The Great Nordic Thread
       |           

Welcome, Guest. Please login or register.
Did you miss your activation email?
March 19, 2024, 02:01:52 AM
News: Election Simulator 2.0 Released. Senate/Gubernatorial maps, proportional electoral votes, and more - Read more

  Talk Elections
  General Politics
  International General Discussion (Moderators: afleitch, Hash)
  The Great Nordic Thread
« previous next »
Pages: 1 2 3 4 5 6 [7] 8 9 10 11 12 ... 50
Poll
Question: Will Iceland and Norway ever join the EU?
#1
Iceland, but not Norway
 
#2
Norway, but not Iceland
 
#3
Both
 
#4
None of them
 
Show Pie Chart
Partisan results

Total Voters: 178

Author Topic: The Great Nordic Thread  (Read 200693 times)
Lurker
Jr. Member
***
Posts: 765
Norway
Show only this user's posts in this thread
« Reply #150 on: December 18, 2013, 11:20:30 AM »
« edited: December 18, 2013, 11:29:18 AM by Lurker »

First Gentleman of Denmark, Stephen Kinnock is thinking of running for the UK parliament in the Aberavon constituency, a historically ultra-safe Labour seat where the incumbent is retiring.

Interesting timing: elections due in both the UK and Denmark in 2015 (probably sooner for Denmark). Maybe the couple have got Helle down as a one-term wonder.

http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2013/12/17/helle-thorning-schmidt-stephen-kinnock_n_4461847.html

Nah, not unless the polls change further in the government's favour. Early elections are rarely called if a government is trailing badly.

As for the last sentence in your post, I think that's probably correct. Though they have apparently often been a "long-distance" couple, so even if HTS were to win, it might not be much of a problem.
Logged
politicus
Atlas Icon
*****
Posts: 10,174
Denmark


Show only this user's posts in this thread
« Reply #151 on: December 25, 2013, 04:21:39 PM »
« Edited: December 27, 2013, 09:02:31 PM by politicus »

Recently two young and prominent Danish SDs from the party's left wing, Peter Hummelgaard (ex SD youth league chairman) and Matthias Tesfaye (ex SPP deputy chairman with immigrant and working class background), claimed that SD and DPP should form a broad alliance which could form an alternative majority and be the axis Danish politics would resolve around. They where supported by several left wing MPs and councillors, but the party leadership (from the right wing) was not amused.

What is your take on this? Should SD give up on social liberal value politics and form alliance with right wing populists to defend the welfare state?

Is this an idea that's relevant in other European countries where SD left wingers/traditionalist are under pressure from their own ("neo-liberal" in their view) right wing? Or is it just because our "right wing" populists are so relatively leftist on welfare issues.

Tesfaye and Hummelgaard agree with DPP that:

- Danish food culture should be represented in all public institutions (yes, we do care about our pork roast and meatballs in Denmark..)
- It should not be voluntary for tenant associations to opt out of Danish TV-channels in their cable packages.
- Danish should be the dominant language everywhere in the public sphere. Other languages only  a supplement.
- Danish (ie Christian) festivals should be celebrated and not replaced by Muslim

Their reasoning:

"Danes are willing to pay taxes to a social model, which takes care of the sick, the elderly and socially vulnerable, but its a prerequisite that there is a social and cultural community in the population. Therefore all steps towards parallel societies is a direct threat to the welfare (state). Arab, Turkish and Somali culture should therefore not replace Danish culture, but supplement it.
Its a political job to make this distinction, so that the welfare state has strong cultural pillars and institutions. A job SD has had difficulties doing, but which we think the small miracle in Hvidovre (a working class municipality west of Copenhagen where SD held on to power after making a deal with DPP) can help us with".

Matthias Tesfaye:



Peter Hummelgaard Thomsen:



A plate of meatballs:



 


Logged
Franknburger
Jr. Member
***
Posts: 1,401
Germany


Show only this user's posts in this thread
« Reply #152 on: December 27, 2013, 06:39:23 PM »
« Edited: December 27, 2013, 06:44:26 PM by Franknburger »

First of all, politicus - Congratulations to your well-selected combination of photos!

