Anders Samuelsen

Anders Samuelsen (born 1 August 1967) is a Danish former politician who served as minister of foreign affairs from 2016 to 2019 and as leader of the Liberal Alliance from 2009 to 2019. He was a member of the Folketing for the Danish Social Liberal Party from 1998 to 2004 and for Liberal Alliance from 2007 to 2019, and represented Denmark in the European Parliament from 2004 to 2007.

A graduate in political science from Aarhus University, Samuelsen worked in the disability sector before embarking on a national political career with the Danish Social Liberal Party in the late 1990s. He later became one of the three founders and the main strategist of Ny Alliance, which was relaunched as Liberal Alliance in 2008, and played a prominent role in centre-right politics in the 2010s, particularly on tax and economic policy. As foreign minister in Lars Løkke Rasmussen's third cabinet he oversaw Danish contributions to the international coalition against the Islamic State in Syria and to the Resolute Support Mission in Afghanistan, and chaired the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe in 2017–18.

After Liberal Alliance's heavy defeat at the 2019 Danish general election, in which he lost his parliamentary seat, Samuelsen resigned as party leader amid internal criticism of his leadership. He has since worked in the private sector, including executive roles in UV-technology companies based in Aarhus and in the UVH group.