New laws
👶 Adoption under scrutiny and reform. Denmark is launching a full investigation into all international adoptions from 1964 to 2016 to uncover the legal, financial, and social conditions under which they took place and to support adoptees in reclaiming their stories. The government and several parties will invest nearly 70 million DKK in efforts including legal advice, psychological support, and embassy-based help in South Korea, India, Vietnam, and Lebanon. At the same time, a task force will explore how (or if) international adoptions should continue in the future.
☣️ Citizens can now help expose illegal asbestos work. Starting July 1, private individuals can give permission for their videos and photos to be used by the Danish Working Environment Authority in cases involving hazardous conditions, especially illegal asbestos work. A 2023 case where such evidence was blocked due to confidentiality sparked the change. With this new rule, complainants can still choose to remain anonymous, but those who opt in give authorities stronger tools to protect health at work.
Law proposals
📚 No more niqabs or prayer rooms in schools? On Constitution Day, PM Mette Frederiksen announced new steps to limit religious expression in education. She wants to ban the niqab in classrooms and remove prayer rooms from schools and universities, arguing they enable social control and female oppression. The prayer room ban won’t be a law, but ministers will push institutions to comply. The proposals follow recommendations from the “Forgotten Women’s Rights” Commission.
🗳️ Can Danes abroad vote again? Government says maybe. Over 250,000 Danes live abroad, and anyone who lives outside Denmark for more than two years automatically loses the right to vote in national elections. Now the government is setting up a new expert committee to explore whether this rule can be changed without amending the Constitution. The goal is to finish the report by the end of 2025.
Political scene
📉 Government still stuck in the grey zone. A new poll shows Denmark’s ruling coalition, Socialdemokraterne (Social Democrats), Venstre (Liberals), and Moderaterne (Social Liberals), has lost serious ground since the 2022 election, now polling at just 34.6% combined, down from 50.1%. That would give them only 63 seats in Parliament, far from the 89 needed for a majority. While minor bumps have appeared in other polls, the overall voter exodus hasn’t reversed.
- Meanwhile, DF (Nationalist Conservative) is making a comeback. The party now polls at 7.6%, nearly triple its 2022 result of 2.6% and a strong jump from 4.4% in May.
🛡️ From budget hawk to defense hawk. Denmark is leaving the EU’s “frugal club” behind. PM Mette Frederiksen says Europe’s top priority must now be rearmament, not saving cents. With war in Ukraine and rising uncertainty about US support under Trump, Frederiksen wants a stronger EU budget focused on defense. As Denmark takes over the EU presidency on July 1, she promises to lead with pragmatism, not penny-pinching. “If we can’t defend ourselves, it’s game over,” she warned.
🇪🇺 Denmark’s EU presidency to focus on Ukraine and unity. From July 1, Denmark takes over the rotating EU presidency, and expectations are high. European Parliament President Roberta Metsola praised Denmark as pragmatic and consensus-driven, predicting a “results-oriented and successful” term. At a joint press conference, PM Mette Frederiksen made clear that boosting support for Ukraine will be the top priority, calling European security the most urgent issue.
🛡️ NATO agrees on a historic 5% defense plan. NATO defense ministers have agreed on a landmark plan to ramp up military readiness across Europe, including more soldiers, missiles, and air defense. All 32 member states will now commit to reaching 5% of GDP for defense spending: 3.5% for military capabilities and 1.5% for broader security like infrastructure and cybersecurity.
Read more: Could your company be a supplier to the Danish Armed Forces?
Read more: The Danish Home Guard: Yes you can volunteer as an international!
🪖 Denmark plans mass mobilization force. Denmark is preparing to build a new mobilization force made up of thousands of former conscripts, according to a Constitution Day announcement by Defense Minister Troels Lund Poulsen. The idea is to reactivate trained citizens in case of war or crisis, mirroring systems in countries like Finland, where over 870,000 are ready to step in. While details remain under wraps until talks with other parties, the minister made it clear: Denmark needs far more bodies in uniform.
🧠 Romania’s cancelled election is a warning to the rest of us. Romania’s 2024 presidential vote was overturned after a foreign disinformation campaign helped a little-known, pro-Putin candidate surge on TikTok. But the real lesson isn’t about Romania. It’s about how unprepared democracies still are. NATO experts say authorities must react within 24 hours, not after results roll in. Waiting fuels distrust. The attack used AI-generated content, coordinated fake accounts, and paid influencers —tools that are only getting better. Latvia is already setting up an AI lab to simulate how these campaigns work to defend against them.
