The massive demonstrations will not have changed anything. The Danish Parliament on Tuesday adopted a controversial plan to abolish a public holiday in order to finance the defense budget, in the midst of the war in Ukraine. 95 Folketing MPs voted in favor of the project and 68 against, after several weeks of an unusual social revolt against the government’s idea.
The left-right coalition, led by Social Democrat Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen, had announced its intention to abolish the religious holiday known as the Great Day of Prayer, observed since the 17th century.
In this usually very consensual country, nearly 50,000 people had demonstrated in early February against the project, without bringing the executive to revise its copy.
2% of GDP by 2030
The government intends to use the money thus generated to increase the defense budget up to the NATO target of 2% of GDP by 2030, instead of 2033 as previously planned. According to him, the acceleration of the timetable is necessary because of the invasion of Ukraine by Russia a year ago.
“I don’t think it’s a problem to have to work an extra day,” explained Mette Frederiksen. “We have to face huge expenses for defense and security, for health, psychiatry and green transformation”, she justified during her general policy speech. “And there is no financial leeway”.