I actually see some similarity to Germany, where the CDU is prepared to give in to most of the SPD´s requests related to welfare (minimum wage, rent control, etc.), as long as they can avoid accepting dual citizenship (held by 5.4% of Lübeck's population, though officially non-existing), and legalising gay marriage.
The language issue is a bit more problematic in Germany, as Danish has already been registered  with the EU as official minority language. Same with food - the list of traditional German food will most likely become slightly longer than the Danish one. Moreover, banning pizza, French fries, Gyros and Döner might ultimately turn out to be rather unpopular here...

What is the ecologists' position on this? Wouldn't promoting Danish food culture put even more pressure on the shrinking herring population in the Baltic Sea?

Hope you enjoyed your Christmas meat balls Our roasted goose was delicious.  
Logged
politicus
Atlas Icon
*****
Posts: 10,174
Denmark


Show only this user's posts in this thread
« Reply #153 on: December 27, 2013, 11:30:05 PM »


I actually see some similarity to Germany, where the CDU is prepared to give in to most of the SPD´s requests related to welfare (minimum wage, rent control, etc.), as long as they can avoid accepting dual citizenship (held by 5.4% of Lübeck's population, though officially non-existing), and legalising gay marriage.


There is a big difference between things like that coming from conservatives and from SD left wingers. Its the intra party aspect, where SD left wingers are marginalized by a dominant right wing, I find interesting. Is cooperation between "right wing" populists and SD left wingers  something we will see in the future, because those two groups are the only major groups outside of the neo-liberal consensus?
I think right wing populists are too genuinely rightist in most countries, but I was interested in your thoughts.
Logged
Franknburger
Jr. Member
***
Posts: 1,401
Germany


Show only this user's posts in this thread
« Reply #154 on: December 28, 2013, 09:24:34 AM »


I actually see some similarity to Germany, where the CDU is prepared to give in to most of the SPD´s requests related to welfare (minimum wage, rent control, etc.), as long as they can avoid accepting dual citizenship (held by 5.4% of Lübeck's population, though officially non-existing), and legalising gay marriage.


There is a big difference between things like that coming from conservatives and from SD left wingers. Its the intra party aspect, where SD left wingers are marginalized by a dominant right wing, I find interesting. Is cooperation between "right wing" populists and SD left wingers  something we will see in the future, because those two groups are the only major groups outside of the neo-liberal consensus?
I think right wing populists are too genuinely rightist in most countries, but I was interested in your thoughts.

Well, if you read the German grand coalition compromise the other way round, the SPD was prepared to concede on issues like dual citizenship, gay marriage and protecting privacy to get their social policy agenda through. They didn't have to revert to silly "food culture" arguments, though, because they knew Angela Merkel was populist enough to give in on issues that the majority of the electorate supported.

The Danish intra-party aspect is interesting and special, indeed. A similar debate took place within the SPD a few years ago, but it was triggered by a right-winger (read: fiscal conservative), namely Thilo Sarrazin. That debate had the "modernisation" and the "social justice" wings inside the SPD uniting against a common internal enemy. Ultimately, with the Grand Coalition, the "social justice" wing looks forward to achieving a good part of their objectives, while "modernisation" has mostly been postponed to 2017 at earliest.

As concerns other European countries, I could imagine Austria's and Italy's right wing populists being prepared for similar deals, but I doubt the political left there will make them an offer as generous as the current Danish one (well, in Italy, you never know...).

On a side note: In the "Danish municipal elections" thread, I noted a surprisingly high share of local candidates with migration background, across the whole political spectrum, which gave me the impression that integration is working quite well in Denmark (at least compared to Germany). So, what is this debate all about?
Logged
Lasitten
Rookie
**
Posts: 112
Finland


Political Matrix
E: -5.81, S: -4.00

Show only this user's posts in this thread
« Reply #155 on: January 12, 2014, 04:47:33 PM »

I think we have the same thing in Finland when the SDP is trying to get the conservative working class voters back from the right-wing populists by saying things like "when in Rome, act like a roman" and trying to avoid socially liberal themes like gender neutral marriage and immigration. This is of course more common among the old SDP actives than in the younger wing.
Logged
Diouf
Sr. Member
****
Posts: 2,494
Denmark
Show only this user's posts in this thread
« Reply #156 on: January 14, 2014, 12:44:02 PM »

Agreement on Train Fund

Persons in picture from left: Minister of Transport Pia Olsen Dyhr (SF), Social Democrat spokesperson on transport Rasmus Prehn,  DF spokesperson on transport Kim Christiansen,  Social Liberal spokesperson on transport Andreas Steenberg (the one to the right of those in the back), Enhedslisten spokesperson on transport Henning Hyllested.

