Villy Søvndal

Danish politician

Villy Søvndal (born 4 April 1952) is a Danish politician who served as Denmark's Minister for Foreign Affairs from 2011 to 2013. He represented the Socialist People's Party (Socialistisk Folkeparti) in Parliament (Folketinget) from 1994 to 2013. He was selected as party leader in a 2005 vote, succeeding Holger K. Nielsen. After he assumed this post, support for SF rose steadily in the polls, and in the 2007 parliamentary election the party received more than 13% of the votes, giving it 23 seats. After the election, support for SF continued to increase – up to 17–18% – but in the 2011 parliamentary election the party received only 9% of the vote and dropped down to 16 seats. In 2008, Søvndal published an autobiography, Villys verden (Villy's World).

Villy Søvndal was born on 4 April 1952 in the town of Linde in the municipality of Struer. His father was Peter Søvndal, a smallholder, and his mother was Agnes. He attended Linde Skole from 1959 to 1966 and spent the next three years as a student at Nørreland School in Holstebro, passing the Llower secondary school examination in 1969. He graduated from Nørre Nissum Teacher Training College in 1971, passing the higher preparatory examination, and from 1971 to 1973 attended the now defunct Vestbirk College of Music. From 1976 to 1980 Søvndal studied to be a teacher at the now defunct Kolding Teacher Training College. He received a teacher's certificate in 1980, and from 1980 to 1992 worked as a teacher with the Kolding school authority.

His first political position was a seat on the Kolding town council, to which he was elected in 1982 and which he retained until 1994, with the exception of two periods (13–28 March 1986; 10 October 1991 – 13 January 1992), during which he was a temporary member of Parliament for Vejle County. Søvndal received considerable praise for improving the party's popularity. In a September 2009 poll, 34% of respondents considered him the country's best party leader. After his election as party leader, some members criticized the party for focusing too intensely on Søvndal. The presence of several large posters of Søvndal at SF's national convention in 2007 drew criticism. Søvndal announced that he would resign as party leader, so that his successor would have time to get comfortable in the job. At this point, polls showed that SF would receive only 11 seats in a parliamentary election. On 13 October 2012, Annette Vilhelmsen defeated Astrid Krag in an election for party leader.

Søvndal served as Minister of Foreign Affairs from 3 October 2011 to December 2013. Søvndal called in September 2012 for a reorganization of Danish assignments abroad, saying he wanted more focus on exports to China, India, Brazil, and other growth markets and less on the EU. He also looked to an increased emphasis on the Arctic, human rights, and green growth. "In a rapidly changing world we must constantly ask ourselves whether we are focusing on the right places and in the right way", Søvndal said. Speaking in February 2012 to the European Parliament, he praised the Arab League for its "strong leadership role in the Syrian crisis". In November 2012, he pledged Danish support to the Syrian rebels. He announced in February 2013 that Denmark would continue to work for the release of Danish Bahraini human rights activist Abdulhadi Al Khawaja, who was in prison in Bahrain, and called on that country to end its mistreatment of young demonstrators. In October 2013 Søvndal suffered a heart attack and announced that he would be stepping down as both minister of foreign affairs and as member of the Folketing.

In 2008, Søvndal spoke out on his blog against the radical Islamic group Hizb ut Tahrir, calling its members "fools" with "lunatic views" and telling them that if they really want to live in the caliphate or under sharia, they had "come to the wrong country. They have nothing to do in Denmark, and they will not achieve their goals". He suggested that they move to Iran or Saudi Arabia, and added: "Your benighted state of idiocy has no place on earth". As for those who are attracted to HuT because they have experienced difficulties in life, he wrote: "Get out of the role of victim. Get out of the Middle Ages. Have the courage to use your common sense". Ordinary Danes, he said, "are sick and tired of Hizb ut Tahrir and its grotesque and insane demonstrations. That’s how most of us feel. And I am one of them!”

After Iran demanded in February 2008 that Danish authorities apologize for the republication of the Muhammed cartoons, nine members of the Danish parliament canceled a scheduled trip to that country. Søvndal supported their decision, saying, "We are not the ones to apologise If anyone needs to apologise for freedom of speech, human rights, imprisonments, executions and lack of democracy, it is the Iranians".

The Copenhagen Post reported in January 2012 that "politicians, commentators and the hoi polloi" were in a "tizzy" over Søvndal's poor English, which had been "satirised on YouTube and ridiculed on newspaper chatboards", with opposition politicians offering "patronising suggestions that he should sharpen up his English act – pronto".

Søvndal has been widely accused of being anti Israeli and is a supporter of the two state solution. During the 2011 election campaign he at first called for full U. N. membership for Palestine, but later changed his position to be in accord with official Danish policy. After becoming Foreign Minister, he was criticized in December 2011 for having refused to meet Israel's ambassador to Denmark, even though he has already met with representatives of pro Palestinian groups B’Tselem and Al Haq. He told Politiken in March 2012 that the Palestine territories would be receiving 120 million kroner in Danish aid over the next three years. He called on the Palestinians to stop shooting rockets into Israel, and said he expected that the Palestinian Authority would use the Danish funds to build their state and improve security. In May 2012, he called for separate labeling of products from the Palestinian territories. At a meeting of Nordic foreign ministers in October 2012, he expressed the view that Israeli settlements were the "greatest obstacle to a two state solution", it was also announced that the Nordic countries had agreed to upgrade Palestinian representation in their capitals. Also in November 2012, he was pressured by other members of his party to vote to give Palestine "non member observer state" status at the U. N.

After Palestine's U. N. status was upgraded, Israel responded by expanding the building of settlements, an act that Søvndal denounced as "illegal". Denmark was one of several countries that withdrew their ambassadors from Israel in reaction to this move.

Søvndal supported the Iraq War at the start, but later changed his mind and became perhaps the war's most vocal opponent in Denmark. On 23 November 2011, it was reported that Søvndal had secretly married Heidi Perto, who is 18 years his junior. He and Perto live with her daughter in Sønder Bjert. His daughter Anna Sofie Rifbjerg Søvndal became the local chairman of the Socialist People's Youth (SFU) in Kolding in 2007. His favorite album is Pink Floyd's The Wall. He also enjoys Sting and the Danish artists Allan Olsen and Johnny Madsen.