Thorbjørn Jagland facts for kids

Quick facts for kids His Excellency Thorbjørn Jagland
Jagland in 2016
Secretary General of the Council of Europe
In office 1 October 2009 – 18 September 2019
Deputy	Gabriella Battaini-Dragoni
Preceded by	Maud de Boer-Buquicchio (Acting)
Succeeded by	Marija Pejčinović Burić
32nd Prime Minister of Norway
In office 25 October 1996 – 17 October 1997
Monarch	Harald V
Preceded by	Gro Harlem Brundtland
Succeeded by	Kjell Magne Bondevik
Leader of the Labour Party
In office 8 November 1992 – 10 November 2002
First Deputy	Jens Stoltenberg
Second Deputy	Hill-Marta Solberg
Preceded by	Gro Harlem Brundtland
Succeeded by	Jens Stoltenberg
Chair of the Norwegian Nobel Committee
In office 1 January 2009 – 3 March 2015
Preceded by	Ole Danbolt Mjøs
Succeeded by	Kaci Kullmann Five
President of the Storting
In office 10 October 2005 – 30 September 2009
Monarch	Harald V
Prime Minister	Kjell Magne Bondevik Jens Stoltenberg
Vice President	Carl I. Hagen
Preceded by	Jørgen Kosmo
Succeeded by	Dag Terje Andersen
Minister of Foreign Affairs
In office 17 March 2000 – 19 October 2001
Prime Minister	Jens Stoltenberg
Preceded by	Knut Vollebæk
Succeeded by	Jan Petersen
Member of the Norwegian Parliament
In office 1 October 1993 – 30 September 2009
Deputy	Vidar Brynsplass Frank Willy Larsen Martin Kolberg
Constituency	Buskerud
Personal details
Born	Thorbjørn Johansen (1950-11-05) 5 November 1950 (age 74) Drammen, Buskerud, Norway
Political party	Labour
Spouse	Hanne Grotjord
Children	2
Education	University of Oslo
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Thorbjørn Jagland (born Thorbjørn Johansen; , 5 November 1950) is a Norwegian politician from the Labour Party. He served as the Secretary General of the Council of Europe from 2009 to 2019. He served as the 32nd Prime Minister of Norway from 1996 to 1997, as the minister of Foreign Affairs from 2000 to 2001 and as the president of the Storting from 2005 to 2009.

Jagland studied economics at the University of Oslo at introductory level, but did not graduate. He started his political career in the Workers' Youth League, which he led from 1977 to 1981. He was party secretary from 1986 to 1992 and party leader from 1992 to 2002.

Jagland's cabinet, albeit short-lived, was marked by controversies. Jagland, who was much ridiculed in the media for his quotes and statements and frequently portrayed as incompetent, resigned following the 1997 election, as a consequence of his much ridiculed 36.9 ultimatum, even though his party won the most votes. In 2010 a group of forty prominent historians ranked Jagland as the weakest Norwegian prime minister since the end of the Second World War.

In 2009, Jagland was elected as the secretary-general of the Council of Europe. In 2014 he was reelected for an additional five years. Jagland was a member of the Norwegian Nobel Committee, and left in 2020; he formerly served as its chairman from 2009 to 2015.

Early and personal life

Thorbjørn Jagland was born on 5 November 1950 as Thorbjørn Johansen in Drammen and is the son of a welder, Helge Th. Jagland, and a cook, Ingrid Bjerknes. According to the Norwegian daily Dagbladet, his father had additional duties as a kind of "steward" for his community, so when "the postal service had letters" or envelopes without a complete address, the mailman delivered many of them to Jagland's home, "since that was were everything happened". Jagland graduated from secondary school in 1969. Along with his twin brother Helge, Thorbjørn Jagland briefly studied economics at the University of Oslo, but was at the same time involved in politics and did not finish his studies. Jagland and his parents changed their surname from Johansen, a common surname with working class connotations, to Jagland in 1957; the Jagland name was one of the proposed "new family names" which imitated traditional farm names in the book 2000 nye slektsnavn ("2,000 new family names") by Astrid Moss; the book aimed to help members of the working class with common surnames to find more unique names.

He married journalist Hanne Grotjord in 1976. The couple has two sons, Anders (born 1978) and Henrik (born 1986). As Secretary General of the Council of Europe, Jagland resided in Strasbourg, France, but has since moved back to Norway.

Jagland has been awarded the title of Commander of the National Order of the Legion of Honour of France for his "tireless commitment to the European continent and the universal values it represents".

See also

In Spanish: Thorbjørn Jagland para niños