The leader of the liberals (Venstre) is back after several months of being on sick leave due to stress. He will return to his previous position as Minister of Defence. Several local leaders from Venstre are worried that he is returning with a very heavy daily agenda and might not take it well.
- He is accused of misleading the Parliament in January when he rushed a weapons acquisition from the Israeli weapons manufacturer Elbit Systems in value of 1.7 billion DKK. There were three issues there: the weapons manufacturer dropped a lawsuit against Denmark before the weapons order; the Parliament was wrongly informed that the deadline to accept the offer was the end of January instead of the end of June; other weapons producers didn’t have the chance to bid.
- He needs to lead the discussions on how the 143 billion DKK approved to be invested in the military over the next ten years should be spent. Together, as a package, there are discussions about conscription (should it be mandatory for women? f.ex.).
- He also needs to address the fall of liberals in the opinion polls and make a tour around the country in order to meet the local liberal leaders and reassure them.
