Henning Christophersen

Henning Christophersen
Christophersen in 1990
Vice President of the European Commission for Economic & Financial Affairs
In office 6 January 1989 – 22 January 1995
President	Jacques Delors
Preceded by	François-Xavier Ortoli
Succeeded by	Yves-Thibault de Silguy
Vice President of the European Commission for Financial Programming & the Budget
In office 6 January 1985 – 5 January 1989
President	Jacques Delors
Preceded by	Christopher Tugendhat
Succeeded by	Peter Schmidhuber
Minister of Finance
In office 10 September 1982 – 23 July 1984
Prime Minister	Poul Schlüter
Preceded by	Knud Heinesen
Succeeded by	Palle Simonsen
Minister of Foreign Affairs
In office 30 August 1978 – 26 October 1979
Prime Minister	Anker Jørgensen
Preceded by	Anker Jørgensen
Succeeded by	Kjeld Olesen
Leader of Venstre
In office September 1978 – 23 July 1984
Preceded by	Poul Hartling
Succeeded by	Uffe Ellemann-Jensen
Member of the Folketing
In office 1971–1984
Personal details
Born	(1939-11-08)8 November 1939 Copenhagen, Denmark
Died	31 December 2016(2016-12-31) (aged 77) Brussels, Belgium
Political party	Venstre
Occupation	Politician

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. Henning Christophersen Den Store Danske, Gyldendals åbne encyclopædi
2. Kristensen, Gustav N. 2010. Born into a Dream. EuroFaculty and the Council of the Baltic Sea States. Berliner Wissentshafts-Verlag. ISBN 978-3-8305-1769-6.
3. "Venstre-legenden Henning Christophersen er død" (in Danish). 1 January 2017. Retrieved 2 January 2017.

Sources

• Tom Matz (2004), Venstre ved du hvor du har ForlagsKompagniet : Nørhaven Book.

Political offices
Preceded by Anker Jørgensen	Foreign Minister of Denmark 30 August 1978 – 26 October 1979	Succeeded by Kjeld Olesen
Preceded by Knud Heinesen	Finance Minister of Denmark 10 September 1982 – 23 July 1984	Succeeded by Palle Simonsen
Preceded by ...	Vice-President of the European Commission 1985–1995	Succeeded by Leon Brittan
Preceded by François-Xavier Ortoli	European Commissioner for Economic and Financial Affairs 1985–1995	Succeeded by Yves-Thibault de Silguy
Preceded by Poul Dalsager	Danish European Commissioner 1985–1995	Succeeded by Ritt Bjerregaard
Party political offices
Preceded by Poul Hartling	Leader of Venstre 1977–1984	Succeeded by Uffe Ellemann-Jensen