Denmark’s new government, the country’s first left-right coalition since the 1970s, has got off to an unpopular start with the announcement that one of its earliest policy proposals is to scrap a bank holiday.
The Social Democrat prime minister, Mette Frederiksen, appointed right-leaning political rivals as key ministers in her new reform-oriented government on Thursday, after close-run parliamentary elections last month.
Frederiksen’s centre-left party won more than a quarter of votes in the 1 November election and an absolute majority in parliament with her left-leaning allies, but chose instead to form a rare coalition across the political divide.
She argues that her coalition with the centre-right Liberal party and the centrist Moderates, which has a working majority in the 179-seat parliament, is in the interests of the country given the dangers of the current global political and economic situation.
However, more attention has so far been focused on her new government’s decision to include in its initial policy agreement a proposal to remove from the calendar one of Denmark’s 11 national holidays, Store Bededag, or Great Prayer Day.
Introduced as a public holiday in 1686, the Great Prayer Day falls on the fourth Friday after Easter, giving people an additional long spring weekend. Along with Ascension Thursday, it is also a popular day for church confirmation ceremonies.
The government says scrapping the holiday will increase economic activity and productivity, helping it to achieve a coalition pledge to reach Nato’s target of 2% of GDP on defence spending three years ahead of schedule.
The move has been criticised by the far left and far right, as well as by church and business communities. The Nye Borgerlige (New Right) party threatened to trigger a referendum, saying the holiday was “associated with important traditions”.
The Red-Green Alliance said the “really odd” decision would result in hardworking Danes having to “pay with their well-earned holiday so that those who have the most can get high-bracket income and corporation tax cuts”.
The Danish Association of Priests complained that scrapping the Great Prayer Day would leave both the clergy and people who are waiting for confirmation “in a logistical nightmare” as confirmation days are often planned more than a year in advance.
“There are a lot of people who will have to restructure their plans,” the head of the association, Pernille Vigsø Bagge, told the news agency Ritzau. “People book restaurants, catering companies, tents and equipment up to five years ahead.”
The dean of Roskilde Cathedral, Anne-Sophie Olander, told TV2 that religious holidays were a time “for prayer and reflection”, while Iver Hansen said his catering business would lose 20,000-30,000 Danish kroner (£2,350-£3,520) if the holiday was scrapped.
Frederiksen, who agreed this week to form the coalition after calls were dropped for an independent investigation into her role in an illegal order to cull the country’s mink herd during the Covid pandemic, was unrepentant.
“There is war in Europe, and we need to strengthen our defences … and that will require everyone to contribute a little more,” the prime minister said.
Members of the new government include the two-time former prime minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen, who led the Liberal party before leaving to found the Moderates, who has been named foreign minister.
The current Liberal leader, Jakob Ellemann-Jensen, is deputy prime minister and defence minister. The new cabinet, made up of 15 men and eight women, includes 11 Social Democrats, seven Liberals and five Moderates.