Today the Danish Government, Enhedslisten and DF made an agreement on setting up a Train Fund which will spend 28,5 billion kroner (3,82 billion euro) on train projects over the next decade or so. The most important goal of the investment is the introduction of the so-called "hour-model" which will mean that it will only take one hour to travel from one of the four big cities to the next (Aalborg, Aarhus, Odense, Copenhagen). The agreement has been in the pipeline for a while, but disagreements about how the airport in Billund should be connected to the railway system held it back for a while. DF wanted a light railway line, while the others just wanted a normal railway system. In the agreement, it is not completely decided which it shall be, but it seems like DF has backed down.
The fund is financed by increasing taxes on some of the companies which are extracting oil and gas in the North Sea, so that all the companies are now following the same tax level. Venstre (Liberals), Conservatives, and Liberal Alliance are not a part of the agreement as they don't believe in the financing of the fund. They think the extra taxes will mean that some companies will stop their investments and extractions in the area, which means that the expected funds will not materialize and jobs will be lost.
Logged
ingemann
YaBB God
*****
Posts: 4,210


Show only this user's posts in this thread
« Reply #157 on: January 14, 2014, 01:42:36 PM »


I actually see some similarity to Germany, where the CDU is prepared to give in to most of the SPD´s requests related to welfare (minimum wage, rent control, etc.), as long as they can avoid accepting dual citizenship (held by 5.4% of Lübeck's population, though officially non-existing), and legalising gay marriage.


There is a big difference between things like that coming from conservatives and from SD left wingers. Its the intra party aspect, where SD left wingers are marginalized by a dominant right wing, I find interesting. Is cooperation between "right wing" populists and SD left wingers  something we will see in the future, because those two groups are the only major groups outside of the neo-liberal consensus?
I think right wing populists are too genuinely rightist in most countries, but I was interested in your thoughts.
The Danish intra-party aspect is interesting and special, indeed. A similar debate took place within the SPD a few years ago, but it was triggered by a right-winger (read: fiscal conservative), namely Thilo Sarrazin. That debate had the "modernisation" and the "social justice" wings inside the SPD uniting against a common internal enemy. Ultimately, with the Grand Coalition, the "social justice" wing looks forward to achieving a good part of their objectives, while "modernisation" has mostly been postponed to 2017 at earliest.

As a member of the Danish Social Democrats, I would say that the internal coalition in the party are relative stable at this point. Thorning, for all the bad things which can be said about her, have been quite good at rewarding the different fraction in the party, at the same time the mix of the fear of internal conflict so close to the next election, and the hope which came from the Løkke's problem with the GGGI (which have energised the Party), mean that the Social Democrats right now support her. In fact together with the improvement in the economy, the fact that she has more or less taken the power in the government back from the Social Liberals, mean that she has more backing now than any time since the election.

Quote
You must be logged in to read this quote.

DPP are quite different from most Far Right Parties in Europe, it's a very professional run party, there are few to no connections to the extreme right, and they keep their agreements. It make it hard to avoid making deals with them. The old Progress Party was more like other European Far Right parties, which was why it was kept outside influence.

Quote
You must be logged in to read this quote.

Danish municipalities have more power than the average European municipality, so it's more important position than in other countries, at the same time most Danish parties favour many personal votes in the election, while the municipalities are small enough that in most municipalities 150 personal votes are enough to break the party list and become 2 or 3 elected by a party. At the same time while fewer immigrants votes (30-40%), the ones who vote tend to vote personal on people they know (I have only anecdotal evidence for this). This mean that while there are fewer immigrants on the lists, they are more likely to be elected, especially among the bigger parties.

