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POLITICS

New Danish Liberal leader must be clear on relationship with rivals, MP says

The new leadership of the centre-right Liberal (Venstre) party must act quickly to provide clarity over the party’s position on working with traditional rivals the Social Democrats, a Liberal MP has said.

New Danish Liberal leader must be clear on relationship with rivals, MP says
Inger Støjberg passes Kristian Jensen in the corridors at Christiansborg, Copenhagen on September 3rd. Photo: Philip Davali/Ritzau Scanpix

The Liberals have governed Denmark for 14 of the last 18 years but lost the June 5th general election to left wing parties headed by Mette Frederiksen’s centre-left Social Democrats.

That came after then-prime minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen, who on Saturday stepped down as Liberal leader, made a late overture to Frederiksen for a potential cross-aisle government coalition.

The offer was not taken up by the Social Democrats, who went on to form a minority government with the backing of other parties on Denmark’s left.

Rasmussen’s approach gave rise to mixed opinions within the Liberal party and he faced criticism for it from some quarters. He eventually quit as leader after some regional party boards and MPs openly called for him to step down.

Any incoming leadership must move quickly to resolve discord created by the issue, said Preben Bang Henriksen, a Liberal member of parliament and chair of the parliamentary justice committee.

“We don’t need another farce over, for example, the (potential) partnership with the Social Democrats. Or any other political areas. If there’s disagreement, it must come out into the open now,” Henriksen said.

“Let me just say that I have no reason to think there is (disagreement). But I didn’t think there was in the previous leadership. But I think that appropriate caution will ensure they sit down and find out whether they agree. I’m sure they do,” he added.

Kristian Jensen, who is the party's outgoing deputy leader, said in an August interview that he was against running another election campaign on a partnership with the Social Democrats, as Rasmussen dramatically advocated on the eve of the June 5th vote. Jensen later apologized at the Liberals' summer meeting for breaking with the leadership line.

Jensen, who has been deputy leader for ten years and long-expected to eventually take over from Rasmussen, also announced his resignation on Saturday, seemingly bringing to an end a career-long ambition to lead the party.

Henriksen was one of the earliest voices in the party to call for a change in leadership and has already said he backs favourite Jakob Ellemann-Jensen to take over.

On Monday, he joined a growing list in citing former immigration minister Inger Støjberg as their choice for deputy leader.

Ellemann-Jensen and Støjberg would be a “perfect match” at the head of the party, according to Henriksen.

“They represent both sexes, geographical distribution and different backgrounds,” he said.

“That would, in my view, be an optimal combination.”

READ ALSO: What next for Denmark’s Liberals after Rasmussen farewell?

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POLITICS

Danish government loses majority as MP defects to right-wing party

Member of parliament Mads Fuglede on Tuesday announced a switch from the Liberal (Venstre) party to the national conservative Denmark Democrats, leaving the coalition government without a clear majority to pass domestic policy.

Danish government loses majority as MP defects to right-wing party

Fuglede’s decision to switch parties means that the coalition government currently does not have a majority to guarantee it can pass domestic policy.

The now ex-Liberal MP announced in a statement posted on Facebook on Tuesday that he was switching to the Denmark Democrats, a party further to the right led by another former Liberal politician, the former immigration minister Inger Støjberg.

Fuglede said that he was against the centre-right Liberal party’s involvement in the coalition government alongside its traditional rivals the Social Democrats.

He also said that he was against the proposed tax on agricultural CO2 emissions, which is backed by the Liberals, a historically pro-agriculture party, as part of the coalition. The Denmark Democrats have been the most vocal opponents of the proposed CO2 tax.

“I was very much against participation in the government and many of the decisions that arose from it. I totally disagree with the latest decision to impose a CO2 tax on agriculture. And that decision will hit harder in West Jutland than anywhere else, which is why I am switching to the Denmark Democrats,” he wrote in the post, referencing the regional constituency which elected him to parliament in 2019.

Fuglede, a former Liberal defence spokesperson, has been considered one of the party’s more right-leaning MPs, notably on refugee policy. His new party leader, Støjberg, made her name as an immigration hardliner when she was a Liberal minister.

When the Liberals were in opposition in 2022, Fuglede spoke in favour of British nationals in Denmark whose ongoing residency rights were under threat as a result of administrative problems in relation to post-Brexit registrations.

The leader of the Liberal party and Deputy Prime Minister, Troels Lund Poulsen, said he did not believe Fuglede’s defection put the government under existential threat.

“I think we now need some ice in our veins. First and foremost, we have the backing – in the event of a vote of no confidence – from the North Atlantic mandates,” he said in comments to newswire Ritzau.

The North Atlantic mandates are the four parliamentary seats filled by representatives elected in Greenland and the Faroe Islands. Each of the four representatives are aligned with coalition parties but they do not generally vote on Danish domestic issues.

Another member of parliament, Kim Edberg, a former member of the far-right Nye Borgerlige, also announced on Tuesday that he had joined the Denmark Democrats. The party’s number of lawmakers thereby increased from 14 to 16.

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