COPENHAGEN, April 24 – Talks on forming a new Danish government are in stalemate one month on from the country’s parliamentary election, slowing decision-making amid efforts to resolve a crisis in ties with U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration over Greenland.
Caretaker Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen, armed with a royal mandate, is leading coalition talks among the 12 parties in parliament but has so far only won support from left-wing groups, which is not enough to secure a parliamentary majority.
Frederiksen’s centrist coalition lost its majority in the March 24 election as voters revolted over a cost-of-living crisis, although her Social Democratic Party remains the biggest group in parliament with 38 out of 179 seats.
“There is no end date to the negotiations (on a new government), this must take the time that it takes,” Frederiksen told reporters late on Thursday during an EU summit in Cyprus.
The centrist Moderates Party and the right-wing Liberal Party, both members of Frederiksen’s outgoing coalition, have so far rejected the idea of relying on far-left parties to secure a majority.
While Frederiksen’s government stays until a new cabinet is appointed, it has limited decision-making powers at a time when it must also handle pressure from Trump to take over Greenland, which is part of the kingdom of Denmark.
Denmark, Greenland and the U.S. launched diplomatic talks to resolve the crisis in January but the conflict flared again earlier this month when Trump in a social media post called the island he covets a “BIG, POORLY RUN, PIECE OF ICE”, drawing a rebuke from Greenland’s prime minister.
DEAL STILL ‘FAR AWAY’
Commenting on the coalition efforts, Moderates Party leader Lars Lokke Rasmussen told TV2 on Thursday that a deal remained “far away”, while Conservative Party leader Mona Juul said Frederiksen should no longer be leading the negotiations.
“With the results we have seen from the current royal investigator, I believe that the baton should be passed on,” Juul told TV2 on Friday, referring to Frederiksen’s formal role of leading the talks.
While talks are mostly taking place behind closed doors, it seems likely that Frederiksen will have to abandon her campaign pledge to levy a wealth tax on Denmark’s richest citizens.
“There’s not a majority for the economic policy that (Frederiksen) wanted,” said Andreas Thyrring, a partner at Ulveman & Borsting, a public affairs advisory firm.
The prime minister must thus either give up key parts of her agenda or pass the role of forming a government to Rasmussen or Liberal Party leader Troels Lund Poulsen, Thyrring said. REUTERS