Rasmussen, Poul Nyrup (1943– )

Danish economist and politician, prime minister 1993–2001. Leader of the Social Democrats from 1992, he succeeded Poul Schluter as prime minister, heading the first majority coalition government since 1982. He was returned to power in the 1994 general election, and in March 1998 his centre-left coalition with the small centrist Radical Liberal party was returned again, with a one-seat majority. He was defeated in 2001 by the centre-right Liberals under Anders Fogh Rasmussen.

Following his country's initial rejection of the Maastricht Treaty, he negotiated exemptions from the Treaty's key provisions, including those on defence, and won the nation's backing in a second referendum in May 1993.