Of course some of the "immigrants" elected are not immigrants at all. In Lyngby-Taarbæk an Upper Class Conservative stronghold, they have elected Sofia Osmani. While her father was an Indian immigrants, she see herself as Danish, and while a few media have described her as coming from an immigrant background (which she objected to, this may seem weird when described in English, but it's just something lost in translation, not because she deny her father's foreign background), most media have ignored her foreign name.
Logged
ingemann
YaBB God
*****
Posts: 4,210


Show only this user's posts in this thread
« Reply #158 on: January 14, 2014, 02:03:29 PM »

I think we have the same thing in Finland when the SDP is trying to get the conservative working class voters back from the right-wing populists by saying things like "when in Rome, act like a roman" and trying to avoid socially liberal themes like gender neutral marriage and immigration. This is of course more common among the old SDP actives than in the younger wing.

While there have been some "discussion" among the Danish SDP about immigration, the whole gender neutrality discussion have died out in the party without further ado. SDP support women rights, but the whole gender neutrality from gender neutral marriage, gender neutral ID and the use of Hen (an artificial gender neutral first person pronoun created by the Swedes) are simply seen as non issues or a bad joke by the vast majority of the party. The big internal discussion about gender issues in the party have been about ban on prostitution and quotas for women in boards of directors.
Logged
politicus
Atlas Icon
*****
Posts: 10,174
Denmark


Show only this user's posts in this thread
« Reply #159 on: January 19, 2014, 07:21:20 PM »
« Edited: January 20, 2014, 06:15:36 AM by politicus »

Greenlandic Prime Minister Aleqa Hammond is in trouble since her Social Democratic party Siumuts former chairman Hans Enoksen (who was Prime Minister 2002-09) broke with the party a week ago and started getting signatures to get a new party on the ballot for the next election. Her majority is down to a paltry 16-15 which basically means anybody in her party or its Liberal/Unionist partner Atassut can blackmail her by threatening to cross over to Enoksen.

Enoksens excuse for quitting was that Hammonds life partner Tom Ostermann got a a cushy consultant job in the Ministry of Fishery, and even though Hammond sacrificed the Minister of Fishing Karl Lyberth (one of her closest allies in the party) it gave Enoksen the excuse he needed to jump ship. The old "village partisan" - who is famous for claiming he doesn't speak a word of Danish and is a former shopkeeper in a village of 50 in Northern Greenland - has been dissatisfied with not getting into the cabinet or becoming chairman of  parliament after Siumut regained power in 2013 after a 4 year break in their otherwise unbroken line of governments since Greenland got autonomy in 1979.

Enoksens time as Premier was marred with corruption and nepotism, but he is still widely popular in the small coastal settlements (bygder) where 15% of Greenlanders live. His new party is called Naleraq (guiding point) and has fishing rights for small fishermen, Greenlandization of society and larger investments in the periphery as their main rallying points. Since the centre/periphery cleavage is the most important in Greenlandic politics and the Inuit nationalists/populists in Partii Inuit are more or less falling apart after flip-flopping on abolishing the ban on uranium export Enoksen has a good chance of succeeding.

Observers speculate whether Hammond will go for a quick election before Enoksen is ready to do battle or if she will try to hang on to power as long as she can. Meanwhile the pressure from Hammonds critics to summon an extraordinary congress in Siumut is mounting all over the country. Something Hammond will try to avoid if at all possible.

Hammond and Ostermann.

Logged
Diouf
Sr. Member
****
Posts: 2,494
Denmark
Show only this user's posts in this thread
« Reply #160 on: January 28, 2014, 10:25:57 AM »

Enter Goldman Sachs, Exit SF (SPP)?

The current discussions about the state's pending sale of 19 percent of DONG Energy, Denmark's largest energy company, to the American investment bank Goldman Sachs have made discussions about SF's(SPP) presence in the government resurface. Tomorrow, the day before the Financial Committee will make the final decision on the sale, the party's parliamentary group and executive committee will have an extraordinary meeting to discuss whether the party should support the sale, and whether the party can continue in the government. The SF MP Karsten Hønge, who just entered parliament as a stand-in for Anne Baastrup who is on a leave of absence due to her role in the case which ended with the resignation of the Minister of Justice Morten Bødskov, said to Jyllands-Posten today: "We are on the edge, and bloody playing with our existence. As the situation has developed, I lean towards leaving the government". This is a quite extraordinary statement from a MP from a government party, but he has been a relatively outspoken critic of many of the government's decisions before entering parliament.

