Thor Pedersen

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Thor Pedersen (born June 14, 1945) is a Danish politician representing the Liberal party, Venstre. He was Finance Minister from November 27, 2001 to 23 November 2007 as part of the Cabinets of Anders Fogh Rasmussen I and II. He has been a Member of Parliament (Folketinget) since 1985 and has served as Speaker of Parliament since 28 November 2007.

He was Minister of Housing from March 12, 1986 to September 9, 1987, Minister of the Interior from September 10, 1987 to January 25, 1993, Minister of Nordic Coorporation from June 3, 1988 to November 18, 1992 and Minister of Economic Affairs from November 19, 1992 to January 25, 1993.

He was a member of Helsinge Municipal Council from 1974 to 1986, where he was also mayor from 1978 to 1986.

[edit] Education

Matriculated in mathematics, Frederiksborg State Upper Secondary School, 1964

Sergeant in the Royal Danish Life Guards, 1964-1966

MA (political science), University of Copenhagen, 1978

[edit] Other work

Thor Pedersen has worked extensively in private business, both in investment companies and as a board member of several Danish companies.

Between 1994 and 2000 he was the CEO of Jydsk Rengøring, a cleaning company that was later sold to ISS. He has later drawn criticism for his work in Jydsk Rengøring. In early 2002 he was accused of being part of the Brixtofte case, (Farum Mayor Peter Brixtofte was accused of mismanaging taxpayers money for personal use, among other things.) and Jydsk was accused of overcharging the municipal of Farum, and then channeling the money to Farum Football club through a sponsorship deal. Thor Pedersen denied all involvement of both himself and Jydsk, during his time as CEO. Thor Pedersen was questioned by police who found no evidence of wrong doing on his behalf.

Later in 2002 Danish press revealed that Thor Pedersen as a minister had been staying for long periods in his summer home, and not on the farm that he owned. This was a violation of rules of the residence law (Danish Bopælspligt), stating that you must live a certain amount of the year at the address given to authorities. It was suggested that he might also be in violation with another law, stating that the owner of a farm of a certain size, must live on the ground. The case turned into a major headache, after it became clear that Thor Pedersen's political advisors had made several false statements to the press and had apparently gone out of their way to hide the truth, or to only tell part of it. The case led to new stricter rules for any so-called spin doctor working in politics in Denmark.

As a result of the case, Thor Pedersen agreed to pay back the agricultural support he had received by the EU for his farm, while technically living somewhere else. In total he repaid around 28,000 euro (207,000 DKR), despite actually legally being entitled to the money.

[edit] References

Political offices
Preceded by
Niels Bollmann		 Minister of Housing
March 12, 1986 – September 10, 1987		 Succeeded by
Flemming Kofod-Svendsen
Preceded by
Knud Enggaard		 Interior Minister of Denmark
September 10, 1987 – January 25, 1993		 Succeeded by
Birte Weiss
Preceded by
Anders Fogh Rasmussen		 Minister of Economic Affairs of Denmark
November 19, 1992 – January 25, 1993		 Succeeded by
Marianne Jelved
Preceded by
Pia Gjellerup		 Finance Minister of Denmark
November 27, 2001 – November 23, 2007		 Succeeded by
Lars Løkke Rasmussen
Preceded by
Christian Mejdahl		 Speaker of the Folketing
November 28, 2007 – present		 Incumbent