Weekly political overview
Driving while high with laughing gas will soon become illegal if the proposal from the Ministry of Transport is passed. Possession of laughing gas in the public space has become illegal since July last year, and background checks have been introduced for customers that want to buy more than 17 grams at once.
- The lungs and airways can be damaged by the pressure from the gas bottle, and eventually you can lose consciousness.
11% fewer cows and pigs in Denmark once the green tripartite agreement is implemented. However, the impact will be different across Denmark. Some municipalities will have to reduce as much as 74% of their cows and pigs. The farmers association (part of the tripartite agreement) disagrees with the numbers presented and says that it will be possible to more or less maintain the stock of animals even if 400,000 hectares of agricultural land is transformed into forests.
25 out of the 98 municipalities do not have a support system for veteran soldiers, and the ones that do vary greatly in quality of service delivered. Several parties want to propose a law to introduce an obligation for municipalities to hire a veteran coordinator that can support veterans to reintegrate in society.
Dansk Folkeparti declared war on Moderaterne. The leader of the party, Morten Messerschmidt, declared that he will do everything in his power to keep Lars Løkke Rasmussen and the Moderaterne away from power. As we can imagine, this declaration has triggered anger with the other “blue” parties as they wish for a potential right-wing government after 2026, and creating one without Moderaterne will be close to impossible.
Focus
- Government parties: Socialdemokratiet (Social Democrats) 19.6% (+2.3%*); Venstre (Liberals) 11.1% (+2.2%); Moderaterne (Social Liberals) 4.1% (-2.6%) = 34.8%
- Red Opposition: SF (Socialists) 16.9% (+1.1%); Enhedslisten 5.4% (Red-Green Alliance) (-2.2%); Radikale Venstre (Social Liberals) 3.8% (-1.3%); Alternativet (Greens) 2% (-0.3%) = 28.1%
- Blue Opposition: Liberal Alliance (Libertarians) 13.1% (-0.7%); Danmarksdemokraterne (Nationalist Populists) 10.9% (+1.2%); Konservative (Conservatives) 6.6% (+0.3%); Dansk Folkeparti (Nationalist Conservative) 4.6% (no change) = 35.2%
*The percentages show a change since the latest poll in August 2024.
Moderaterne, a relatively new party that participated in its first parliamentary elections barely two years ago, is struggling. Recent scandals left a significant dent on the party’s reputation, a fact reflected by the declining support in the opinion polls. For us, as internationals, this is not great. In the government, they have been the party that pushed the other two government parties to dial back the nationalist undertones and embrace a more positive narrative towards internationals.
- The worst thing that can happen for a Danish party is to have people be “embarrassed” that they voted for them. It happened to Alternativet in the past and Dansk Folkeparti recently; internal scandals simply destroyed their reputations.
Public debate on the rule of order in schools: The Ministry of Education has presented eight changes to be discussed by the people before they are proposed for approval. Why the reform proposal? To reduce bullying, vandalism, and violence in schools. Among the changes you can find:
- Punishment options are expanded – students can be required to spend time in “school service” doing, for example, cleaning tasks.
- Students can get suspended from school twice a year for a maximum of 10 days at once.
- In emergency cases, a special pedagogue can be assigned to a “problem student” to correct their path.
- It will be easier to transfer “problem students” from one school to another.
- Parents of “problem students” will also receive mandatory tasks from school.
The students association (Danske Skoleelever) and the teachers association (Danmarks Lærerforening) find the increase in punishment the wrong way forward. They would prefer an increased focus on prevention and more financial support for the schools.
