Danish government negotiations

A fateful meeting for Danish politics: “Now Løkke must confess his colours”

At 4:30 pm this afternoon, Denmark’s political future could be decided, Danish media reports.

Then, the wave-maker Lars Løkke Rasmussen, leader of the Moderates, and the Liberal Party’s counterpart Troels Lund Poulsen will meet. The Moderates will then announce whether they want to be a supporting party for a bourgeois government consisting of the Liberal Party, the Liberal Alliance and the Danish Democrats.

If the answer is yes, it means that Denmark has a new government – ​​eight weeks after the election was decided. If the answer is no, new rounds of soundings await.

– Now Løkke must confess his colours. With his bourgeois background, he should of course join the bourgeois bloc, says the leader of the Danish Democrats, Inger Støjberg, to Danmarks Radio ahead of the meeting.

In exchange for Løkke's support, the bourgeois parties have offered the Moderates great political influence. An offer that Løkke has dismissed as a "test balloon" that cannot fly. 

Danish message: Will not support new right-wing government

Vågmästare Lars Løkke Rasmussen does not intend to support a new Danish right-wing government, he says according to TV2 after Friday's meeting with Venstre leader Troels Lund Poulsen.

The proposal was that Venstre, Conservative and Liberal alliance would form a minority government, but the Moderates do not intend to support that, says Løkke Rasmussen.

Venstre leader Troels Lund Poulsen, who attended the meeting, has not yet commented.

Lars Løkke Rasmussen is critical of Venstre's inability to imagine a center-right government.

– We can conclude that Troels Lund has not been able or willing to be involved in the formation of such a government

According to DR, it is likely that Lars Løkke Rasmussen himself or the Social Democrats leader Mette Frederiksen will be given the task of probing going forward.

Quick criticism of Løkke Rasmussen: “Disappointment”

The Danish right-wing parties are reacting with disappointment that the wave-maker Lars Løkke Rasmussen, leader of the Moderates, does not intend to support a bourgeois government consisting of the Left, Conservatives and Liberal alliance.

“Civil-minded people lost big tonight,” writes Conservatives group leader Mette Abildgaard in a post on X.

The Danish Democrats are reacting in a similar way.

“A disappointment that Lars Løkke is turning his back on the possibility of a blue government, and is now turning his back on cooperation with the far left,” writes party leader Inger Støjberg.