Foreign Affairs Committee

- Substitute-member of the Economic and Monetary Affairs Committee

2003-2007
President of the Global Progressive Forum

1993-2001
Prime Minister of Denmark

1992-2002
President of the Social Democratic Party (DK)

1987-1992
Vice-president of the Social Democratic Party (DK)

1988-2004
Member of Folketinget (the Danish Parliament)

- Chairman of the Industry Committee of Folketinget (1988-92)

- Chairman of the Social Democratic Parliamentary Group (1992-93 and 2001-03)

1965-1970
National Secretary of the national federation of Frit Forum (a social democratic student organisation)

1961
Co-founder of the first Frit Forum association on Esbjerg Grammar School

Personal

I spend my spare time with Lone and my grandchildren, with work on our small vacation home, walks in the park and morning swims in the ocean, with good friends and time to reflection.

I like to listen to music. My preferences are: jazz, classic, pop and all kinds of rhythmic music from Ella Fitzgerald, Maria Callas, Frank Sinatra and Elvis Presley, to Mozart og Bach, and from Niels Henning Ørsted Pedersen and Jesper Thilo to Outlandish. Besides that I like good books, especially, Dan Turéll, Benny Andersen, Kirsten Thorup, Johannes Møllehave and H.C. Andersen.

What is Nyrup up to now?

I sometimes get the feeling that all the things I am occupied with could fill two or three normal working lives. I, however, see that as a privilege. As long as willing hands make light work, you have energy for most things. A lot of the things I do - especially, those where I have a close contact to people from all over the world - gives me just as much energy as they demand. Therefore, it is difficult not to keep on doing it. Here is an outline of the things I at present devote my time to.

I am a member of the European Parliament for the Danish Social Democrats. In the Parliament I am also:

- Head of delegation for the Danish Social Democrats

- Member of the Bureau of the PES Group

- Member of the Foreign Affairs Committee

- Substitute-member of the Economic and Monetary Affairs Committee

I am the president of the Party of European Socialists, PES. My main task in PES is to coordinate our overall political line and visions for Europe. As PES consists of 32 parties in 25 different countries, it demands certain mobility – so in this way I will visit most European capitals in a year. Within the ambit of PES I am also

- member of the  committee of Trans-Atlantic Dialogue, which is a co-operation between the Democrats in the USA and the Social Democrats in Europe. We are five persons from Europe and the US respectively. Among our American friends is former Secretary of State, Madeleine Albright.

I am president of the Global Progressive Forum. Our first world meeting took place in Brussels in November 2003. It consisted of 18 round table conferences and had more than 1000 participants. The GPF should be the bridge builder of our times between Europe's Socialists and Social Democrats, the trade-union movement and the international organisations and NGOs.

I also spend quite some time on keeping my 'Danish connection'. 407.966 personal votes are a big declaration of trust. Therefore, I see it as a great duty to be the first bridge builder between Denmark and Europe. That is why I still give many speeches and presentations in Denmark and write comments and feature articles for the Danish media.

Finally, I participate in a lot of activities in different connections around the world. I am for instance:

- Chairman of SAMAK’s Working Group on Europe. SAMAK is the Nordic co-operation between the Social Democrats and the trade-union movement.

- Member of the Board of Policy Network – Progressive Governance, which is a British think tank established by people working around Tony Blair, among others Anthony Giddens. The new English EU Commissioner, Peter Mandelson, heads it.

- Chairman of the Steering Group on Global Governance in the European Policy Centre (EPC). EPC is the most influential think tank in Brussels concerning the European development.

- Lecturer, give speeches and presentations at European and global meetings about all kind of things – from the welfare states of the future to the possibility of a better and more peaceful world.