Politics of Denmark Dansk politik | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Polity type | Unitaryparliamentaryconstitutional monarchy |
| Constitution | Constitution of Denmark |
| Legislative branch | |
| Name | Parliament |
| Type | Unicameral |
| Meeting place | Christiansborg Palace |
| Presiding officer | Søren Gade,Speaker of the Parliament |
| Executive branch | |
| Head of state | |
| Title | Monarch |
| Currently | Frederik X |
| Appointer | Hereditary |
| Head of government | |
| Title | Prime Minister |
| Currently | Mette Frederiksen |
| Appointer | Monarch |
| Cabinet | |
| Name | Cabinet of Denmark |
| Current cabinet | Frederiksen II Cabinet |
| Leader | Prime Minister |
| Ministries | 18 |
| Judicial branch | |
| Name | General Judicial System |
| Courts | Courts of Denmark |
| Supreme Court | |
| Chief judge | Thomas Rørdam |
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Thepolitics of Denmark take place within the framework of aparliamentaryrepresentative democracy, aconstitutional monarchy and adecentralisedunitary state in which themonarch of Denmark, KingFrederik X, is thehead of state.[1]Denmark is anation state. Danish politics and governance are characterized by a common striving for broadconsensus on important issues, within both the political community and society as a whole.
Executive power is exercised by thecabinet of Denmark (commonly known as "the Government", Danish:regeringen), presided over by thePrime Minister (statsminister) who isfirst among equals.Legislative power is exercised by theFolketing, the unicameral parliament, and secondarily by theCabinet, although it is common that members of the Folketing are also members of the Cabinet. Members of thejudiciary are nominated by the executive (conventionally by recommendation of the judiciary itself), formally appointed by the monarch and employed until retirement.
Denmark has amulti-party system, with two large parties, and several other small but significant parties. No single party has held anabsolute majority in the Folketing since the beginning of the 20th century.[2] Thirteen parties have ballot access for the2019 Danish general election, three of which did not contest2015 general election. Since only four post-war coalition governments have enjoyed a majority,government bills rarely become law without negotiations and compromise with both supporting and opposition parties. Hence, the Folketing tends to be more powerful than legislatures in otherEU countries.The Constitution does not grant the judiciary power ofjudicial review of legislation; however, the courts have asserted this power with the consent of the other branches of government. Since there are noconstitutional oradministrative courts, theSupreme Court also deals with constitutional matters.
On many issues the political parties tend to opt for co-operation, and the Danishstate welfare model receives broad parliamentary support. This ensures a focus on public-sector efficiency and devolved responsibilities of local government on regional and municipal levels.
The degree oftransparency andaccountability is reflected in the public's high level of satisfaction with the political institutions, while Denmark is also regularly considered one of the least corrupt countries in the world by international organizations.[3] TheEconomist Intelligence Unit rated Denmark as "full democracy" in 2016.[4] According to theV-Dem Democracy indices, Denmark is, in 2024, the most electoral and liberal democratic country in the world.[5]
King Frederik X has reigned as King and head of state since 14 January 2024. In accordance with theDanish Constitution the monarch ashead of state is the theoretical source of allexecutive andlegislative power.[6] However, since the introduction ofparliamentary sovereignty in 1901, ade factoseparation of powers has been in effect.[7]
