Henning Christophersen Explained

Henning Christophersen
Office:Vice President of the European Commission for Economic & Financial Affairs
Term Start:6 January 1989
Term End:22 January 1995
President:Jacques Delors
Predecessor:François-Xavier Ortoli
Successor:Yves-Thibault de Silguy
Office2:Vice President of the European Commission for Financial Programming & the Budget
President2:Jacques Delors
Term Start2:6 January 1985
Term End2:5 January 1989
Predecessor2:Christopher Tugendhat
Successor2:Peter Schmidhuber
Office3:Minister of Finance
Term Start3:10 September 1982
Term End3:23 July 1984
Primeminister3:Poul Schlüter
Predecessor3:Knud Heinesen
Successor3:Palle Simonsen
Office4:Minister of Foreign Affairs
Term Start4:30 August 1978
Term End4:26 October 1979
Primeminister4:Anker Jørgensen
Predecessor4:Anker Jørgensen
Successor4:Kjeld Olesen
Office5:Leader of Venstre
Term Start5:September 1978
Term End5:23 July 1984
Predecessor5:Poul Hartling
Successor5:Uffe Ellemann-Jensen
Term Start6:1971
Term End6:1984
Birth Date:8 November 1939
Birth Place:Copenhagen, Denmark
Occupation:Politician
Party:Venstre
Nationality:Danish
Death Place:Brussels, Belgium

Henning Christophersen (8 November 1939 – 31 December 2016) was a Danish politician, who served as Vice President of the European Commission (1985–1995), leader of the Danish liberal party Venstre (1978–1984) and a member of the European Convention.[1] Christophersen was one of the early architects of the Single Market and the Euro.

Life

Christophersen was born in Copenhagen. He was Deputy Prime minister and Finance Minister of Denmark (1982–1984) and Foreign Minister of Denmark (1978–1979).

During his time as Vice President of the European Commission for Budget and later for Economic & Financial Affairs, Christophersen decisively contributed to the preparations of the launch of the Euro and of the Economic & Monetary Union. Through his pioneering work on Transeuropean Networks, he also played a big role in the realization of the Internal Market.

In 1992, as EU commissioner, Christophersen together with 10 Baltic Ministers of Foreign Affairs founded the Council of the Baltic Sea States (CBSS) and the EuroFaculty.[2]

He was the Chairman of the Energy Charter Conference 1998 until 2007.

He was Chairman and member of a number of Supervisory Boards of Directors, and a Partner of Kreab, Brussels.

Christophersen died on 31 December 2016 in Brussels at the age of 77 after a short illness.[3]

References

  1. http://www.denstoredanske.dk/Danmarks_geografi_og_historie/Danmarks_historie/Danmark_efter_1945/Henning_Christophersen?highlight=Henning%20Christophersen Henning Christophersen
  2. Kristensen, Gustav N. 2010. Born into a Dream. EuroFaculty and the Council of the Baltic Sea States. Berliner Wissentshafts-Verlag. .
  3. News: Venstre-legenden Henning Christophersen er død. 1 January 2017. Da. 2 January 2017.

Sources