1. In 1998 Ellemann-Jensen founded Baltic Development Forum, a non-profit networking organisation dedicated to the business development of the Baltic Sea region.
21 Facts About Uffe Ellemann-Jensen
1. 2.
Uffe Ellemann-Jensen was its first chairman from its founding to 2011, and was honorary chairman following his resignation.
3.
Uffe Ellemann-Jensen was non-executive director of various boards of international companies.
4.
Uffe Ellemann-Jensen succeeded in convincing a majority in the Danish Parliament, the Folketinget, to actively support the US led coalition against Iraq during the Gulf War.
5.
Uffe Ellemann-Jensen was leader of the opposition until the 1998 general election, which he lost with a single seat.
6.
Uffe Ellemann-Jensen decided then to leave politics and his successor as the leader of Venstre was Anders Fogh Rasmussen, who became Prime Minister of Denmark in 2001.
7.
In 1995, Uffe Ellemann-Jensen was a candidate for the post of Secretary-General of NATO when Willy Claes was forced to leave the role.
8.
Uffe Ellemann-Jensen got the support of the US government, but France blocked his candidature, preferring the Spanish candidate, Javier Solana.
9.
Uffe Ellemann-Jensen never tried to hide his disappointment with not getting the post that he had wanted all his political life.
10.
Uffe Ellemann-Jensen participated eight times in the Bilderberg conferences: 1984,1987 and every year between 1993 and 1998.
11.
Uffe Ellemann-Jensen became a central figure in the controversy following the Danish daily Jyllands-Posten's decision to print 12 satirical images of the Islamic prophet Muhammad in September 2005.
12.
Uffe Ellemann-Jensen remained in that position all through the controversy at the same time never missing an opportunity to support the Danish Prime Minister's stance that the government could not and should not take punitive action against the newspaper.
13.
Uffe Ellemann-Jensen was the son of Jens Peter Jensen a member of the Folketing.
14.
Uffe Ellemann-Jensen had four children, among them Jakob Ellemann-Jensen and Karen Ellemann.
15.
On 18 December 2002, Uffe Ellemann-Jensen was awarded the Grand Cross of the Order of Dannebrog.
16.
On 12 February 2010, Uffe Ellemann-Jensen received the highest accolade of the Republic of Macedonia, the Order 8-September for his contribution to the strengthening of Danish-Macedonian relations and for promotion of Macedonia in its initial years of independence in the early 1990s.
17.
In 1989, Uffe Ellemann-Jensen underwent surgery for two spinal disc herniations in his neck, but experienced two cervical fractures of his spine during the operation; subsequently, he wore a neck brace for half a year.
18.
Uffe Ellemann-Jensen had a stent inserted in his heart and, following a blood clot, a pacemaker.
19.
Uffe Ellemann-Jensen had another blood clot in an IC3 train to Aalborg in 2003, after which he stopped smoking.
20.
Uffe Ellemann-Jensen had a tumor that pressed against his spinal cord removed in 2019.
21.
Uffe Ellemann-Jensen had a successful prostate cancer surgery at an apparently early stage of the disease in January 2011.