The text of the Danish constitution dates back to 1849. Therefore, it has been interpreted by jurists to suit modern conditions. In a formal sense, the monarch retains the ability to deny giving abillroyal assent. In order for a bill to become law, a royal signature and acountersignature by a government minister are required.[6] The monarch also chooses and dismisses the Prime Minister, although in modern times a dismissal would cause a constitutional crisis. On 28 March 1920, KingChristian X was the last monarch to exercise the power of dismissal, sparking the1920 Easter Crisis. All royal powers calledroyal prerogative, such as patronage to appoint ministers and the ability to declare war and make peace, are exercised by the Prime Minister and the Cabinet, with the formal consent of the King. When a new government is to be formed, the monarch calls the party leaders to a conference of deliberation (known as a "kongerunde", meaning "king's round"), where the latter advise the monarch. On the basis of the advice, the monarch then appoints the party leader who commands a majority of recommendation to lead negotiations for forming a new government.[6]
According to the principles of constitutional monarchy, the monarch's role is largely ceremonial today, restricted in his or her exercise of power by the convention of parliamentary democracy and the separation of powers. However, the monarch does continue to exercise three rights: the right to be consulted; the right to advise; and the right to warn. Pursuant to these ideals, the Prime Minister and the Cabinet attend the regular meeting of theCouncil of State.[8]
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Denmark has amulti-party system. Twelve parties are represented in parliament, while an additional two were qualified to contest the most recent2022 Danish general election but did not win any seats. The four oldest, and in history most influential, parties are theConservative People's Party, theSocial Democrats,Venstre (the name literally means "Left", but it is a right-wing conservative-liberal party) and theSocial Liberal Party. However, demographics have been in favour of newer parties (such as thenational conservative far-rightDanish People's Party and the left-wingRed-Green Alliance).
No two parties have exactly the same organization. It is however common for a party to have an annual convention which approvesmanifestos and elects party chairmen, a board of leaders, an assembly of representatives, and a number of local branches with their own organization. In most cases the party members in parliament form their own group with autonomy to develop and promote party politics in parliament and between elections. Parties also have youth wings to promote engagement with the party among young people, such asSocial Democratic Youth,Young Liberals, andRadikal Ungdom.
Though coined in 1994 by then leader of VenstreUffe Ellemann-Jensen, the termsred bloc andblue bloc first became mainstream around the2011 Danish general election.[9] Left-wing parties are described as belonging to the red bloc while right-wing parties belong to the blue bloc. The Social Democrats and Venstre have historically served as the de facto leaders of the red and blue bloc respectively, though in 2022 leader of the blue bloc partyConservative People's PartySøren Pape Poulsen declared his prime minister candidacy alongside leader of VenstreJakob Ellemann-Jensen.[10]
TheModerates, founded in 2021 by former prime ministerLars Løkke Rasmussen, rebuke bloc politics and support a government with parties from both traditional blocs, and use the color purple to represent this.[11] Similarly,The Alternative have refused their designation as a red party declaring they are a green party.[12]
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The government performs the executive functions of the kingdom. The affairs of government are decided by theCabinet, headed by thePrime Minister. The Cabinet and the Prime Minister are responsible for their actions to theFolketing (the parliament).
Members of the Cabinet are given the title of "minister" and each hold a different portfolio of government duties. The day to day role of the cabinet members is to serve as head of one or more segments of the national bureaucracy, as head of thecivil servants to which all employees in that department report.
Enjoying the status ofprimus inter pares, the Prime Minister is head of the Danish government (as taken to mean the Cabinet). The Prime Minister and members of the Cabinet are appointed by the Crown on basis of the party composition in the Folketing. Novote of confidence is necessary to install a new government after an election. If the Folketing expresses its lack of confidence in the Prime Minister, the entire cabinet must step down, unless a new parliamentary election is called in which case the old government continues as acaretaker government until a new government can be formed.
