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Europe
Denmark |
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Last reviewed: 27 June 2008 |
Country information
POLITICS
Denmark is a constitutional monarchy: Queen Margrethe II has ruled since 1972. The 179 members of the Parliament (Folketing) are elected by proportional representation with a 2% threshold. Two are elected from the Faroe Islands and two from Greenland. The electoral system usually leads to a large number of parties being represented in Parliament, and to coalition governments.
The Social Democrats have dominated post-war politics, but the right-of-centre parties governed from 1982 until January 1993 and have been in power since 2001.
The Faroe Islands and Greenland enjoy home rule, with the Danish Government represented locally by High Commissioners. These home-rule governments are responsible for most domestic affairs, but foreign relations, monetary affairs, and defence fall to the Danish Government.
Danish Foreign Ministry website
Recent Political Developments
On 14 November 2007 Anders Fogh Rasmussen was re-elected Prime Minister for a historic third term. His minority Liberal/Conservative coalition was first elected in November 2001. It holds 63 seats out of 179, and benefits from non-Cabinet support on most issues from the Danish People’s Party.
In early 2006 Denmark became the focus of world attention when angry protests broke out in the Middle East in reaction to cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed. The cartoons had originally been published in the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten in September 2005 and were subsequently republished by various European media outlets. Though most protests were peaceful, violence flared in some instances and the Embassies in Syria and Lebanon were set on fire. Danish exports to the Middle East were badly affected.
Since then, the Danish Government has devoted considerable efforts to effective engagement with the Islamic world, hosting a number of conferences and events encouraging mutual understanding. But the foiled assassination in February 2008 of the one of the original cartoonists, sparked the Danish media collectively to reprint the drawings in protest and in support of freedom of expression. So far international reactions have been muted compared to 2006. But there have been some street protests and threats countries to boycott Danish products in Islamic countries, particularly Sudan.
European affairs
Denmark was a founder member of EFTA but, like the UK, quickly applied to join the (then) Common Market. It finally joined in 1973 but its membership has always been the subject of domestic political controversy. In June 1992 the Danes voted against the Maastricht Treaty in a referendum, but voted in favour after a second referendum in May 1993, having been given 4 important exemptions (or 'opt-outs') to common EU policies in the areas of common defence, the single currency, EU citizenship, and Justice and Home Affairs Cupertino. The Danes also voted against joining the Euro in September 2000.
