Danish Elections and Politics

[CumbrianLefty]

Well yes, some of us did have our doubts at the time.

[Diouf]

Independent Greens had their party congress last weekend, and announced that they will start collecting signatures in order to be eligible for the next parliamentary election. Below is a good analysis from Altinget about how the party tries to unite the ultra-woke and the very conservative immigrant voters, and the doublespeak it often leads to.

https://www.altinget.dk/artikel/frie-groenne-skal-spaende-fra-det-yderste-woke-til-ortodokse-muslimer

[Mike88]

Diouf, how reliable is this report:

Next NATO chief? Danish leader’s DC invite prompts speculation

Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen has emerged as a serious contender to lead NATO in the wake of an invitation to visit the White House. 

Washington announced that President Joe Biden will host Frederiksen next month, fueling chatter at NATO headquarters about whether the U.S. will back the Danish leader for the NATO role, which is traditionally reserved for a European but requires Washington’s blessing.

The current secretary-general, Jens Stoltenberg, is slated to leave his post at the end of September following multiple extensions — though it is possible that he will stay on for a few more months if the alliance’s leaders cannot agree on a replacement.

The Danish leader checks off several boxes. Allies are looking for a politician with the stature of a head of government, and given that all previous NATO chiefs have been men, there is strong pressure to find a female candidate.
(...)

If she, for some reason, ends up in the NATO leadership, who do you think the Social Democrats would pick as leader or would there be a break up of the coalition and snap elections?

[Diouf]

Diouf, how reliable is this report:

There hadn't been any talk at all about an international top job for her before some Norwegian media mentioned it a few weeks ago. And in relation to the visit at Biden, the story until now has been that Frederiksen has had to wait way longer than any Danish PM in modern time to go and visit the American president. So the PM's office has been quite desperate for that to happen, so it's certainly likely that it's not related to the NATO job at all.
But I mean she is a female PM, which several years of experience as PM and a top minister, so she has some decent credentials. And has become, particularly in this new government, more internationally oriented.
I don't know how the NATO jobs normally work, but it does seem a bit weird to me if we get a Dane, a Norwegian and then a Dane again in charge. So that's maybe what puzzles me the most if this were to happen.

If she, for some reason, ends up in the NATO leadership, who do you think the Social Democrats would pick as leader or would there be a break up of the coalition and snap elections?

The two main candidates would probably be Minister of Finance Nicolai Wammen and Minister of Justice Peter Hummelgaard. Wammen is probably more popular with the coalition partners, and perhaps several of the other Social Democrat top ministers and MPs as a safe pair of hands to continue the coalition government, while Hummelgaard might have more appeal broadly in the party system as someone who has been eager to make grandiose Social Democratic value statements. Wammen is more popular in the public than Hummelgaard, with the latter too often coming across as a bit of pompous, hypocritical wannabe-Napoleon. Recently, Hummelgaard was caught repeatedly breaking the traffic laws, when dropping his kids off in the morning, too which his response was: "It's important for me to drop off my kids in kindergarten almost every morning. I tell myself that it's a small, although poor, compensation for all the hours I spend away from them".
Potential other candidates could be Minister of Environment, Magnus Heunicke, and Minister of Education, Mattias Tesfaye, who are the two most popular Social Democrat ministers. My preferred candidate would be Tesfaye, who has been a very prominent voice in the workerite turn, the party has taken in recent years.
I think any of them would tend to continue the coalition. And then perhaps Hummelgaard a bit more likely to end up in a chaos, where it breaks up, due to his bad temper and his reflexive poor statements about the right wing parties.

[Diouf]

Some further decisions regarding EP candidates. DPP has chosen incumbent MEP Anders Vistisen as their lead candidate. He was in office for the full term from 2014-2019, and then again since November 2022 when the party's sole MEP Peter Kofod became a MP. While he is, like many MEPs, not a particularly familiar face, he is a quite strong candidate with EU experience and good rhetorical skills. With him as the lead candidate, I think DPP has quite good chances of getting a MEP elected, particularly if they do get the alliance with New Right.