The Danish state currently owns 81 % of DONG Energy, but a sale of parts of DONG Energy has been on the agenda for a while. It was planned to happen in 2008 but to the unrest in the financial markets, the sale was postponed at the time. After a terrible 2012 result with a loss of 4 billion kr (0,54 euro), the company needed capital so the plans to sell parts of it were then restarted. A number of funds and investment banks made offers, and in September 2013 the Ministry of Finance reached an agreement for selling 21 % of the company to different investors; the large majority (19%) of this sale was to Goldman Sachs. The sale has been criticized from a number of sides, among them former Social Democrat PM Poul Nyrup Rasmussen and Enhedslisten. DF (DPP) originally supported the deal, but has now turned around completely and is opposed to the deal. The main points of criticism: Goldman Sachs played a big part in the financial crisis and ethically it would be wrong to do business with them, Goldman Sachs will buy the shares via companies in Luxembourg, Delaware and Cayman Islands to reduce the amount of tax they must pay in Denmark, Goldman Sachs will get a veto on changes to the company's overall strategy, and that the current environment is not a good one to sell in so a higher price could be achieved later. The government and Venstre (Liberals), the Conservatives and the Liberal Alliance support the deal.

With regards to SF, I think the party's top leadership, i.e. the ministers and a few others, will try to keep the party in the government, while a fairly great number of the regular members of the executive committee and the parliamentary group will be opposed to the sale, and might want to leave the government. I think they will end up staying in the government, but as the party leadership election in 2012 showed, it can be hard for outsiders to predict about the inner workings of the party.
Logged
Diouf
Sr. Member
****
Posts: 2,494
Denmark
Show only this user's posts in this thread
« Reply #161 on: January 29, 2014, 04:58:36 PM »
« Edited: January 29, 2014, 05:30:45 PM by Diouf »

SF accepted the sale in today's meeting. The Executive Committee voted on the deal; 10 were in favour, 7 against. One of those 7 was the deputy leader Peter Westermann, who was an outspoken Vilhelmsen-supporter in the leadership election. Due to the defeat in the vote, Westermann has now resigned from his position as deputy leader.

EDIT: Political and financial spokesperson Lisbeth Bech Poulsen has now resigned from her posts as well as she also belonged to the no-side. More resignations and perhaps even defections are probably to follow over the next days.
Logged
Diouf
Sr. Member
****
Posts: 2,494
Denmark
Show only this user's posts in this thread
« Reply #162 on: January 29, 2014, 07:07:55 PM »
« Edited: January 30, 2014, 03:36:02 AM by Diouf »

The evening ended in an almost farcical way. Enhedslisten has been able to move the case from the Financial Committee into the full Folketing by proposing a postponement of the sale. This will be voted on tomorrow morning before the vote in the Financial Committee confirming the sale. This means that it is no longer just interesting how SF's member of the Financial Committee will vote; all SF MPs have to make up their mind.

The extraordinary meeting today had lasted a long time, and for the last 1-2 hours there has been live television from the building where the meeting took place. We have watched all the Ministers, MPs and members of the Executive Committee leave the building, one by one and surrounded by journalists and cameras, and answering vaguely or doubtfully about how/whether they will vote on the Enhedslisten proposal, and whether the party will remain in the government. One of the last to leave was Minister of Transportation Pia Olsen Dyhr who stated that the party could not continue in government if anybody voted against the deal tomorrow; i.e. voting for Enhedslisten's proposal. I hope it all makes some sense, but it has been a quite chaotic meeting and process; a televised meltdown. To sum up, a few key figures in the party have already resigned from their posts and more will propably follow. Tomorrow, the main point of interest will probably be to see how many SF MPs attend the parliamentary session and how they vote. If too many abstain or if somebody votes yes to Enhedslisten's proposal, SF could very well end up leaving the government after all. If they don't make the decision themselves, their government partners might make it for them.
Logged
Diouf
Sr. Member
****
Posts: 2,494
Denmark
Show only this user's posts in this thread
« Reply #163 on: January 30, 2014, 03:53:00 AM »

Several media are now reporting that SF is leaving the government, party leader Annette Vilhelmsen is resigning and that an extraordinary conference will be called.