Since the 1990s, most governments have beencoalition governments led by either Venstre or the Social Democrats. Until 2001,Poul Nyrup Rasmussen (S) led a coalition with the Social Liberals, supported by the SPP and the Red-Green Alliance. A coalition of Venstre and the Conservatives, supported by the DPP, was then in power from 2001 to 2011, led first byAnders Fogh Rasmussen (V) and then from 2009 by Lars Løkke Rasmussen (V). The Liberal Alliance formed in 2007. After the2011 election, Løkke was replaced byHelle Thorning-Schmidt (S), whose government consisted of the Social Democrats, the Social Liberals, and the SPP. The SPP left the government again in 2014, following heavy internal disagreement over the planned sale of state-owned shares in the companyDONG (now known as Ørsted). The Social Democrats and Social Liberals continued in power, with SPP and Red-Green support, until the2015 election when Løkke returned to power in a single-party Venstre government. TheLøkke II Cabinet held only 34 seats in the Folketing, making it the narrowest sincePoul Hartling's (V) 22-seat government in the 1970s, and the first single-party government sinceAnker Jørgensen's (S) fifth government in the early 1980s. After finding it difficult to govern with such a small government, Løkke invited the Conservatives and the Liberal Alliance to join his government in 2016, turning it into theLøkke III Cabinet.[13]
Following the2019 general election the Social Democrats, led by leaderMette Frederiksen, formed a single-party government with support from the left-wing coalition.[14] Frederiksen became prime minister on 27 June 2019.[15]
In November 2022 generalelection, Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen's Social Democrats remained as the biggest party with two more seats, gaining its best result in two decades.[16] The second biggest was Liberal Party (Venstre), led byJakob Ellemann-Jensen. The recently formedModerates party, led by two-time former Prime Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen, became the third-biggest party in Denmark.[17] In December 2022, Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen formed a new coalition government with her Social Democrats and the Liberal Party and the Moderates party. Jakob Ellemann-Jensen became deputy prime minister and defence minister, Lars Løkke Rasmussen was appointed foreign minister.[18]
According to section 14 of the constitution, the king sets the number of ministers and the distribution of cases between them. The monarch formally appoints and dismisses ministers, including the Prime Minister.[19] That means that the number of cabinet positions and the organisation of the state administration into ministries are not set by law, but subject to change without notice. A coalition of many parties usually means a large cabinet and many ministries, while a small coalition or the rare one-party-government means fewer, larger ministries.
In June 2015 in the wake of theparliamentary election, the cabinet had 17 members including the Prime Minister. The Prime Minister leads the work of the Cabinet and is minister for constitutional affairs, overseas territories and for the affairs of the press. The seventeen cabinet ministers hold different portfolios of duties, including the day-to-day role as head of one or more segments of the government departments.
The Danish executive consists of a number of government departments known asMinistries. These departments are led by a cabinet member and known asMinister for the relevant department orportfolio. In theory all Ministers are equal and may not command or be commanded by a fellow minister. Constitutional practice does however dictate, that the Prime Minister isprimus inter pares, first among equals. Unlike many other countries, Denmark has no tradition of employing junior Ministers.
A department acts as the secretariat to the Minister. Its functions comprises overall planning, development and strategic guidance on the entire area of responsibility of the Minister. The Minister's decisions are carried out by the permanent and politically neutralcivil service within the department. Unlike some democracies, senior civil servants remain in post upon a change of Government. The head of the department civil servants is thePermanent Secretary. In fact, the majority of civil servants work in executive agencies that are separate operational organizations reporting to the Minister. The Minister also has his ownprivate secretary and communications personnel. Unlike normal civil servants, the communications staff is partisan and do not remain in their posts upon changes of government.
As known in other parliamentary systems of government, the executive (the Cabinet) is accountable to the parliament (the Folketing). Under theDanish constitution, no government may remain in office with a majority against it. This is called negative parliamentarianism, as opposed to the principle of positive parliamentarianism—as inGermany and some other parliamentary systems—a government needs to achieve a majority through a vote of investiture in parliament.[citation needed] It is due to the principle of negative parliamentarianism and itsproportional representation system that Denmark has a long tradition of minority governments. Nevertheless, minority governments in Denmark sometimes have strong parliamentary majorities with the help of one or more supporting parties.[2]
The current government of theSocial Democrats is stable due to their support by theSocial Liberal Party,Socialist People's Party, and theRed–Green Alliance and informally supported byThe Alternative. The previous government coalition betweenVenstre (the Left), theLiberal Alliance, and theConservatives had support from theDanish People's Party despite not being an official member of the government.[24] This system enables minority parties to govern on specific issues through an ad hoc basis, selecting partners for support based on common interests instead of legislative need. As a result, Danish laws are born of extensive negotiations and compromise. It is common practice for both sides of the Danish political spectrum to cooperate in the Folketing.