Denmark Democrats have chosen Kristoffer Hjort Storm, a current alderman for Elderly Care in Aalborg municipality. So he is a competely unknown figure in national politics, and without any experience in dealing with international affairs. It can help a bit that he has a fairly big role in politics in Northern Jutland, where the party is strong. But generally, seems like a below par candidate. So one would expect the party not to reach its normal national polling numbers.

The Alternative has chosen an even lesser known candidate. The lawyer Jan Kristoffersen without any political experience. The party has announced it will join the Green group if elected, so would support the idea that they could team up with SPP this time. Unless the Alternative sees a significant increase in their polling fortunes, it doesn't seem very likely that Kristoffersen will end up as a MEP.

For the Social Democrat, former MEP and foreign minister Jeppe Kofod has withdrawn his candidature and resigned as a replacement MP, after the waves of criticism against him from the Youth Party.

[Diouf]

Social Democrats, SPP and Alternative have announced that they are forming an electoral alliance for the 2024 EP elections. It's no surprise that SPP and Alternative go together this time as they have fairly similar views, and both will join the Green group. I'm much more surprised that the Social Democrats are also a part of the alliance. I thought the Alternative would consider them and the government too foot-dragging and establishment on climate issues to enter such an alliance. As written above, the Alternative isn't polling very well and they don't seem to have any real noteworthy candidates, so will likely not get any MEPs. So with this electoral alliance, those votes they do get, would not only go towards electing SPP MEPs, but also Social Democrat MEPs.

[ingemann]

Social Democrats, SPP and Alternative have announced that they are forming an electoral alliance for the 2024 EP elections. It's no surprise that SPP and Alternative go together this time as they have fairly similar views, and both will join the Green group. I'm much more surprised that the Social Democrats are also a part of the alliance. I thought the Alternative would consider them and the government too foot-dragging and establishment on climate issues to enter such an alliance. As written above, the Alternative isn't polling very well and they don't seem to have any real noteworthy candidates, so will likely not get any MEPs. So with this electoral alliance, those votes they do get, would not only go towards electing SPP MEPs, but also Social Democrat MEPs.

As I remember it, last time they were in electoral alliance with the Social Liberals and their votes ended up going to the Liberal group in parliament, they were heavily criticized for this. So that leave them either Unity List or SPP to enter an electoral alliance with, but Unity List and the Alternative disagree fundamentally about the EU with the Alternative being far more pro-EU. So that leave SPP but that also bring them in alliance with the Social Democrats, but as both parties sit in progressive groups with a strong focus on the environment and consumer protection, the alliance still makes a lot of sense even if on the domestic scent the Danish Social Democrat are not green enough for them.

[Diouf]

Social Democrats, SPP and Alternative have announced that they are forming an electoral alliance for the 2024 EP elections. It's no surprise that SPP and Alternative go together this time as they have fairly similar views, and both will join the Green group. I'm much more surprised that the Social Democrats are also a part of the alliance. I thought the Alternative would consider them and the government too foot-dragging and establishment on climate issues to enter such an alliance. As written above, the Alternative isn't polling very well and they don't seem to have any real noteworthy candidates, so will likely not get any MEPs. So with this electoral alliance, those votes they do get, would not only go towards electing SPP MEPs, but also Social Democrat MEPs.

As I remember it, last time they were in electoral alliance with the Social Liberals and their votes ended up going to the Liberal group in parliament, they were heavily criticized for this. So that leave them either Unity List or SPP to enter an electoral alliance with, but Unity List and the Alternative disagree fundamentally about the EU with the Alternative being far more pro-EU. So that leave SPP but that also bring them in alliance with the Social Democrats, but as both parties sit in progressive groups with a strong focus on the environment and consumer protection, the alliance still makes a lot of sense even if on the domestic scent the Danish Social Democrat are not green enough for them.

The alliance with SPP makes all the sense in the world, and what I predicted they would do. But the link with the Social Democrats do surprise me. I would guess that perhaps SPP must have been very insistent on making the alliance with the Social Democrats, and then perhaps the Alternative had to take it or leave it if they wanted an alliance. SPP have been very close to the Social Democrats in recent years and maybe wanted to "keep the line warm", but I think it would have been very fine for them to run just with the Alternative this time and ensure that they got the benefit of all the Alternative votes themselves.

