Danish party leaders on Wednesday presented the agreement between the Social Democrats, Moderates and Liberals that will put in place a new three-party government. We break down the key policy positions that form the government platform.
Farewell to popular public holiday
In a decision which seems unlikely to be popular amongst the general public, the new government proposes removing a public holiday from the national calendar.
The holiday, Great Prayer Day (Great Day of Prayer) has existed since the 1600s and falls on the fourth Sunday after Easter, giving everyone who works in Denmark an extra long spring weekend.
The new government says it wants to use money saved by scrapping the holiday to increase spending on defence.
READ ALSO: Store Bededag: Why does Denmark have annual ‘Prayer Day’ holiday?
New target for climate neutrality
In what Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen calls an “ambitious climate act”, the new government wants to make Denmark climate-neutral by 2045 and reduce CO2 emissions nationally by 110 percent compared to 1990 levels.
Both targets set higher criteria than existing climate goals.
The government will also pursue the existing policy of introducing a CO2 tax on agriculture and the aviation industry.
Reform of tax, including top tax bracket
Several tax reforms are to be introduced which the government says will benefit people at both the top and bottom of the income scale.
A tax deduction for people in full time work, the employment deduction, will be bolstered, as will a special deduction for single parents.
Cuts to the top tax bracket, top tax, are also forthcoming in a sign of concessions to the Liberals, traditionally a party which favours low taxes.
The top tax bracket will be given two additional levels, meaning that the tax rate will be more graduated to increase as earnings go up.
We recently looked at how the existing top tax bracket works.
Plans for Rwanda asylum facility reworded
The former Social Democratic minority government had a long-term objective of moving part of Denmark’s refugee system offshore to a non-EU country – confirmed in 2021 as Rwanda.
Although the target has been kept, the new government appears to have adjusted its focus, saying a centre for asylum seekers outside of Europe should be established under the auspices of the EU or in partnership with other countries.
“The ambition related to an asylum centre is that we create a new asylum system. It is our clear aim that this will be set up – naturally, we want to do it in partnership with other countries or the EU,” Frederiksen said.
However, she added that such a centre could “ultimately” still be the result of a bilateral agreement between Denmark and Rwanda.
READ ALSO: Could a centrist government change Danish asylum plan?
University students face cuts in education reform
The new government plans to spend more money on vocational education programmes for their improvement, but will reduce the length of around half of university Master’s degree programmes, so that they take one year, not two, to complete.
Rules related to the state student grant, SU, will be tightened so that the right to the grant becomes more limited and available for a shorter period related to the time spent in education.
READ ALSO: Denmark plans to shorten university courses to save money
New distribution model for upper secondary school students
A new model to redistribute upper secondary school (gymnasium) students in accordance with their parents’ incomes in parts of Denmark has been scrapped.
The plan had been put in place by the previous government with the objective of ensuring an even mix of students with different backgrounds.
It was strongly opposed by conservative parties, notably the Liberals, and will be replaced by a new model based on transport time.
Cost of living help
The government will put together an “inflation package” aimed at helping people struggling with high living costs caused by inflation.
This will include a new tax-free 5,000 kroner payment to senior citizens who receive the senior citizen check benefit. That is in addition to an already-agreed 5,000 kroner.
The rest of the cost-of-living package will focus on people who face drastic energy bill increases – primarily homes with independent gas heaters.
A pool of 300 million kroner will also be diverted to help vulnerable families and 50 million kroner to charities which provide help to the vulnerable at Christmas.
Family reunification
The incoming government could break with years of strict immigration laws by easing family reunification rules.
Specifically, the new government wants to change language criteria applied in family reunification cases.
It also wants to halve the so-called “bank guarantee” (bank guarantee), a requirement which demands couples deposit a large sum of money with municipalities while the foreign partner is granted residence under family reunification rules.
We have more detail on this in this article.