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Today in Denmark For Members

Today in Denmark: A roundup of the news on Monday

Elizabeth Anne Brown
Elizabeth Anne Brown - [email protected]
Today in Denmark: A roundup of the news on Monday
Legoland has opened for Christmas with models of iconic Danish landmarks, including this tiny Nyhavn scene. (Photo: Bo Amstrup/ Ritzau Scanpix

The Conservatives leave government negotiations and a 'draft' among nursing staff are among the top news stories in Denmark on Monday.

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Conservatives bow out of government negotiations 

Over the weekend, the Conservative party walked out after weeks of negotiations with Mette Frederiksen and the Social Democrats. 

Conservative chairman Søren Pape Poulsen announced the departure on Facebook. "At the end of the day, I don't think [joining a government with Frederiksen and the Social Democrats] is compatible with the promises we made in the election campaign and what I've said about such a government. Politics is also very much about credibility," Poulsen wrote. 

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Christine Cordsen, a political correspondent at broadcaster DR, sees the move as strategic. "If the Liberals end up joining the government — which is very likely —then Pape will have the opportunity to take on the role of opposition leader in the remnants of the blue bloc and perhaps use it to revive the Conservatives," Cordsen says. 

What the Liberal Party wants from government negotiations 

On December 6th, the current government negotiations will have tied the all-time record for Denmark's longest ever with the 35-day negotiation of 1975. But the Liberal Party (Venstre) is still holding out for more concessions from Frederiksen and the Social Democrats. 

Liberal leader Jakob Ellemann-Jensen points to changes to the top tax bracket as a party priority, though that's been a non-starter for the Social Democrats. 

Newswire Ritzau reports the Liberals also hope to lower inheritance tax as well as income taxes for Denmark's most modest earners. 

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

Nurses 'drafted' for hospital shifts 

The Danish Regions plan to require nurses who work at outpatient clinics  to fill night and weekend shifts in hospitals, newspaper Jyllands-Posten reports.

Hospital nurses — particularly those working in intensive care, surgery, and emergency departments —bear the brunt of the nurse labour shortage, taking on an untenable number of night and weekend shifts as many of their colleagues leave the public system for more favourable working conditions at private clinics. 

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The Regions propose that nurses employed in outpatient clinics "spend a third of their working time on the duty schedule in an inpatient ward," according to Ritzau. 

“We have to share the heavy on-call load on to more shoulders, and our clear message is that all hospitals must work with this systematically in all areas, otherwise we will not achieve our goal," Stephanie Lose, chair of the Region of Southern Denmark's regional council and vice-president of the Danish Regions, told J-P.

READ MORE: Denmark takes 'far too long' to approve qualifications of foreign medics, nurses 

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