The Red-Greens are already trying to hammer the Alternative for this. Their EP lead candidate Per Clausen: "The Alternative prefer to provide votes for the Social Democrat refugee, climate and environmental policies over the Red-Greens. I don't understand that choice", and their former Copenhagen mayor Morten Kabell: "So much for the Alternative and Franciska Rosenkilde's critic of the system. They prefer a black Social Democrat in the EP rather than a green representative from the Red-Greens".

[JimJamUK]

The alliance with SPP makes all the sense in the world, and what I predicted they would do. But the link with the Social Democrats do surprise me. I would guess that perhaps SPP must have been very insistent on making the alliance with the Social Democrats, and then perhaps the Alternative had to take it or leave it if they wanted an alliance. SPP have been very close to the Social Democrats in recent years and maybe wanted to "keep the line warm", but I think it would have been very fine for them to run just with the Alternative this time and ensure that they got the benefit of all the Alternative votes themselves.

The Red-Greens are already trying to hammer the Alternative for this. Their EP lead candidate Per Clausen: "The Alternative prefer to provide votes for the Social Democrat refugee, climate and environmental policies over the Red-Greens. I don't understand that choice", and their former Copenhagen mayor Morten Kabell: "So much for the Alternative and Franciska Rosenkilde's critic of the system. They prefer a black Social Democrat in the EP rather than a green representative from the Red-Greens".

Is there any unhappiness in SF about this decision? They are in opposition to a Social Democrat led ‘government across the middle’ which is pursuing policies they disagree with and are the largest opposition party to it in both seats and polling. You’d think in such a situation they’d actually try and set out a distinctive position rather than continue trying to tightly hug the Social Democrats.

[Diouf]

Conservatives have announced that incumbent MEP Pernille Weiss won't stand again after several of her former employees have accused her of bullying and humiliation. Søren Pape says the party has urged her to resign her seat already now for the rest of this term. I guess she would rather leave the party, and continue in the EP. With the Conservatives not polling superwell, it's not certain they would actually get a MEP elected, and now they need to find a new lead candidate.

All parties in parliament, except the Alternative, voted for a law to limit party support for parties who does not enter parliament. Previously, all the parties on the ballot received party support according to how many votes they received. From now on, parties will only get party support if they get really close to crossing the threshold (1.83%). So this means the Independent Greens will lose 1,1 million DKK a year, and Christian Democrats 0,6 million DKK a year.

Is there any unhappiness in SF about this decision? They are in opposition to a Social Democrat led ‘government across the middle’ which is pursuing policies they disagree with and are the largest opposition party to it in both seats and polling. You’d think in such a situation they’d actually try and set out a distinctive position rather than continue trying to tightly hug the Social Democrats.

No, seems to be little internal criticism of anything in SPP. And think many like their line of staying quite close to the Social Democrats, while softly speaking out against it when the government does things they disagree with.

[ingemann]

Social Democrats, SPP and Alternative have announced that they are forming an electoral alliance for the 2024 EP elections. It's no surprise that SPP and Alternative go together this time as they have fairly similar views, and both will join the Green group. I'm much more surprised that the Social Democrats are also a part of the alliance. I thought the Alternative would consider them and the government too foot-dragging and establishment on climate issues to enter such an alliance. As written above, the Alternative isn't polling very well and they don't seem to have any real noteworthy candidates, so will likely not get any MEPs. So with this electoral alliance, those votes they do get, would not only go towards electing SPP MEPs, but also Social Democrat MEPs.

As I remember it, last time they were in electoral alliance with the Social Liberals and their votes ended up going to the Liberal group in parliament, they were heavily criticized for this. So that leave them either Unity List or SPP to enter an electoral alliance with, but Unity List and the Alternative disagree fundamentally about the EU with the Alternative being far more pro-EU. So that leave SPP but that also bring them in alliance with the Social Democrats, but as both parties sit in progressive groups with a strong focus on the environment and consumer protection, the alliance still makes a lot of sense even if on the domestic scent the Danish Social Democrat are not green enough for them.

