Jón Baldvin Hannibalsson

Jón Baldvin Hannibalsson ( born February 21, 1939 in Isafjordur ) is an Icelandic politician.

Life

Jón Baldvin Hannibalsson is the son of the politician Hannibal Valdimarsson ( 1903-1991 ). He attended the University of Edinburgh and completed his master degree in economics in 1963. He then studied for another year at Stockholm University and completed a teacher training at the University of Iceland. From 1976 to 1977 he attended the " Center for European Studies " at Harvard University.

As a politician, he achieved fame beyond Iceland in 1984 when he was elected chairman of the Icelandic Social Democrats for the first time. In 1987 he was Minister of Finance as part of the Icelandic government.

In 1988 he moved to the Foreign Ministry and was therefore Islands foreign policy representative at the time of the collapse of the Soviet Union. Even before the political changes in Eastern Europe Hannibalsson had shown great interest in this region and several trips to countries of the " Eastern bloc " made ​​. He openly supported the emancipation of Eastern European nations, including those within the Soviet Union, from the central power in Moscow. The researching this issue occurrence Jón Baldvins towards the Soviet Union under Gorbachev was sometimes criticized as undiplomatic and contrary to their own interests. Thus spoke about Foreign Minister Genscher ( as Jón Baldvin later reported), a foreign policy as the Islands could threaten the German reunification. Following the foreign policy line of Iceland was the first country to recognize the declaration of independence of the Baltic states, while the other Western states in deference to Gorbachev, who was ousted in these days by the " August coup ," taking a wait and see attitude.

Honors

• Honorary citizen of Vilnius