Navigation

Newsletter

Subscribe to the latest news from the Nordic Labour Journal by e-mail. The newsletter is issued 9 times a year. Subscription is free of charge.

(Required)
You are here: Home i Articles i Portrait i Portrait 2013 i Katrín Jakobsdóttir - party leader during times of change

Katrín Jakobsdóttir - party leader during times of change

She is young, skilled and popular and has just been elected party leader for Iceland’s Left-Green Movement (VG). She will lead her party into parliamentary elections at the end of April, under what for Iceland are unusual circumstances were the former party leader is one of the party’s strongest candidates in the election.
Up one level

This folder has no visible items. To add content, press the add button, or paste content from another location.

Document Actions

1 minute interview

Which book did you last read?

“The Moral Limits of Markets – What Money Cannot Buy by Michael Sandel. A fantastic book.”

Which work tool do you appreciate the most in your office?

“My mobile. I am a mobile addict. I have a dream that one day I will throw it away and walk free into the spring sunshine.”

What is your hidden talent?

“I am very good at embroidery, many people know that. I don’t get much chance to do it now that I am so politically active, but I do have many beautiful things at home which I made earlier.”

As a child, what did you want to become when you grew up?

“I once wrote that I would either be a surgeon or a pop star. I am neither.”

Katrín Jakobsdóttir:
  • has been Iceland’s Minister of Education and Culture since 2009. She is a Minister for Nordic Cooperation. She has been a member of Iceland’s parliament for the Left-Green Movement (VG) since 2007.
  • has previously been active in student politics and municipal politics, including a period as a deputy councillor in Reykjavik.
  • was born in Reykjavik on 1 February 1976. She is married with three sons. She studied Icelandic and French at the University of Iceland. She has a master degree in Icelandic literature.

 

At least 14 parties stand in Iceland’s election

Island’s parliamentary elections are held on 27 April 2013. At least 14 parties will be standing, four traditional parties and ten parties which have been founded since the financial crash. Recent opinion polls put the centrist Progressive Party (Framsóknarflokkurinn) as the election’s winners and the country’s second largest party. The centre-right Independence Party (Sjálfstæðisflokkurinn) continues to be Iceland’s largest party. The new party Björt framtid (Bright Future) gets two parliamentary seats. Government parties the Social Democratic Alliance (Samfylkingin) and VG are the election’s losers.

Newsletter

Receive Nordic Labour Journal's newsletter nine times a year. It's free.

(Required)
h
This is themeComment