The parliamentary session at 10.00 with Enhedslisten's proposal can probably be followed here: http://www.ft.dk/webtv/video/20131/salen/47.aspx

I'm not sure it will be easy to follow, but the tense situation should be possible to sense.
Logged
Diouf
Sr. Member
****
Posts: 2,494
Denmark
Show only this user's posts in this thread
« Reply #164 on: January 30, 2014, 04:20:50 AM »


MP Uffe Elbæk, a former Radikal (Social Liberal) Minister in this government, who has started his own party Alternativet (Alternative), is speaking in favour of Enhedslisten's proposal of postponing the deal. A fitting sweater for today, when looking at SF.

Enhedslisten proposal was rejected. 30 votes in favour, 94 against, 2 neither for nor against. Five SF MPs do not want the sale to happen, which should be one of the main reasons why the SF leader is resigning. Press conference at 10.30 where more will be disclosed. I would think that the Social Democrats and the Social Liberals would prefer to continue with a new SR-government, and not an election as all polls are still predicting a heavy defeat for the left wing. 
Logged
Diouf
Sr. Member
****
Posts: 2,494
Denmark
Show only this user's posts in this thread
« Reply #165 on: January 30, 2014, 07:06:35 AM »



Most of the things above have now been confirmed. SF (SPP) leaves the government, party leader Annette Vilhelmsen resigns, and an extraordinary party conference will be held shortly. PM Helle Thorning-Schmidt has confirmed that the government will continue as a coalition between the Social Democrats and the Radikale (Social Liberals), and that there will not be an election now. In the next day or two, she is expected to present her new government as the two parties now need to fill up the vacant posts.

SF will still vote in favour of the sale in the Financial Committee later today in accordance with the decision made by the party's Executive Committee yesterday. It will be interesting to follow SF in the coming weeks. Party members might literally be leaving left and right. A number of left-leaning SF members might still leave the party as it accepted the sale, although a number of them might hope that things get better now that it has left the government. The remaining right-leaning SF members, and perhaps even some ministers, might defect to the Social Democrats as they are disappointed that the party has left the government and will probably not be able to enter another government for many years. MP Ole Sohn, the former Minister for Business and Growth, a close ally of former leader Villy Søvndal and one of the masterminds behind the plan to make SF enter the government, has said that that the will continue to support all of the government's decisions. That will probably bring him into the conflict with SF, so he could very well leave/be forced to leave at least the parliamentary group.
It will of course also be interesting to see who the new SF leader will be. Will one of the current ministers want to be a leader of a party where the members have been opposed to many of the government's decisions and where a new government participation looks unlikely for a long time? Will the members choose a new left-leaning backbecher, like Annette Vilhelmsen, after her less than impressive period as a leader?
Logged
politicus
Atlas Icon
*****
Posts: 10,174
Denmark


Show only this user's posts in this thread
« Reply #166 on: January 30, 2014, 02:54:50 PM »
« Edited: January 30, 2014, 03:43:43 PM by politicus »

Minister of Health Astrid Kragh has left SPP and joined SD. She battled Vilhelmsen for the leadership last year and was the last remaining representative from the "workerite" right wing (basically SDs in all but name) among the SPP ministers.

There is some speculation as to whether she can hang on in the cabinet as an SD-er, since she has been fairly efficient and is a political talent (and they don't have that many of those in SD), but I doubt it.