The alliance with SPP makes all the sense in the world, and what I predicted they would do. But the link with the Social Democrats do surprise me. I would guess that perhaps SPP must have been very insistent on making the alliance with the Social Democrats, and then perhaps the Alternative had to take it or leave it if they wanted an alliance. SPP have been very close to the Social Democrats in recent years and maybe wanted to "keep the line warm", but I think it would have been very fine for them to run just with the Alternative this time and ensure that they got the benefit of all the Alternative votes themselves.

The Red-Greens are already trying to hammer the Alternative for this. Their EP lead candidate Per Clausen: "The Alternative prefer to provide votes for the Social Democrat refugee, climate and environmental policies over the Red-Greens. I don't understand that choice", and their former Copenhagen mayor Morten Kabell: "So much for the Alternative and Franciska Rosenkilde's critic of the system. They prefer a black Social Democrat in the EP rather than a green representative from the Red-Greens".

I understand the Unity List attack points, I just don’t think it’s that negative for the Alternative. I suspect that a major reason that the Alternative voters choose that party rather than Unity List is because it’s pro-EU. We should also not ignore the benefit for them of being in the news, also the benefit of being beside the leaders two biggest parties (in the polls) in all the medias, and at last the benefit of making it clear that they’re not just a Unity List clone.

It should also be remembered that a lot of people want a government lead by the Social Democrats, but they want to vote for parties pushing in a more green direction, but they don’t want to deal with the baggage of the Social Liberals or Unity List and they think SPP is not radical enough. Here Alternative is in a good position to place themselves as a kind of generic center-left party with a 100% focus on the green issues. A lot of people really hate Mette Frederiksen and the Social Democrats, but we should not forget a lot of people don’t and just want them and her with +/-10% of different policies.

[ingemann]

The alliance with SPP makes all the sense in the world, and what I predicted they would do. But the link with the Social Democrats do surprise me. I would guess that perhaps SPP must have been very insistent on making the alliance with the Social Democrats, and then perhaps the Alternative had to take it or leave it if they wanted an alliance. SPP have been very close to the Social Democrats in recent years and maybe wanted to "keep the line warm", but I think it would have been very fine for them to run just with the Alternative this time and ensure that they got the benefit of all the Alternative votes themselves.

The Red-Greens are already trying to hammer the Alternative for this. Their EP lead candidate Per Clausen: "The Alternative prefer to provide votes for the Social Democrat refugee, climate and environmental policies over the Red-Greens. I don't understand that choice", and their former Copenhagen mayor Morten Kabell: "So much for the Alternative and Franciska Rosenkilde's critic of the system. They prefer a black Social Democrat in the EP rather than a green representative from the Red-Greens".

Is there any unhappiness in SF about this decision? They are in opposition to a Social Democrat led ‘government across the middle’ which is pursuing policies they disagree with and are the largest opposition party to it in both seats and polling. You’d think in such a situation they’d actually try and set out a distinctive position rather than continue trying to tightly hug the Social Democrats.

Right now they’re the Social Democrats who are not in government with the center right, that seems to me to be a much better position to be in than to move to the left and begin to fight with Unity List over the voter segments on the Left. From a voter maximization POV they have clearly choose the right strategy and from a influence POV, they have also chosen the right strategy, they’re also pretty sure to join any new government.

[Diouf]

The NATO summit in Vilnius on 11-12 July weighs quite heavily on Danish politics at the moment. Mostly because the speculation about Mette Frederiksen as a candidate for NATO General Secretary keeps on rumbling. Today, Moderate leader and Foreign Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen said that the government project needs to be re-confirmed by a potential new Social Democrat leader and PM, because the cross-centre cooperation project was so heavily build on him and Frederiksen's decisions to go all-in on the project. Quite remarkable that a high-ranking minister so directly joins the speculations about Frederiksen's potential future elsewhere, which probably hurts the PM a bit as she can seem absent and too international. It helps position this government even more as Løkke's government, if Frederiksen leaves and is replaced by another Social Democrat.

Additionally, it is expected that a new defence agreement should be reached before the summit to show how and when Denmark will reach 2% of GDP spending on defence, and with some outline of how the money will be spent.

