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2022 DANISH ELECTION

What does Denmark’s Liberal party want from government negotiations?

After a poor showing in the last parliamentary election, the Liberal party (Venstre) has warmed to the idea of joining a central coalition government helmed by Social Democratic leader Mette Frederiksen.

What does Denmark’s Liberal party want from government negotiations?
Danish Liberal leader Jakob Ellemann-Jensen is increasingly in the spotlight as talks to form a new government progress. Photo: Emil Helms/Ritzau Scanpix

The Liberal (Venstre) party, the largest in the ‘blue bloc’ conservative group, ruled out governing with Frederiksen prior to the election, but has since moved to a more open stance.

Suggestions the Liberals may be prepared to enter government with the Social Democrats gained momentum following a Liberal party national conference last weekend.

After the Red-Green Alliance (Enhedlisten), one of the parties that gave Frederiksen’s red bloc a slim parliamentary majority, exited negotiations on Wednesday, pressure appears to be building on the Liberals on to find an agreement.

READ ALSO: ‘Mette Frederiksen has changed’: Danish left-wing parties exit government talks

However, Liberal leader Jakob Ellemann-Jensen said late on Wednesday that he “didn’t know” whether the Liberals and Social Democrats would govern together.

“We are tackling this task constructively. Regardless of how it ends, our wish is to have a government that takes the most responsible direction possible for Danish economy and Danish reforms,” he said.

“The more Liberal policies that characterise the poilitics that are practiced, the more responsible it will be. That’s in our interest,” he said.

Priorities for the Liberal Party include reforming labour supply and taxes, including an adjustment of the limit for the top tax bracket (topskat).

The Liberals want to raise the limit so fewer Danes pay the highest tax rate, which currently applies on money earned after the first 600,543 kroner a year. 

READ MORE: ‘Topskat’: What is Denmark’s high income tax bracket?

“This is what we want to test. Is there the will to reform that is needed if we are to future-proof our society?” Ellemann-Jensen said in comments to news wire Ritzau.

The Liberals suffered a bruising election, losing 20 seats and 10.1 percent of the vote share to leave the party with 20 seats in parliament. It remains the second-largest party after the Social Democrats, however.

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POLITICS

Lawyers criticise Danish parliament for ‘special treatment’ of party leader

Two lawyers have accused parliament of double standards for deciding not to legally pursue Alex Vanopslagh, the leader of the Liberal Alliance party, after he was found to have breached rules relating to apartments provided to MPs.

Lawyers criticise Danish parliament for ‘special treatment’ of party leader

Parliament’s decision not to take Vanopslagh’s case to the courts suggests that the public and politicians are not equal before the law, according to two lawyers who spoke to broadcaster DR.

As an elected member of parliament, Liberal Alliance leader Vanopslagh was provided with a free apartment in Copenhagen and given parliamentary subsidies for “double household” (dobbelt husførelse) because he was registered as living at an address in Struer, West Jutland.

It later emerged he did not genuinely use the Struer address as his home and had thereby broken the rules. He later paid back the subsidies in full and returned the Copenhagen apartment.

“I’m not for one second in doubt that if this had been a municipal case, the municipality would have asked for the money back and reported him to the police,” lawyer Mads Pramming, a benefit fraud specialist, told broadcaster DR.

In 2019, parliament – including Liberal Alliance – voted for stricter rules on benefit fraud, including obliging municipalities to report certain types of cases to the police.

“It looks a bit funny that parliament is enacting strict control to prevent the public being paid money they are not entitled to, and giving municipalities an obligation to report it. And when it then comes to parliament itself, things are a lot less strict,” Pramming told DR.

Struer Municipality has ruled that Vanopslagh broke CPR (central person registration) rules by not living in Struer enough between 2020 and 2022 for it to be deemed his actual residence, as he claimed at the time.

Two left-wing parties, Red Green Alliance and Alternative, have called for the Præsidium – speaker’s council – in parliament to consider whether Vanopslagh should be prosecuted over the issue.

The speaker of parliament, Søren Gade, has told DR that the case will not be taken further. A previous case from 2015 has been cited as precedent for the decision.

A second lawyer, Michael Bjørn Hansen, called that stance “absurd” in comments to the broadcaster. Hansen also has expertise in benefit fraud cases.

“Based on some kind of objective consideration, this is certainly benefit fraud. Because he has cheated on some rules and received public benefits which he is not entitled to,” he said.

Equal status before the law “is not present here” unless parliament files a report with police, he argued.

“This is different to the demands parliament is making on municipalities,” he said.

The Præsidium is responsible for managing Denmark’s 179 lawmakers. Five members of parliament sit on the council, with the speaker being the senior member.

Vanopslagh has admitted to wrongdoing in the “double home” scandal and said his knowledge of the rules had been lacking.

“It’s my fault, I made a mistake. But other people make the judgement and say what I have to pay back,” he said earlier this week.

A number of legal experts previously told newspaper Dagbladet Information that the matter should be investigated by the police.

Vanopslagh received a total of around 75,000 kroner to which he was not entitled, according to DR.

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