Denmark - Venstre Party (ie 'Left' for 'Liberal' | Not Socialist)

DENMARK names: eg Lars Løkke Rasmussen eg Anders Fogh Rasmussen Middle names - eg 'Fogh' and 'Løkke' denote mother's family name and do not normally form part of the name / used in press to distinguish the Danes, who all seem to have the same names ... (I think, lol) Venstre (Denmark) Founded as part of a peasants' movement against the landed aristocracy Blue Bloc (Venstre, Danmarks Liberale Parti) ie English: Left, Denmark's Liberal Party Therefore: Venstre = 'left' TODAY  the 'Venstre' (for 'left') reference is to: liberalism NOT socialism f. 1870 then name: Det Forenede Venstre (The United Left) 1895–1910 then known as Venstrereformpartiet (Left Reform Party) opponents, Højre (Right) forerunner of the present-day Conservative People's Party advocated for established interests, esp.  Church of Denmark & the landed gentry Distinction b/w  concepts of Venstre (Left, ie party bearing name) venstrefløj (left wing / socialist & other left-leaning parties) TODAY Venstre advocates an economically liberal pro-free market ideology the major party of the centre-right in Denmark third largest party Venstre party has produced many Prime Ministers governed from 2001 to 2011 as the major partner in a coalition w/ Conservative People's Party with support from the Danish People's Party 2015 parliamentary elections Venstre / Blue Bloc received 19.5% of vote 34 out of 179 seats won a tight election party came THIRD overall winning Lars Løkke Rasmussen ability to form a govt PARTY LEADER Venstre = Lars Løkke Rasmussen = IN OFFICE appointed PRIME MINISTER of DENMARK (fm 28 June 2015) Was PREVIOUS Prime Minister Apr 2009 to Oct 2011 / law degree was president of the youth branch of Venstre ie 1986 to 1989, prior to obtaining law degree Since 2001 Venstre enacted a "tax stop" to halt the growth in taxes seen during previous eight years under Social Democrats 2010 Rasmussen's govt = major spending cuts and measures designed = unemployment insurance (unemployment benefit cut from max of 4 years to 2) Take over from: Anders Fogh Rasmussen former leader Venstre Prime Minister of Denmark from 27 Nov 2001 to 5 Apr 2009 AFR - Appointed Secretary General of NATO in 2009 Fogh Rasmussen in favour of centralisation privatisation limiting the size of govt relied on Danish People's Party for support, keeping Danish tradition of minority govt Fogh Rasmussen was a strident critic of the welfare state 1990s, his views moved towards the political centre His government introduced tougher limits on non European Economic Area (EEA) immigration https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Venstre_%28Denmark%29 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lars_L%C3%B8kke_Rasmussen https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anders_Fogh_Rasmussen ---------------------- ꕤ ---------------------- ꕤ