More than two months after the parliamentary elections in Denmark, Social Democratic leader Mette Frederiksen was finally able to agree on the formation of a coalition government, thus securing her third consecutive term as prime minister. At the end of winter, the leader of the Social Democrats overly hoped for the rallying of voters around herself against the backdrop of Donald Trump’s threats against Greenland, and as a result of the early elections she announced, her party lost many votes. This is where difficulties arose in forming a ruling coalition, which has now moved noticeably to the left compared to the previous cabinet.
Denmark lived without a government for 69 days – a record long time for this Scandinavian country. But on the evening of June 1, the head of the Social Democratic Party, Mette Frederiksen, finally announced that a new ruling coalition had finally been created: it included four parties, including a political force led by a man whom local media often called Frederiksen’s sworn enemy. We are talking about the head of the Danish Foreign Ministry, Lars Løkke Rasmussen, the leader of the centrist Moderate party.
Unlike the previous cabinet, in which the left had to coexist with the right for the past four years, the current government will be center-left.
This will partly simplify the interaction between members of the government, but life will not be very easy – the cabinet, which will be presented to the Danish King Frederick X in Amalienborg on June 3, will not be able to rely on the parliamentary majority.
This situation was largely the result of excessive arrogance and errors in the calculations of Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen. Against the backdrop of US President Donald Trump’s threats to annex Greenland, an island that is part of Denmark with autonomy, and Danes rallying around the prime minister, who is resolutely resisting American pressure, the leader of the Social Democrats believed that the increase in her personal popularity could be converted into strengthening support for her party, and called early elections, which were held on March 24.
But the calculation did not come true: the Social Democrats received a majority of votes, but showed their weakest result since 1903, receiving 38 out of 179 seats instead of 50 seats.
An additional humiliation is that the far-right Danish People’s Party tripled its result compared to the 2022 elections.
In general, 12 parties (all those who applied for it) managed to overcome the threshold for entering parliament at once, which has not happened in Denmark since the introduction of the electoral barrier in 1953. That is why the parliament turned out to be extremely fragmented, and the process of forming a ruling coalition was so long and labor-intensive.
Bearing in mind that the Danes are concerned not only with foreign policy and effective opposition to the American president, but also to a greater extent with the cost of living, the state of the economy and social security issues (this is precisely what the results of the March elections demonstrate), Mette Frederiksen in her third term focused on promises of domestic political order.
“I think everyone will be surprised at how much we want to do. This is a government platform that is good for the people of Denmark and for future generations, as well as for animals,” Frederiksen told reporters on the evening of June 1, announcing the coalition agreement with the social liberals, Greens and Moderates, immediately after an audience with the king on board his ship moored in Odense harbor.
Animal welfare was one of several major issues discussed during the election campaign, along with such specific topics as high levels of pesticides in drinking water due to the development of pig farming and the impact of agriculture on the climate.
And Copenhagen has not forgotten about Trump’s continuing claims to Greenland. As the newly appointed head of government has made clear, diplomatic negotiations on Greenland are among the government’s top priorities, as is strengthening Denmark’s defense capabilities amid the deteriorating security situation in Europe.
Clouds began to gather over Greenland last year. Trump, who has repeatedly offered to buy the mineral-rich island from Denmark, has increasingly stated that he does not rule out seizing this territory by force, since he considers control over it a matter of US national security. This led to the first round of crisis in relations between the United States and its transatlantic allies, who stood up in defense of Greenland. Since then, passions have calmed down somewhat, and Denmark, Greenland and the United States agreed to discuss ways to strengthen security in the Arctic region at subsequent trilateral negotiations. But to date, no solution has emerged, so, in fact, the crisis in relations with the US President over the future of Greenland has only been frozen.
