| Villy Søvndal | |
|---|---|
| Minister for Foreign Affairs | |
| Incumbent | |
| Assumed office 3 October 2011 |
|
| Prime Minister | Helle Thorning-Schmidt |
| Preceded by | Lene Espersen |
| Leader of the Socialist People's Party | |
| Incumbent | |
| Assumed office April 2005 |
|
| Preceded by | Holger K. Nielsen |
| Member of Parliament | |
| Incumbent | |
| Assumed office 1 August 1994 |
|
| Personal details | |
| Born | 4 April 1952 Linde, Denmark |
| Political party | Socialist People's Party |
| Spouse(s) | Laila Rifbjerg |
Villy Søvndal (born 4 April 1952) is a Danish politician and Minister for Foreign Affairs in the government of Denmark since October 2011. Søvndal, a member of the Danish Parliament since 1994, is also leader of the Socialist People's Party.[1]
Taking over the leadership of the party in 2005 from Holger K. Nielsen, Søvndal has been the leading figure in the change of profile for the party towards a more centrist stance. This change has led to a steady increase in its support, culminating in the 2007 election, when the party more than doubled its representation in parliament, going from 11 to 23 seats. In the September 2011 election, the parties of the left won a majority—although the Socialist People's Party itself lost seven seats—and Helle Thorning-Schmidt was designated Prime Minister. Søvndal successfully led the party's negotiations to form a government that included six ministers from the Socialist People's Party, with himself as Minister for Foreign Affairs. This marks the first time in Danish parliamentary history that the Socialist People's Party has been part of the government.[2]
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Søvndal is the son of the smallholder Peter Søvndal and his wife Agnes. Søvndal earned a degree from the Kolding teacher-training college in 1980. He worked as a teacher in Kolding from 1980 to 1992.[3]
Søvndal has himself ascribed his political commitment to experiences in his youth as a backpacker in Latin America and Eastern Europe.
Villy Søvndal became a member of parliament in 1994 where he became party spokesman on defence and social politics. Before he became a member of parliament he served as a city councillor in Kolding where he was chairman of the social committee for many years.
Søvndal was elected as party chairman in 2005, replacing Holger K. Nielsen.
Since he became chairman, his party has experienced an almost constant rise in the opinion polls and in the 2007 election the Socialist People's Party gained 13 % of the vote and 23 seats in parliament compared to the 11 seats they had before.
In March and February 2008 a lot of attention was focused on Søvndal and his party after he had released harsh statements on anti-democratic Islamist organisations in Denmark on his blog. For several weeks the party were doing better than the Social Democrats in the polls and other polls showed that Søvndal was seen as the leader of the opposition by more people than the social democratic leader Helle Thorning-Schmidt.
Today the main political strategy of Villy Søvndal and the Socialist People's Party is to form a coalition cabinet with the Social Democrats and the Social Liberal Party with Helle Thorning-Schmidt as prime minister. Some critics both inside and outside the party accuse Søvndal of having moved his party too far to the centre to achieve this goal. However he remains unchallenged as chairman.
He married psychologist Heidi Perto at a secret ceremony in the autumn of 2011.[4]
Before that he lived with Laila Rifbjerg in a commune in Bjert outside of Kolding.[5]
The biography "Villys Verden" about Søvndal came out in 2008.
His daughter Anna Sofia Rifbjerg Søvndal is also involved in politics. In 2007 she was elected chairman of the Kolding branch of the Youth of the Socialist People's Party.
| Political offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Lene Espersen |
Minister of Foreign Affairs 2011–present |
Incumbent |
| Preceded by Radosław Sikorski |
President of the Council of the European Union 2012– |
Succeeded by Incumbent |
| Party political offices | ||
| Preceded by Holger K. Nielsen |
Leader of the Danish Socialist People's Party 2005 — |
Succeeded by Incumbent |
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