The Folketing performs the legislative functions of the Kingdom. As a parliament, it is at the centre of the political system in Denmark, and is the supreme legislative body, operating within the confines of the constitution. The Prime Minister is drawn from parliament through the application of the Danish parliamentary principle (a majority must not exist in opposition to the government), and this process is also generally the case for the government also. The government is answerable to parliament through the principle of parliamentary control (question hour, general debates and the passing ofresolutions ormotions). Ministers can be questioned by members of Parliament regarding specific government policy matters.
General debates on broader issues of government policy may also be held in parliament and may also be followed by a motion of "no-confidence". The opposition rarely requests motions of no-confidence, as the government is usually certain of its majority; however, government policy is often discussed in theplenary assembly of Parliament. Since 1953, the year that marked the reform of the Danish constitution, parliament has beenunicameral.
With the implementation of the first democratic constitution in 1849, Denmark's legislature was constituted as abicameral parliament, orRigsdag, composed ofFolketinget (a lower house of commoners) andLandstinget (an upper house containing lords, landowners and industrialists).[25] In 1901, parliamentarism was introduced to the Danish Parliament, which made Folketinget the essential chamber, as no sitting government could have a majority against it in Folketinget. With the constitutional reform of 1953 theLandstinget was abolished, leaving onlyFolketinget.
During theoccupation of Denmark during theSecond World War, on 29 August 1943, the German authorities dissolved the Danish government following the refusal of that government to crack down on unrest to the satisfaction of the German plenipotentiary. The cabinet resigned in 1943 and suspended operations (although the resignation was never accepted by King Christian X).[26]—all day-to-day business had been handed over to the Permanent Secretaries, each effectively running his own ministry. The Germans administered the rest of the country, and the Danish Rigsdag did not convene for the remainder of the occupation[27] until a new one was formed following the liberation on 5 May 1945.
The Folketing is composed of 179 seats, of which two are reserved for the Faroe Islands and two for Greenland. The remaining 175 seats are taken up by MPs from elected in Denmark. All 179 seats are contested in elections held at least every four years and in the present parliament, all seats are taken up by members belonging to a political party.
All parties receiving more than 2% of the votes are represented in parliament. Comparatively, this is quite low; in Sweden the minimum level of support necessary for getting into parliament is 4%. Often, this has led to the representation of many parties in parliament, and correspondingly complex or unstable government majorities. However, during the last decade the political system has been one of stable majorities and rather long government tenures. Independent politicians running for parliament need about 15,000-20,000 votes in the electoral district they ran in. Since the 1953 constitution of Denmark, only one independent,Jacob Haugaard, has been successful in doing this. Only two politicians have done this in the history of the Danish parliament.
Denmark uses a system ofproportional representation for both national, local, andEuropean Parliament elections. The parliamentFolketinget uses a system withconstituencies, and a system of allotment is indirectly prescribed in the constitution, ensuring a geographically and politically balanced distribution of the 179 seats. 135 members are proportionally elected in multi-member constituencies, while the remaining 40 seats are allotted nationwide in proportion to the total number of votes a party or list receives. TheFaroe Islands andGreenland elect two members each.
Parties must pass athreshold of 2% of the total vote to be guaranteed parliamentary representation. As a consequence of the system, the number of votes required to be elected to parliament varies across the country; it generally requires fewer votes to be elected in the capital,Copenhagen, than it does being elected in less populous areas.Voter turnout in general elections normally lies above 85%, but has been decreasing over time. Turnout is lower in local elections, and lower than that in European Parliament elections.