[Diouf]

The talk about Frederiksen's potential future continues to make its mark, not least inside the Social Democrats. The latest talk is that there seems to be a growing acceptance that Minister of Finance, Nicolai Wammen, would probably take over as Social Democratic leader and PM, but that the battle is starting to be about who replaces him as Minister of Finance. That some in the Wammen wing wants one of their one trusted guys, Morten Bødskov, to get the post to ensure a coherent, aligned leadership, while the Hummelgaard wing demands he would get the post, so there is some kind of power sharing. Some in the Hummelgaard wing believes that a threat of a leadership challenge to Wammen could force this power sharing.

[Diouf]

Agreement on streaming tax, support for local media and new media democracy centre

https://twitter.com/DJintweets/status/1668937876338364417

The government has agreed a new media deal with SPP, the Red-Green Alliance, Social Liberals and DPP. The deal introduces a revenue tax for streaming services, 2% if they have at least 5% Danish language content and 5% if they do not. The income from the new tax will go 80% to support Danish movies and 20% towards Danish documentaries and series.

The state subsidies programme for newspapers will be changed so it favours local and regional newspapers more. The max subsidy is lowered from 17.5 million DKK to 12.5 million DKK a year, while the smaller local and regional newspapers will get an increased support.

Additionally, the state will not prolong the contract with failed radio channel 24syv, the Danish Broadcasting Corporation will get a more independent board without political appointees and a big part of their archive will be made available to the public online. The deal also includes support for more Danish language children's content across platforms and establishes a new Center of Social Media, Tech and Democracy to study and make policy recommendations on the role of new media on democracy and well-being

[Diouf]

Today, some news seem to suggest Frederiksen's chance of going to NATO has declined. Wall Street Journal writes that "Poland Says ‘Nie’ to Another Nordic NATO Chief, Splitting Alliance: Warsaw said to oppose front-runner Danish prime minister and to favor Estonian leader", while the Financial Times wrote that "Biden did not lend his full support to Frederiksen at their White House meeting last week, two people briefed on the talks told the FT, puncturing her candidacy’s momentum". Interesting whether the genie can easily get back into the bottle if she ends up not getting the position. Certainly, it has brought back to the surface the disagreements between different parts of her party.

https://www.wsj.com/articles/poland-says-nie-to-another-nordic-nato-chief-splitting-alliance-f5832e4d?mod=e2tw
https://www.ft.com/content/06cecc4d-f24d-48f6-8051-10847f33206c


In other news, Social Democrat MP Mette Gjerskov has passed away. The 56-year old has suffered from neuritis for several months, and has been on sick leave since February. Gjerskov had been a MP since 2005, and reached the pinnacle of her career in becoming Minister for Food, Agriculture and Fisheries in the Thorning-Schmidt cabinet in 2011. She lost the position in a 2013 reshuffle, and then after Frederiksen became leader, Gjerskov was relegated to a position without much influence. She was a part of the furthest left wing in the party on issues of immigration, and therefore even publicly opposed some of the policies now favoured by Frederiksen and most of the party.
Tanja Larsson, who has been her stand-in so far, will take over her seat permanently now.

Ex-DPP MP and leadership candidate Martin Henriksen has joined New Right. This seems mostly like an act of revenge against Messerschmidt after losing the 2022 leadership battle. Henriksen was a MP from 2005 - 19, and quite well-known as one of the most hard-line DPPers. But he never sounded like much of an economically rightwing type, so therefore hard to align with him joining New Right now. He is currently a councillor in Stevns municipality.

[Diouf]

The international top job decisions might further affect Danish politics. Now it's official that Danish EU Commissioner Margrethe Vestager is a candidate for the European Investment Bank top job. If she gets the position, she would take over from December/January, but could likely have to resign from her current position much sooner than that. And in that case, Denmark would have to nominate a new commissioner, at least for the rest of the term. And then it could likely be the same candidate as for the next term. I think it could be a bit hard to come up with a candidate strong enough to take over Vestager's job; I'm guessing von der Leyen would prefer a reshuffle and then a new Danish commissioner in a lower-ranked job.

https://www.ft.com/content/abbe9cad-2cd1-4015-88fb-ff80145acbab

[Diouf]

Higher education slashed to fund increased spending on vocational and welfare educations

