He resigned as prime minister in April 2009 to become Secretary General of NATO, a military alliance that was expanding into Eastern Europe.

[12] As an amateur cyclist, Rasmussen completed part of the notorious Alpe d'Huez stage of the 2008 Tour de France the day after the professional race took place.

[citation needed] In 1992 Rasmussen resigned from his ministerial posts after a report from a commission of inquiry had decided that he had provided the Folketing with inaccurate and incomplete information regarding his decision to postpone payment of several bills from Regnecentralen and Kommunedata from one accounting year to the next.

[citation needed] His Liberal (Venstre) Party won power in the November 2001 election, defeating the Social Democratic government of Poul Nyrup Rasmussen and enabling him to form his first cabinet.

[citation needed] After becoming Prime Minister, Rasmussen distanced himself from his earlier writings and announced the death of neoliberalism during the national elections of 2005.

[citation needed] His government enacted tough measures designed to limit the number of immigrants coming to Denmark, specifically as asylum seekers or through arranged marriages.

Various other tax reforms were enacted such as an increase in the old age pension, incentives for renovation, and various initiatives designed to improve energy efficiency.

[17] It's important to note that from 2011 to 2015 Social Democrat Helle Thorning-Schmidt was the prime minister, however, she passed a tax-reform with support from the liberal-conservative opposition.

[19] Rasmussen held the rotating presidency of the European Union from July to December 2002, proving his dedication to a pro-EU agenda and the guiding principles of the Ellemann-Jensen doctrine.

He pursued this to its logical conclusion by publicly denouncing the Danish collaboration policy during its second World War occupation, the first official apology on behalf of Denmark for this.

One vocal protester managed to get into the Danish parliament during the period before the war, where he poured red paint on the prime minister while yelling "Du har blod på dine hænder" (literally: "You have blood on your hands").

A member of the Danish parliament for the socialist Red-Green Alliance, Pernille Rosenkrantz-Theil, stated that it was a reaction she might have made under the circumstances, although she later denounced such behaviour.

The government held hearings, and was forced to publish classified reports it had consulted about the likelihood of banned weapons existing in Iraq.

While the Blair and Bush administrations became the subject of criticism for extended periods because of their reliance on questionable intelligence, Rasmussen stayed clear of this controversy.

Han vil ikke fortælle os, hvor og hvordan de våben er blevet destrueret.

Det ved vi fra FN's inspektører, så der er ingen tvivl i mit sind.

Later he stated, that he "was deeply distressed that the cartoons were seen by some Muslims as an attempt by Denmark to mark and insult or behave disrespectfully towards Islam or Mohammed.

[24] His official reason for doing so was to allow parliament to face important upcoming decisions without being distracted by a future election, with welfare reform being cited as an example.

Shortly after his second reelection in 2007, rumours began to spread in the Danish media that Rasmussen was a candidate for high-profile international jobs.

A first rumour was that he was informally one of the top candidates for the new position of President of the European Council that could be created when the Lisbon Treaty would come into effect.

Anders Fogh Rasmussen became the 12th NATO Secretary General on 1 August 2009, succeeding Jaap de Hoop Scheffer, who held the post from 2004 until 2009.

[31][32] Another major element of Turkey's opposition was Denmark's tolerance of Roj TV,[31][32] which is claimed by the Turkish government to be a mouthpiece for the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK).

It was at this event that the framework for the next decade of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan was settled by the Afghan president Hamid Karzai and his successor Ashraf Ghani and their donors.

As seen at right, Gordon Brown, Hillary Clinton, Catherine Ashton and Hermann van Rompuy amongst other Western leaders were in attendance.

[36] In April 2011, in relation to the 2011 Libyan civil war Rasmussen said that on the day NATO started taking command of the mission under the U.N. mandate, the alliance ruled out arming the rebels.

[41] On 19 December 2013 Rasmussen was invited to speak at a periodic meeting of the European Council by the Prime Minister of the UK, David Cameron, in opposition to plans proposed by the External Action Service of HRUFASC Catherine Ashton to create a European Air Force composed of surveillance drones, heavy transport airplanes, and air-to-air refuelling planes.

[42] Rasmussen's position was opposed to that of European Parliament President Martin Schulz, who made a presentation at the same meeting where he said that "If we wish to defend our values and interests, if we wish to maintain the security of our citizens, then a majority of MEPs consider that we need a headquarters for civil and military missions in Brussels and deployable troops."

[44] On 6 April, Rasmussen wrote an op-ed piece in London's The Daily Telegraph to warn allies to invest in their armed forces, and to maintain that "Russia's illegal aggression against Ukraine and its continued breach of international law" were clear.

[51] Furthermore, in 2016 he published a book called 'The Will to Lead', giving his view that the USA should 'restore America's role as a global leader'[52] On 27 May 2016 Rasmussen became non-staff advisor to President Poroshenko of Ukraine.

The first summit in 2018 was addressed[57] by Joe Biden and other speakers have included Tony Blair,[58] Mike Pompeo[59] and John Kerry.