With the exception of a short experiment, dating back more than 40 years, Copenhagen had never seen this. An alliance government bringing together left and right. So, when presenting their team, the Danish Social Democratic Prime Minister and the leader of the main right-wing party had to defend their union. “It’s not because we couldn’t do otherwise that we went, because we could do otherwise. It is together that we have decided to join forces, ”pleaded Mette Frederiksen during a press conference with the two other party leaders.
The outgoing Prime Minister nevertheless had an absolute majority on the left after her victory in the elections on November 1. But she made the choice to ally herself with the new centrist party, and even with the liberal party, the historic rival of the social democrats. She must present the composition of her executive on Thursday, then be officially appointed Prime Minister by the Queen.
Doubts on the right
The alliance, which includes former Prime Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen’s new Moderates party, is described as historic by the Danish media, and refers in particular to the centre-left and centre-right alliance led by Emmanuel Macron in France. The Social Democrats and the Liberals had governed only once together so far, for fourteen months in 1978-1979.
The fiercest questions were directed at Liberal leader Jakob Ellemann-Jensen, who had campaigned to become prime minister with the right rejecting an alliance with Mette Frederiksen. “Do I have to let my pride prevent (…) from doing what is good for Denmark? “, he justified himself.
Climate, NATO and immigration
Mette Frederiksen presented the main lines of the new government, which notably wants to accelerate defense investments after the invasion of Ukraine and reduce Denmark’s CO2 emissions more quickly, with carbon neutrality from 2045. The Scandinavian country of 5.9 million inhabitants now expect to reach the NATO target of 2% of GDP devoted to defense credits by 2030, instead of 2033. A public holiday will be abolished to finance this measure.
A major tax reform will be put in place, with income tax increases for the middle class, a reduction for high incomes, and a significant surtax for very high incomes, according to the compromise document presented on Wednesday. In a country with a very hard line against immigration for twenty-five years, the new government has kept Mette Frederiksen’s controversial plan to open reception centers for asylum seekers outside Europe, possibly in Rwanda .