Denmark – First Woman MP, ‘Green’ ministers

Thorning-Schmidt (l), Søvndal (r)

With the left having won the elections in Denmark on September 15, the right wing, xenophobic era that started in 2001 with Pia Kjærsgaard’s nationalist Danish People’s Party supporting the conservative government, has come to an end. Helle Thorning-Schmidt, leader of the Social Democrats since 2005, will most probably be appointed Prime Minister of a coalition of the first left-wing government since 2001.

Of that coalition the Socialist People’s Party (SF) will be part, although it lost 8 of its 23 seats. « This is a historic step », Villy Søvndal, leader of the party that is an observer in the EGP, said when hearing the news. « For the first time we can sit at the negotiation table and present and defend our policies. » 

The new government is likely to choose a moderate left course. Thorning-Schmidt, who leads the party since 2005 and will be the first women MP in her country’s history, has moved her party closer to the centre.

The maintenance of the welfare state and tax rises she campaigned for, will probably get the support from SF – although the radical left may object. A problem, however, might be immigration:  the Social Democrats want to keep more of the outgoing government’s restrictive policy than SF and the radicals would like to see. A similar problem can be the country’s military participation in Afghanistan and Libya, which the social democrats support.