Overall the election was a win for the "red bloc" – the parties that supported Mette Frederiksen, leader of the Social Democrats, as prime minister. In total, the Social Democrats, the Social Liberals, Socialist People's Party and the Red–Green Alliance won 91 seats. Green party The Alternative chose to go into opposition as a "green bloc".[28]
The Social Democrats defended their position as the largest party, and won an additional seat despite a slightly reduced voter share. They were closely followed by Venstre, who saw the largest gains in seats, picking up an extra nine. In the "blue bloc", only Venstre and the Conservative People's Party saw gains, the latter doubling their seats. The Danish People's Party's vote share fell by 12.4percentage points (pp), well over half of their support. LeaderKristian Thulesen Dahl speculated that the bad result was due to an extraordinary good election in 2015, and that some voters felt they could "gain [their] policy elsewhere".[29] The Liberal Alliance saw their vote share fall by over two-thirds and became the smallest party in the Folketing, only 0.3pp above the 2%election threshold. Their leaderAnders Samuelsen was not reelected and he subsequently resigned as leader, succeeded byAlex Vanopslagh.[30][31]
Of the new parties, only New Right won seats, with Hard Line, the Christian Democrats and Klaus Riskær Pedersen failing to cross the national 2% threshold, although the Christian Democrats were within 200 votes of winning a direct seat in the western Jutland constituency.[32] On election night,Klaus Riskær Pedersen announced that he would dissolve his party.[33]
In the Faroe Islands, Republic (which had finished first in the 2015 elections)[34] dropped to fourth place and lost their seat. The Union Party replaced them as the first party while the Social Democratic Party finished in second place again, retaining their seat.[35]In Greenland, the result was a repeat of the 2015 elections, with Inuit Ataqatigiit and Siumut winning the two seats. Siumut regained parliamentary representation after their previous MP, Aleqa Hammond, was expelled from the party in 2016.[36][37] Hammond later joined Nunatta Qitornai,[38] which finished fourth and failed to win a seat.[37][39]
| A | 25.9% | |||
| V | 23.4% | |||
| O | 8.7% | |||
| B | 8.6% | |||
| F | 7.7% | |||
| Ø | 6.9% | |||
| C | 6.6% | |||
| Å | 3.0% | |||
| D | 2.4% | |||
| I | 2.3% | |||
| P | 1.8% | |||
| K | 1.7% | |||
| E | 0.8% | |||
| Others | 0.1% | |||
 | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Votes | % | Seats | +/– | |
| Denmark proper | |||||
| Social Democrats | 914,882 | 25.90 | 48 | +1 | |
| Venstre | 826,161 | 23.39 | 43 | +9 | |
| Danish People's Party | 308,513 | 8.74 | 16 | –21 | |
| Danish Social Liberal Party | 304,714 | 8.63 | 16 | +8 | |
