COPY LINK

METTE FREDERIKSEN

Frederiksen cancels holiday plans as challenging negotiations over new Danish government begin

Social Democrat leader Mette Frederiksen says she has put plenty of time aside to work through the process of forming a new government.

Published: 7 June 2019 10:17 CEST

Frederiksen cancels holiday plans as challenging negotiations over new Danish government begin

Mette Frederiksen, Henrik Sass Larsen (centre) and Nicolai Wammen arrive at Christiansborg on Friday. Photo: Mads Claus Rasmussen / Ritzau Scanpix

On Thursday, parliamentary parties were called to make their post-general election recommendations to Queen Margrethe in the so-called Queen’s round (dronningerunde), which establishes who will form or lead negotiations to form government.

That came after outgoing prime minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen handed in his government’s resignation, with left wing parties gaining an overall majority in Wednesday’s vote.

Frederiksen must now find a way of reconciling the various demands of parties who have given conditional support to her as the new PM.

“I have not made any summer holiday plans. I think that’s the best way in which to tackle the summer. I think it will take time and I’m very much looking forward to it,” she said.

In 2015, Rasmussen was able to form government ten days after the election.

Frederiksen’s predecessor as Social Democrat leader, Helle Thorning-Schmidt, spent two weeks negotiating after defeating Rasmussen in 2011.

The Liberal party – led by Rasmussen – will be the first to meet with Frederiksen at the Christiansborg parliament in the negotiations, Ritzau writes.

The outgoing PM has made clear his preference to form a cross aisle ‘grand coalition’, which would see the Social Democrats and Liberals, who are traditionally rivals, become government partners.

Frederiksen has repeatedly ruled out that option, stating she wants a Social Democrat minority government that works with parties on both the right and left wings, on a case-by-case basis.

The centre-left Social Liberal party is the final party scheduled to meet Frederiksen in the first round of talks, on Friday afternoon.

Each party has been allocated around 40 minutes.

Social Democrat political spokesperson Nicolai Wammen and parliamentary group leader Henrik Sass Larsen will join Frederiksen in the negotiations.

READ ALSO:

Member comments

Log in here to leave a comment.

Become a Member to leave a comment.

Denmark's government said on Tuesday it could not recover text messages requested by an official commission in relation to an ongoing inquiry. The timing, hours after local elections, was strongly criticised by opposition lawmakers.

Denmark's government said on Tuesday it could not recover text messages requested by an official commission in relation to an ongoing inquiry. The timing, hours after local elections, was strongly criticised by opposition lawmakers. Photo: Mads Claus Rasmussen/Ritzau Scanpix

As such, an official inquiry currently scrutinising the decision last year to cull millions of fur farm mink will not have insight into key government communication relating to the controversial decision.

The PM has faced questions over a policy to automatically delete texts after 30 days, a practice not universally applied across government ministries.

“It has only been possible for police technicians to recreate a limited amount of SMS messages from the devices of justice ministry heads of department,” justice minister Nick Hækkerup said in the statement.

READ ALSO: Why are Danish PM Frederiksen’s deleted mink texts causing controversy?

The timing of the announcement, less than 24 hours after local elections, drew immediate criticism from opposition parties.

The Ministry of Justice received the material needed for analysis of the devices on Friday last week, news wire Ritzau reports.

Justice spokesperson Morten Dahlin of the opposition Liberal party said it was “easy to assume” that the government held back the announcement to avoid a negative impact for the Social Democrats in local elections.

READ ALSO: How damaging is local election result for Danish PM Frederiksen?

“It’s foul play not to go public with this information when it was received, but instead choose to keep it back. And you can only speculate about whether this is because the information wasn’t allowed to come out before the municipal elections,” Dahlin said.

The Liberal representative stressed that his party has “no confidence” in the government’s response to the controversy over the mink texts.

Hækkerup rejected the suggestion by the Liberals that the government had deliberately withheld information until after the election.

“That is simply not true. The process was that we in the Ministry of Justice received the material in sealed envelopes on Friday. We agreed on Monday with the Mink Commission [official inquiry, ed.] that we should meet with the commission and its assistants which was to have the material and review it with their clients. So it’s a process that was agreed with the Mink Commission,” Hækkerup said.

The minister’s comment was in turn rejected by his opposition counterpart.

“The explanation that the information was stored in sealed envelopes, which were coincidentally not opened before the municipal elections, is ridiculous,” Dahlin said.

Url copied to clipboard!