The head of the Danish government, Mette Frederiksen, justified, on Wednesday, her management of the Covid-19 crisis, and assured to collaborate with the commission of inquiry launched by Parliament in the spring, about the mass slaughter of mink. The parliamentarians had requested access to his text messages and those of his close advisers. But the Prime Minister of Denmark said they no longer exist, as her phone’s settings automatically remove them after thirty days, for security reasons.
An assertion greeted with skepticism by the political class: only two of the 51 ministers and ex-ministers questioned by public television DR having indicated to have implemented such a process. “I can’t tell when the function [de suppression] was activated but at the latest during the summer of 2020 “, affirmed Mette Frederiksen, during a press conference Wednesday evening,” it happened before the slaughter of the mink and before the launch of the commission “.
No legal basis
The radical decision to slaughter all 15 million mammals was taken in November 2020 because of a mutation in the coronavirus which, according to preliminary studies, could threaten the effectiveness of the future vaccine for humans. After drastic measures in the affected region of North Jutland, in the north-west of the country, the transfer was declared extinct a few weeks later, and the government had to admit that it had no legal basis for it. time to carry out this slaughter.
He then passed new legislation, which will be extended, banning mink farming for one year. The slaughter “is a decision that I maintain and it is a decision which was taken on the basis of a very serious risk assessment”, assured Mette Frederiksen.
Expected to testify
On Tuesday, the justice ministry announced that it had asked the police “to help it recover SMS messages likely to be of interest to the commission”, according to a press release obtained by AFP, which specifies that a response from technicians on the reconstitution of the messages will be known next week.
“I find it unfortunate that the SMS have been deleted (…) but I hope that they can be restored”, said the head of government. Mette Frederiksen is due to testify on December 9 before the commission of inquiry which is due to issue its conclusions in April 2022.