Logged
Franknburger
Jr. Member
***
Posts: 1,401
Germany


Show only this user's posts in this thread
« Reply #167 on: January 30, 2014, 03:44:08 PM »

How will SF leaving the coalition affect the government? Will Social Democrats and Social Liberals continue a minority government, hoping for parliamentary support from SF in addition to Enhedslisten? Or will they now look for an additional partner, maybe DPP? While I understand that the government is not keen on new elections, will they really be able to avoid them?
Logged
politicus
Atlas Icon
*****
Posts: 10,174
Denmark


Show only this user's posts in this thread
« Reply #168 on: January 30, 2014, 03:55:39 PM »
« Edited: January 30, 2014, 04:02:21 PM by politicus »

How will SF leaving the coalition affect the government? Will Social Democrats and Social Liberals continue a minority government, hoping for parliamentary support from SF in addition to Enhedslisten? Or will they now look for an additional partner, maybe DPP? While I understand that the government is not keen on new elections, will they really be able to avoid them?

SD and the Social Liberals will continue - and are probably relieved to get rid of their troublemsome partner. SPP has no choice but to support the government. An election now would be a disaster for them. They have been polling as low as 3%, dangerously close to the 2% threshold. They are also without a leader until a  new one is elected in March.

I doubt that the Red Greens will pull the plug on the government right now. They dont want a Liberal government. They seem to have decided to let the governmet hang on for lack of a better alternative, without actively supporting it.

DPP and the Social Liberals are opposites and hate each other. The present SD leadership would never exchange the Social Liberals with DDP, as they basically agree with them on economics and the need for "trimming" the welfare state. And DPP is still seen as the enemy by most SDs.
Logged
politicus
Atlas Icon
*****
Posts: 10,174
Denmark


Show only this user's posts in this thread
« Reply #169 on: January 30, 2014, 04:08:33 PM »
« Edited: January 30, 2014, 04:18:00 PM by politicus »


It will of course also be interesting to see who the new SF leader will be. Will one of the current ministers want to be a leader of a party where the members have been opposed to many of the government's decisions and where a new government participation looks unlikely for a long time? Will the members choose a new left-leaning backbecher, like Annette Vilhelmsen, after her less than impressive period as a leader?

Its worth noticing that ex deputy chairman Peter Westermann, who is a left winger, is hardly a backbencher anymore - but he is probably too young (late 20s).

Almost all possible candidates have passed on the leadership. Only two serious contenders remain. Ex Minister of Taxes Jonas Dahl,who is a youngish centrist without affiliation to any of the wings and ex Minister of Transport Pia Olsen Dyhr (42) from the Green right wing (SPP has - or had - two right wings, one "workerite" quasi-SD and one quasi-social liberal Green! But the top "workerites" have almost entirely left the party). None of them have declared their candidacy yet.
Pia Olsen Dyhr is uncharismatic and lost a leadership election to former chairman Villy Søvndahl (then a leftist, but later founder of the workerite wing) back in 2005 and the Greens are (and has always been) a minority within the party, but now may be her chance for lack of good alternatives.
Logged
Diouf
Sr. Member
****
Posts: 2,494
Denmark
Show only this user's posts in this thread
« Reply #170 on: January 30, 2014, 04:13:15 PM »
« Edited: January 30, 2014, 04:27:01 PM by Diouf »

How will SF leaving the coalition affect the government? Will Social Democrats and Social Liberals continue a minority government, hoping for parliamentary support from SF in addition to Enhedslisten? Or will they now look for an additional partner, maybe DPP? While I understand that the government is not keen on new elections, will they really be able to avoid them?

It will probably make the internal workings in the coalition function better as they don't have to deal with SF. Also they will avoid that the noise in SF will overshadow most of the deals that the coalition makes.
SF has already guaranteed parliamentary support for the new SR-coalition. SF don't want an election right now with the party in complete disarray and without a new leader until at the earliest in the beginning of March where the extraordinary party conference will be held. If the government is to fall, it is because of Enhedslisten and that looks very unlikely as well. Enhedslisten will have a very hard time defending new elections, and in all likelyhood a new right-wing government. Enhedslisten have already put up with so many government decisions which they did not like that it is hard to imagine that something could make them tear down the government.
Therefore, there is no need for an additional partner. This will not change much for the government. The policies will probably be fairly similar and their strategic position is not much different. When they make a agreement with the left, the problem will still be to get Enhedslisten to agree, and it might be even easier to make agreements with Venstre (Liberals) and the Conservatives now that that SF is not in the government.
The situation regarding a new election has not changed either. The government can decide for themselves when to call new elections, as the polls are still bad this probably means as late as possible, unless the unlikely situation where Enhedslisten pulls them down occurs.
Logged
Diouf
Sr. Member
****
Posts: 2,494
Denmark
Show only this user's posts in this thread
« Reply #171 on: January 30, 2014, 04:40:54 PM »

