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What is going on with Denmark’s Liberal Party?

The Liberal (Venstre) Party, the senior partner in the former coalition government which lost June’s general election, is currently mired in manoeuvring and discord over potential new leadership.

Published: 28 August 2019 13:19 CEST
What is going on with Denmark’s Liberal Party?
L-R: Jakob Ellemann-Jensen, Lars Løkke Rasmussen and Kristian Jensen. Photo: Mads Claus Rasmussen/Ritzau Scanpix

Former prime minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen wants to continue as the party’s leader in opposition, but tensions with Kristian Jensen, the former finance minister and deputy leader who was long-tipped as a future successor to Rasmussen as leader, threaten to curtail the time of both at the top of the party.

Weeks of internal manoeuvring leading up to a party leadership meeting has resulted in calls for both senior figures to step back from the party’s vanguard.

Rasmussen has been criticized by some sections of the party for his election-eve decision to make a cross-aisle governing partnership with the Social Democrats his top priority. He has faced similar criticism from other parties on Denmark’s right.

Other Liberal MPs, including the veteran former defence minister Claus Hjort Frederiksen, have spoken out in support of the former PM.

Prior to the election, Rasmussen said it was not “the law of nature” that the deputy leader of a party eventually takes over as leader.

Jensen, who is the party’s deputy leader, said in an August interview that he was against running another election campaign on a partnership with the Social Democrats, but later apologized at the Liberals’ summer meeting for breaking with the leadership line.

Rasmussen reconfirmed on Tuesday that he means to continue as party leader, Jensen subsequently said he will again seek to be elected as deputy leader, a position he has occupied since 2009.

Disaffection within the party's parliamentary group and membership appears to have resulted in an opening for Jakob Ellemann-Jensen, the environment and food minister in Rasmussen’s last government, while former immigration minister Inger Støjberg, a high profile on the party’s right wing, has so far been kept out of contention for a leading role in opposition.

“All over Denmark there is a lot of support for Jakob Ellemann-Jensen, and I could give him my full support should he be the one to take on leader’s duties,” Liberal member of parliament Preben Bang Henriksen told TV2 on Tuesday.

Ellemann-Jensen, whose father, Uffe Ellemann-Jensen, led the party in the 1980s and 1990s, has so far remained quiet about his prospects of taking over from Rasmussen, responding “not right now” when asked by broadcaster DR whether he wanted to be leader.

He has also said that he does not intend to challenge Rasmussen for the leadership.

“I intend to vote for Lars Løkke Rasmussen as the leader of the Liberals,” he said.

Henriksen and another Liberal MP, Carsten Kissmeyer, have both openly called for Rasmussen and Jensen to go, while the party’s Central Jutland Region representatives have pulled their support for the current leadership, saying new direction is needed for the party’s future and credibility.

The leader and deputy leader of the party will be voted for at the Liberal Party conference. 

That is currently scheduled to take place on November 16th and 17th, but Rasmussen has speculated it could be brought forward to bring it ahead of the opening of the new parliamentary session in October.

READ ALSO: Power shifts in Denmark with the giving of gifts

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SOCIAL DEMOCRATS

EXPLAINED: How immigration speech has split Denmark’s Social Democrats

A speech about immigration and integration, given by a member of Denmark’s ruling Social Democrats in parliament, has caused an uproar among local party representatives but the party leadership, including Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen, is sticking to its guns.

Published: 25 April 2024 17:03 CEST
EXPLAINED: How immigration speech has split Denmark’s Social Democrats

Internal dispute within Denmark’s Social Democrats has gained pace and drawn comments from Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen, after one of the party’s MPs recently made a divisive speech in parliament.

Frederik Vad, who is the immigration spokesperson with the party, the senior partner in the coalition government, said earlier this month during a speech in parliament that Denmark’s immigration debate had to make an “admission”.

“That is an admission that work, education, a house, participation in associations and a clean criminal record are not enough on their own if you are also using your position to undermine Danish society from within,” Vad said.

“A parallel society is no longer a housing area in [underprivileged area] Ishøj. A could alos be a table at the canteen in a state agency or a pharmacy in [affluent] North Zealand,” he said, using the term used to refer to areas of the country subject to special integration laws.

To qualify as ‘parallel societies’, housing areas must have a population of more than 1,000 people, of which more than half are of “non-Western” origin, and must fulfil two of four criteria. For areas with fewer than 50 percent ‘non-Western’ populations, another term – ‘vulnerable area’ – is used instead.

The comments have received criticism from local Social Democratic politicians, initially more junior politicians such as town councillors and later gaining momentum with some city mayors speaking out against Vad, as reported by broadcaster DR.

“Frederik Vad is stigmatising a large part of the population that consists of well-educated, well-integrated and active citizens who contribute to Denmark every single day,” Musa Kekec, a Social Democratic member of the municipal council in Ballerup, told DR.

“We do not appreciate it. It is creating a new myth that integration has failed and that it’s no longer good enough to get an education, speak Danish, contribute to society and have a job – more is required,” he said.

Kekec is one of 18 elected local Social Democratic officials to have sent a letter to the party leadership earlier this week, objecting to Vad’s position.

“It’s important for us to show that we disagree with the rhetoric and suspicion being spread on the part of Frederik Vad,” Kekec said.

The internal conflict over the issue between parliamentary and local Social Democratic politicians is unusual in a party known for a culture in which all members loyally stick to the course set out by party leadership.

Merete Amdisen, the mayor of Ishøj – the municipality singled out by Vad in his comments – was the first mayor to publicly reject them, but several others have since added their voices to the dissent.

“I think you should think very carefully when you speak about people who go to work every single day, look after their children, integrate themselves in society and take part in our associations, in fact do everything we want them to, and who we also happen to need on our labour market,” Gladsaxe mayor Trine Græse told DR.

“I was actually offended – not personally, because I’m not in the target group. But when I heard what he said, I thought ‘that’s not a nice thing for him to say’,” she said.

“Christiansborg politicians should use their powerful voices with consideration and respect for others. Generalisations and pointing the finger at citizens with a different ethnic background as potentially dangerous are the wrong way to go,” the mayor of Furesø, Ole Bondo Christensen said.

In comments earlier this week, Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said there was “full support” for Vad from the party leadership.

“There is an ongoing immigration debate within the Social Democrats and in Denmark, but the Social Democrats stand firm on the immigration policy that is currently being pursued in Denmark,” the PM told DR.

“I do not see any stigmatising comments from Frederik. I think he does a good job of pointing out that — of course — you cannot speak generally about everyone. On the contrary, many [immigrants] are doing very well. But those who, for example, commit crime, violence, or are members of [Islamist organisation] Hizb ut-Tahrir, are against our democracy. That is a lack of integration and we must then be able to discuss it,” she said.

Vad has not presented any data to support the claim that people of non-Western immigrant backgrounds with high levels of education and employment are involved in activities of the kind described by Frederiksen.

The junior Social Democratic MP defended his comments by saying they were not a deviation from the existing party line.

“That line is that we have a few problems in some pockets of our society with some people who are educated, have a job and a clean criminal record, yet bring some values ​​with them to work which are problematic,” he said to DR.

“It makes me sad if there are people in the party who think I said something wrong. Personally, I don’t think I have. I made a nuanced statement,” he said.

“People who make an effort, work their socks off, and integrate [into society] with their children should receive nothing but respect and equality,” he said.

“But the people who insist on bringing a culture of honour to work, or who don’t think you need to subscribe to women’s freedom and equality to be part of this society, should see nothing but a hammer falling,” he said.

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