The government has reached an education deal with SPP, Denmark Democrats, Liberal Alliance and the Conservatives. The agreement cuts spending on universities in a number of ways. In terms of bachelor degrees, the intake of students will be cut by 8% from 2025. The cut will take place on studies with high unemployment (i.e. primarily humanities). In terms of the master's degrees, 10% of them are cut down from 2 years to 1,25 year while another 20% of them will become business masters, which are meant to be taken while working and with the courses usually spread out over a longer period. The business masters will also be shaped to help attract international labour with a goal of 50% foreign workers in these degrees. These master changes will be phased in from 2028 - 2032.
The funds from higher education will primarily be used to boost welfare educations (nurse, teacher, pedagogues, social workers) and vocational edcuations, while a minor share will go to increase the school budgets.

https://twitter.com/UFM_MIN/status/1673653938631966722

[Diouf]

Broad majority agrees road towards 2% GDP spend on defence

The government has made a new defence agreement with the SPP, Denmark Democrats, Liberal Alliance, Conservatives, Social Liberals, DPP and New Right. The agreement states that Denmark should reach 2% of GDP spending on defence in 2030 at latest. This means 18.6 billion DKK additional spending on defence in 2030. The funds come from the state coffers; the deal does not include any new saving measures, although of course abolishing the Great Prayer Day earlier this year was largely done with reference to additional funds for the defence. The deal sets out three key priorities for the Danish defence: Protecting the realm through improved surveillance and patrols, cooperation and security in the Baltic Sea area and efforts to fight terrorism and manage migration streams in hot spots around the world. The deal is otherwise more of an overall strategic framework for the Danish defence until 2033, with several more specific deals being agreed during the coming months and years.

https://twitter.com/CasperDall/status/1674159511718834177

[Diouf]

While the mature grown-up parties have been busy negotiating agreements, the Alternative have had it's own big internal discussions. The fusion with the Vegan Party helped the party unite the green voices before the 2022 election, and secure the party crossing the threshold. But now the differences between the two parts are creating conflicts. Neatly summarized in a recent milk spat.

At the yearly democracy summit in Bornholm, the Alternative tent had a fridge with different products for the party representatives. There were of course a lot of oat milk in that fridge, but there was also a regular cow milk. This caused a lot of discussions in the party. There were reports of several heated spats about the cow milk, and the leader of the party secretariat had to write in their closed Facebook group:
"Dear everyone, I was responsible for the tent at Folkemødet. I didn't buy the milk, but I put it in my coffee several times and was responsible for it not being removed. I am extremely happy that you from the old Vegan Party are pushing the rest of us from the old Alternative, when it comes to e.g. purchase of cow's milk. On the other hand, I am extremely sad that several of our volunteers at Folkemødet tell me that they have felt violently overwhelmed in regards to the one cow's milk among the four cardboards of plant milk. I don't know who did it - but verbal boundaries were clearly crossed"


https://www.dr.dk/nyheder/politik/konflikt-om-en-liter-komaelk-udstiller-vegansk-utilfredshed-i-alternativet

[President Punxsutawney Phil]

While the mature grown-up parties have been busy negotiating agreements, the Alternative have had it's own big internal discussions. The fusion with the Vegan Party helped the party unite the green voices before the 2022 election, and secure the party crossing the threshold. But now the differences between the two parts are creating conflicts. Neatly summarized in a recent milk spat.

At the yearly democracy summit in Bornholm, the Alternative tent had a fridge with different products for the party representatives. There were of course a lot of oat milk in that fridge, but there was also a regular cow milk. This caused a lot of discussions in the party. There were reports of several heated spats about the cow milk, and the leader of the party secretariat had to write in their closed Facebook group:
"Dear everyone, I was responsible for the tent at Folkemødet. I didn't buy the milk, but I put it in my coffee several times and was responsible for it not being removed. I am extremely happy that you from the old Vegan Party are pushing the rest of us from the old Alternative, when it comes to e.g. purchase of cow's milk. On the other hand, I am extremely sad that several of our volunteers at Folkemødet tell me that they have felt violently overwhelmed in regards to the one cow's milk among the four cardboards of plant milk. I don't know who did it - but verbal boundaries were clearly crossed"


https://www.dr.dk/nyheder/politik/konflikt-om-en-liter-komaelk-udstiller-vegansk-utilfredshed-i-alternativet

Lol.
You can't accuse them of being a party without character...

