Ellemann-Jensen, Uffe (1941 - )
Ellemann-Jensen, Uffe (1941 - )
Danish EU debater, former Foreign Minister and Chairman of the liberal “Venstre” party, immediately preceding Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen.
Together with Prime Minister Poul Schlüter, he won the referendum on the “EC package” in 1986 after the Government had got into a minority position in Parliament over the Single European Act. Lost the referendum on the Maastricht Treaty on 2 June 1992.
At the subsequent EU summit in Lisbon, he turned a well-known phrase round by saying: ‘if you can’t join them, beat them’.
Awarded the Robert Schuman Prize in 1987.
