Politics: Deputy PM says Denmark’s right- and left-wing blocs are history
The leader of the Danish Liberal (Venstre) party, Jakob Ellemann-Jensen, says that the traditional system of right- and left-wing alliances in parliament is now a “historical phenomenon”.
Last year’s general election, in which a coalition government was formed by centrist parties on both the left and right, including the Liberals, broke with a longstanding custom of ‘red bloc’ or ‘blue bloc’ governments in Danish politics.
Because no party is big enough to take an overall majority in parliament, governments are always formed as coalitions or by smaller parties lending their support to a larger candidate in a minority government.
This has traditionally been done within the confines of the two ‘red’ and ‘blue’, or left- and right-wing factions of parties, giving rise to the names ‘red bloc’ and ‘blue bloc’ for the overall two opposing forces in Danish politics.
READ ALSO: 'Bloc politics': A guide to understanding parliamentary elections in Denmark
But the November 2022 election saw the two largest parties on each side, traditional rivals the Social Democrats and Liberals, form a tripartite coalition alongside the Moderates in a break with the normal system of alliances.
Ellemann-Jensen, who is deputy prime minister and defence minister as well as leader of the Liberals, said in an interview with newspaper Berlingske that it would be a mistake to assume the customary groupings of parties on the left and right will ever return, describing the bloc system as a “historical phenomenon”.
The coalition government is working well together while right-wing parties continue to infight, with defections and new parties often cropping up “every time someone is dissatisfied”, he said in the interview.
“I think my blue [conservative, ed.] friends should think about joining instead of chaining themselves to something that belongs to the past,” he said.
He said that it was not impossible that a government consisting only of conservative parties could be formed again in future, but that the “colours” of the parties was no longer important.
Other conservative leaders have expressed their disappointment in Ellemann-Jensen’s position.
Conservative Party leader Søre Pape Poulsen called the messaging from the Liberal leader “a definitive write-off of the conservative alliance as we have known it".
“I cannot interpret it in any other way than that he wants to be free from the conservative alliance and that he is comfortable with a Social Democrat sitting at the head of the table. I think that’s a shame, and I'm very disappointed by it,” Poulsen told Berlingske.
The leader of the national conservative Denmark Democrats, Inger Støjberg, said “it has become clear that we will never get a conservative government as long as Jakob Ellemann is leader of the Liberals”.
She told news wire Ritzau his comments were "a slap in the face for conservative Denmark".
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Last year’s general election, in which a coalition government was formed by centrist parties on both the left and right, including the Liberals, broke with a longstanding custom of ‘red bloc’ or ‘blue bloc’ governments in Danish politics.
Because no party is big enough to take an overall majority in parliament, governments are always formed as coalitions or by smaller parties lending their support to a larger candidate in a minority government.
This has traditionally been done within the confines of the two ‘red’ and ‘blue’, or left- and right-wing factions of parties, giving rise to the names ‘red bloc’ and ‘blue bloc’ for the overall two opposing forces in Danish politics.
READ ALSO: 'Bloc politics': A guide to understanding parliamentary elections in Denmark
But the November 2022 election saw the two largest parties on each side, traditional rivals the Social Democrats and Liberals, form a tripartite coalition alongside the Moderates in a break with the normal system of alliances.
Ellemann-Jensen, who is deputy prime minister and defence minister as well as leader of the Liberals, said in an interview with newspaper Berlingske that it would be a mistake to assume the customary groupings of parties on the left and right will ever return, describing the bloc system as a “historical phenomenon”.
The coalition government is working well together while right-wing parties continue to infight, with defections and new parties often cropping up “every time someone is dissatisfied”, he said in the interview.
“I think my blue [conservative, ed.] friends should think about joining instead of chaining themselves to something that belongs to the past,” he said.
He said that it was not impossible that a government consisting only of conservative parties could be formed again in future, but that the “colours” of the parties was no longer important.
Other conservative leaders have expressed their disappointment in Ellemann-Jensen’s position.
Conservative Party leader Søre Pape Poulsen called the messaging from the Liberal leader “a definitive write-off of the conservative alliance as we have known it".
“I cannot interpret it in any other way than that he wants to be free from the conservative alliance and that he is comfortable with a Social Democrat sitting at the head of the table. I think that’s a shame, and I'm very disappointed by it,” Poulsen told Berlingske.
The leader of the national conservative Denmark Democrats, Inger Støjberg, said “it has become clear that we will never get a conservative government as long as Jakob Ellemann is leader of the Liberals”.
She told news wire Ritzau his comments were "a slap in the face for conservative Denmark".
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