[Diouf]

The relationship with Muslim countries have received a lot of coverage in recent days after another set of Quran burnings, and angry reactions from The Organisation of Islamic Cooperation. Foreign Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen has gone very much in the direction of appeasement, now culminating with a proposal to restrict some of the Quran burnings. In a recent press release, it is stated that: "The Danish government will therefore explore the possibility of intervening in special situations where, for instance, other countries, cultures, and religions are being insulted, and where this could have significant negative consequences for Denmark, not least with regard to security. This must of course be done within the framework of the constitutionally protected freedom of expression and in a manner that does not change the fact that freedom of expression in Denmark has very broad scope.".

Mette Frederiksen has barely commented on the issue, and the Liberals are completely silent while they await Ellemann's return next week. It would surprise me a lot if not several/all of the parties to the right of the Liberals will make a big deal out of this, potentially even with a vote of no confidence about Løkke. He would of course survive such a vote with support from the government and likely the Red Bloc parties, but it would put some pressure on the Liberals, where several MPs can't be happy with this development.

[JimJamUK]

Mette Frederiksen has barely commented on the issue, and the Liberals are completely silent while they await Ellemann's return next week. It would surprise me a lot if not several/all of the parties to the right of the Liberals will make a big deal out of this, potentially even with a vote of no confidence about Løkke. He would of course survive such a vote with support from the government and likely the Red Bloc parties, but it would put some pressure on the Liberals, where several MPs can't be happy with this development.

Which Red parties would even vote confidence in him? SF have been very critical of these proposals and I doubt EL would back a minister of the current government. I don’t know about The Alternative. I suppose RV would if you count them as ‘Red’.

[Diouf]

Mette Frederiksen has barely commented on the issue, and the Liberals are completely silent while they await Ellemann's return next week. It would surprise me a lot if not several/all of the parties to the right of the Liberals will make a big deal out of this, potentially even with a vote of no confidence about Løkke. He would of course survive such a vote with support from the government and likely the Red Bloc parties, but it would put some pressure on the Liberals, where several MPs can't be happy with this development.

Which Red parties would even vote confidence in him? SF have been very critical of these proposals and I doubt EL would back a minister of the current government. I don’t know about The Alternative. I suppose RV would if you count them as ‘Red’.

Yeah, I actually thought at least Social Liberals and SPP might back the government on this, but so far all the opposition parties have come out against it, although with the Social Liberals being prepared "listen to what the government has to say". Only the Alternative hasn't commented yet, as far as I've seen.

But yeah, you are right. The blue parties could probably make a vote of no confidence more neutral, and not tie it directly to this question to get maximum support. But so far there isn't even talk about about such a vote.

And perhaps we already have the first Liberal MP coming out against it. Kim Valentin on Twitter quoted a user saying "Burning books makes the free public debate stupid. A ban on burning books makes the free public debate impossible", and says that was a very good quote which encapsulates freedom of speech to him.

[JimJamUK]

Yeah, I actually thought at least Social Liberals and SPP might back the government on this, but so far all the opposition parties have come out against it, although with the Social Liberals being prepared "listen to what the government has to say". Only the Alternative hasn't commented yet, as far as I've seen.

But yeah, you are right. The blue parties could probably make a vote of no confidence more neutral, and not tie it directly to this question to get maximum support. But so far there isn't even talk about about such a vote.

And perhaps we already have the first Liberal MP coming out against it. Kim Valentin on Twitter quoted a user saying "Burning books makes the free public debate stupid. A ban on burning books makes the free public debate impossible", and says that was a very good quote which encapsulates freedom of speech to him.

I’m not too surprised about SF, they take a principled progressive position in favour of freedom of speech and the right to criticise religion/human rights abusers. EL were a bit more unclear given their more politically correct view of offending minorities, but the threat of limiting the right to criticise foreign governments has obviously alienated them as well. I’ve just read the Alternative support some sort of ban, so they seem the most favourable towards the government’s position.