Katrín Jakobsdóttir


Katrín Jakobsdóttir is an Icelandic politician serving as the 28th and current Prime Minister of Iceland since 2017. She has been a member of the Althing for the Reykjavík North constituency since 2007. She became deputy chairperson of the Left-Green Movement in 2003 and has been their chairperson since 2013. Katrín was Iceland's Minister of Education, Science and Culture and of Nordic Co-operation from 2 February 2009 to 23 May 2013. She is Iceland's second female prime minister, after Jóhanna Sigurðardóttir. On 19 February 2020, she was named Chair of the Council of Women World Leaders.

Education and professional life

Katrín was born in Reykjavík. She graduated from the University of Iceland in 1999 with a bachelor degree with a major in Icelandic and minor in French. She received her M.A. in Icelandic Literature from the same university in 2004 for a thesis on the work of popular Icelandic crime writer Arnaldur Indriðason.
She worked part-time as a language adviser at the news agency at public broadcaster RÚV from 1999 to 2003. She then freelanced for broadcast media and wrote for a variety of print media from 2004 to 2006 as well as being an instructor in lifelong learning and leisure at the Mímir School from 2004 to 2007. She did editorial work for the publishing company Edda and magazine JPV from 2005 to 2006 and was a Lecturer at the University of Iceland, Reykjavík University and Menntaskólinn í Reykjavík from 2006 to 2007.

Prime Minister (2017–present)

Before becoming Prime Minister, she was chairperson of the Left-Green Movement. In the wake of the 2017 Icelandic parliamentary election, President Guðni Th. Jóhannesson tasked Katrín with forming a governing coalition to consist of the Left-Green Movement, the Progressive Party, the Social Democratic Alliance, and the Pirate Party. Coalition talks between the four parties formally began on 3 November 2017, but were unsuccessful because of Progressive Party concerns that her coalition would have too thin a majority. As a result, she sought to lead a three-party coalition with the Independence Party and Progressive Party. After coalition talks were completed, President Guðni formally granted Katrín a mandate to lead the government, which was installed on 30 November. She is the second woman to serve as Prime Minister of Iceland.
Katrín opposes Icelandic membership of NATO, but as part of the compromise between the Left-Greens and their coalition partners, the government does not intend to withdraw from NATO or hold a referendum on NATO membership. She opposes Iceland joining the European Union. The coalition government does not intend to hold a referendum on continuing Iceland's accession negotiations with the EU.
According to political scientists, her government "combines conventional economic and social emphases with opposition to European integration." Despite being a coalition government of the left socialist Left-Greens, the centre and the right wing, the coalition was stable throughout 2018.

Personal life

Katrín is married to Gunnar Sigvaldason and the mother of three sons.
She hails from a family which has produced many prominent people in Icelandic politics, academia and literature. She is the younger sister of twin brothers Ármann Jakobsson and, who are both professors in the humanities at the University of Iceland. Katrín is the great-granddaughter of the politician and judge and the poet, and granddaughter of the engineer and MP. The poet is her maternal uncle.

International cooperation

Katrín has been a member of the following committees: