Inside Denmark: Politicians elsewhere could learn something from Danes on negotiating

This week, the Danish government – a centre-left government made up of the Social Democrats, Moderates, the Green Left and the Social Liberals – struck a political agreement with the Danish People's Party on a new tax reform.

When I saw that headline, as someone from a country where politics is, and has arguably always been, adversarial, it made me think about how Denmark's political parties in general seem to be much more willing to collaborate across party lines and across bloc lines than parties in other countries when it comes to passing policy.

Just look at Sweden, which went to the polls two months ago but still doesn't have a government, primarily because the Left Party and Centre Party can't agree on whether or not the Left Party should be in government, despite the fact that the alternative is giving the far-right Sweden Democrats more power, which neither party wants.

Sure – it took Denmark longer than this to form a government earlier this year – but it still seems like Danish parties are much more willing to collaborate on individual policy henover midten, or across the centre, as they would say. Is Denmark one of the only countries in the world where politicians of all stripes are able to sit down and thrash out an agreement?

It didn't take long after the results of the Danish election were counted for Pelle Dragsted, leader of the Red-Green Alliance – probably the most left-wing of Denmark's left-wing parties – to say that he would be willing to collaborate with the centrist Moderates, with the shared goal of keeping the far-right Danish People's Party out of power.

I wonder if this is because Denmark has such a long tradition of minority governments (I suppose having so many parties in parliament is one of the reasons behind that), and that politicians and voters inherently understand that parties – even those on opposite sides of the political spectrum – will agree on some things and disagree on others.

To go back to this tax agreement, Pia Olsen Dhyr of the Green Left admitted after the announcement that she wasn't necessarily happy about it, as it included cutting some key left-wing policies like student grants for students living at home with a parental income over a certain level.

However, she could also see the full picture, adding that the effect of cutting these policies would be offset by other proposals in the budget.

I can't help but think that a lot of politicians elsewhere could benefit from thinking a bit more like the Danes.

In other news:

Denmark's government has, as mentioned above, struck a historic parliamentary agreement with the Danish People's Party. How much do you stand to gain or lose?