Member of the Folketing
What position did Niels Helveg Petersen take in early 1990s?
Niels Helveg Petersen Niels Lolk Helveg Petersen ( ; informally Niels Helveg ; 17 January 1939 – 3 June 2017 ) was a Danish politician . He was Minister of Foreign Affairs from 1993 to 2000 , having previously held the role of Minister for Economic Affairs between 1988 and 1990 . He was a Member of the Folketing for the Danish Social Liberal Party from 1966 to 1974 , 1977 to 1993 , and again from 1994 to 2011 . Early life . Niels Helveg Petersen was born in Odense in 1939 . His parents were former cabinet minister Kristen Helveg Petersen and former Mayor of Copenhagen Lilly Helveg Petersen . He graduated from the University of Copenhagen in 1965 , earning a cand.jur . degree . From 1961 to 1962 , he spent a year as an exchange student at Stanford University studying Government . During his years in Copenhagen he was an active member of the youth branch of the Danish Social Liberal Party , editing their paper Liberté . Political career . Member of Parliament 1966–2011 . Niels Helveg Petersen ran for election to the Danish Parliament for the first time in 1964 . In 1966 , he was elected a Member of Parliament for the first time in the Frederiksborg County . In 1974 , he left Denmark to become a civil servant in the European Commission . He returned to Danish politics in 1977 , this time being elected to parliament standing in the Funen constituency . He became leader of the Danish Social Liberal Party ( Danish : Radikale Venstre ) in 1978 and kept this role until 1990 . During the 1980s , he supported the economic policies of the Conservative-Liberal government . At the same time , he supported the opposition on other questions such as security policies . In doing so , his party created majorities without the parties in government , a practice that became known as footnote politics . In supporting different sides of parliament , he was sometimes referred to by the Danish media as a king maker , deciding which policies would pass and which would not . The Social Liberals footnote politics ended in 1988 when the party entered the government coalition . In April 2008 , Niels Helveg Petersen announced that he was not standing at the next election that took place in September 2011 . Minister for Economic Affairs 1988–90 . He was Minister for Economic Affairs in the Cabinet of Poul Schlüter III from 3 June 1988 to 18 December 1990 , when his party left the government coalition after poor election results in 1990 . He consequently also stepped down as party leader . Minister of Foreign Affairs 1993–2000 . He was appointed Minister for Foreign Affairs from 25 January 1993 to 21 December 2000 in the Cabinet of Poul Nyrup Rasmussen I , II , III , and IV ( except for the last part of the IV cabinet ) . When the European Unions Maastricht Treaty was rejected by the Danish people in 1992 , it was accepted after a referendum in 1993 adding certain opt-out concessions for Denmark . As the new Minister of Foreign Affairs , Niels Helveg Petersen had to work to implement those concessions , although he had been a long supporter of greater internationalisation of Danish foreign policy . When he left the position of Foreign Minister in 2000 , the official reason given was that he could no longer accept the opt-outs . He joined the newly created Council of the Baltic Sea States , which in 1993 successfully established the EuroFaculty in Tartu , Riga , and Vilnius , of which he became an active supporter . Personal life . Niels Helveg Petersen was married to Kirsten Lee , who is also a former member of the Danish Parliament for the Social Liberal Party . His son Morten Helveg Petersen was member of the parliament from 11 March 1998 and until August 2009 . His son Rasmus Helveg Petersen was member of parliament 2011-2015 and again from 2019 , and a cabinet minister 2013–2015 . Niels Helveg Petersen died of esophageal cancer , aged 78 .