The most recent polling average, composed 27 January by Berlingske (compared to 2011 election):

Social Democrats 21.1 % (-3.7 %) 37 seats (-7)
Social Liberals 8.3 % (-1.2%) 15 (-2)
Conservatives 4.5 % (-0.4%) 8 (=)
SF 4.1 % (-5.1%) 7 (-9)
Liberal Alliance 5.0 % (=) 9 (=)
Christian Democrats 0.6 % (-0.2%) 0 (=)
DF 18.1 % (+5.8 %) 32 (+10)
Liberals 27.6 % (+0.9%) 48 (+1)
Enhedslisten 10.7 % (+4.0%) 19 (+7)

Left wing 44.2 % (-6.0%) 78 (-11)
Right wing 55.8 % (+6.1 %) 97 (+11)
Logged
politicus
Atlas Icon
*****
Posts: 10,174
Denmark


Show only this user's posts in this thread
« Reply #172 on: January 30, 2014, 04:59:20 PM »
« Edited: January 30, 2014, 05:07:34 PM by politicus »

With large crowds of protesters outside parliament demanding the governments resignation and "real democracy" the Greenlandic government survived its first major test after the recent scandals as the new Minister of Fishing was approved with a comfortable 18-13 majority, but not without major verbal infighting and allegations of camaraderie and nepotism + misinforming and misleading the people and the parliament. Former PM Hans Enoksen has demanded Deputy Chairman of Naalakkersuisut (ie Deputy Prime Minister) and Minister of Transportation Steen Lynge's resignation due to Lynge lying about freight prices from the government controlled sea carrier Royal Arctic Line. He was backed by IA and the Democrats from the old opposition demanding immediate government resignation. The new Minister of Fishing Finn Karlsen was accused of having "gambled with Greenlands natural resources" by ignoring warnings from biologists and allowing overfishing, while in office last time.

Meanwhile the chairman of the Democrats Jens B. Frederiksen is under increasing pressure to resign because he has taken on a cushy job as Deputy Managing Director for the Canadian mining cooperation True North Gems Greenland.  He said that he would still be chairman of his party  "by the end of the week", but declined to answer when reporters asked him whether he would also still be leader "by the end of the month". So, bye, bye Jensi... (I guess, but you never know in Greenland).

Prime Minister Aleqa Hammond has some time to gather her Siumut-loyalist troops and stabilize the situation as the parliament Inatsisartut doesn't regather until the 18th of March.
Logged
politicus
Atlas Icon
*****
Posts: 10,174
Denmark


Show only this user's posts in this thread
« Reply #173 on: January 30, 2014, 05:28:01 PM »

Interesting fact: According to a poll published by DR 76% of centre-right voters are against the sale of DONG shares so Goldman-Sachs. So its generally unpopular in the Danish population, not just among leftists.
Logged
politicus
Atlas Icon
*****
Posts: 10,174
Denmark


Show only this user's posts in this thread
« Reply #174 on: January 31, 2014, 09:25:54 AM »

SPP Deputy Chairman Mette Touborg has stepped down and since the other chairman Peter Westermann has already resigned the party is now de facto leaderless.

Former chairman of the aid agency Mellemfolkeligt Samvirke Trine Pertou Mach is a possible contender for the leadership position. She is a solid left winger and has more charisma than the other two.

Observers generally believe that Pia Olsen Dyhr is too tainted by the failure of the government project. So it looks like either a quiet and somewhat boring compromise candidate with continued support for most of the governments policies or a sharp turn to the left trying to regain voters from the Red Green Alliance.

 
Logged
Pages: 1 2 3 4 5 6 [7] 8 9 10 11 12 ... 50  
« previous next »
Jump to:  


Login with username, password and session length

Terms of Service - DMCA Agent and Policy - Privacy Policy and Cookies

Powered by SMF 1.1.21 | SMF © 2015, Simple Machines

Page created in 0.064 seconds with 14 queries.