| Socialist People's Party | 272,304 | 7.71 | 14 | +7 | |
| Red–Green Alliance | 245,100 | 6.94 | 13 | –1 | |
| Conservative People's Party | 233,865 | 6.62 | 12 | +6 | |
| The Alternative | 104,278 | 2.95 | 5 | –4 | |
| New Right | 83,201 | 2.36 | 4 | New | |
| Liberal Alliance | 82,270 | 2.33 | 4 | –9 | |
| Stram Kurs | 63,114 | 1.79 | 0 | New | |
| Christian Democrats | 60,944 | 1.73 | 0 | 0 | |
| Klaus Riskær Pedersen | 29,600 | 0.84 | 0 | New | |
| Independents | 2,774 | 0.08 | 0 | 0 | |
| Total | 3,531,720 | 100.00 | 175 | 0 | |
| Valid votes | 3,531,720 | 98.94 | |||
| Invalid votes | 10,019 | 0.28 | |||
| Blank votes | 27,782 | 0.78 | |||
| Total votes | 3,569,521 | 100.00 | |||
| Registered voters/turnout | 4,219,537 | 84.60 | |||
| Faroe Islands | |||||
| Union Party | 7,360 | 28.32 | 1 | +1 | |
| Social Democratic Party | 6,640 | 25.55 | 1 | 0 | |
| People's Party | 6,181 | 23.79 | 0 | 0 | |
| Republic | 4,832 | 18.60 | 0 | –1 | |
| Progress | 638 | 2.46 | 0 | 0 | |
| Self-Government | 334 | 1.29 | 0 | 0 | |
| Total | 25,985 | 100.00 | 2 | 0 | |
| Valid votes | 25,985 | 99.16 | |||
| Invalid/blank votes | 220 | 0.84 | |||
| Total votes | 26,205 | 100.00 | |||
| Registered voters/turnout | 37,264 | 70.32 | |||
| Greenland | |||||
| Inuit Ataqatigiit | 6,867 | 34.35 | 1 | 0 | |
| Siumut | 6,063 | 30.33 | 1 | 0 | |
| Democrats | 2,258 | 11.30 | 0 | 0 | |
| Nunatta Qitornai | 1,622 | 8.11 | 0 | New | |
| Partii Naleraq | 1,564 | 7.82 | 0 | 0 | |
| Atassut | 1,098 | 5.49 | 0 | 0 | |
| Cooperation Party | 518 | 2.59 | 0 | New | |
| Total | 19,990 | 100.00 | 2 | 0 | |
| Valid votes | 19,990 | 97.16 | |||
| Invalid/blank votes | 585 | 2.84 | |||
| Total votes | 20,575 | 100.00 | |||
| Registered voters/turnout | 41,344 | 49.77 | |||
| Source:Statistics Denmark,Kringvarp Føroya,Qinersineq | |||||
| Constituency | A | B | C | D | E | F | I | K | O | P | V | Ø | Å |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Copenhagen | 17.2 | 16.4 | 5.3 | 1.4 | 1.0 | 11.5 | 2.6 | 0.7 | 4.2 | 1.3 | 15.0 | 16.8 | 6.5 |
| Greater Copenhagen | 25.8 | 10.9 | 9.4 | 2.3 | 0.8 | 9.4 | 2.6 | 0.9 | 8.2 | 1.9 | 17.2 | 7.2 | 3.1 |
| North Zealand | 21.3 | 11.2 | 11.2 | 3.3 | 1.0 | 6.9 | 3.3 | 1.1 | 7.5 | 1.5 | 23.4 | 5.6 | 2.7 |
| Bornholm | 34.0 | 3.3 | 1.8 | 1.7 | 0.9 | 4.3 | 1.0 | 4.1 | 10.4 | 1.9 | 25.3 | 8.1 | 3.3 |
| Zealand | 28.2 | 5.8 | 5.8 | 2.6 | 1.0 | 8.8 | 1.8 | 0.8 | 10.9 | 2.7 | 24.3 | 5.2 | 2.0 |
| Funen | 30.2 | 7.3 | 6.2 | 1.9 | 0.8 | 6.7 | 1.9 | 1.1 | 8.9 | 1.9 | 23.4 | 6.8 | 3.0 |
| South Jutland | 26.1 | 5.9 | 5.1 | 4.1 | 0.7 | 5.2 | 2.1 | 2.2 | 12.5 | 1.8 | 28.5 | 4.1 | 1.6 |
| East Jutland | 25.8 | 9.9 | 5.7 | 2.0 | 0.7 | 8.2 | 2.9 | 2.1 | 7.8 | 1.5 | 22.6 | 7.1 | 3.4 |
| West Jutland | 24.6 | 5.3 | 9.2 | 1.7 | 0.6 | 6.2 | 2.2 | 5.3 | 8.4 | 1.6 | 29.8 | 3.4 | 1.7 |
| North Jutland | 33.9 | 5.1 | 4.9 | 2.0 | 0.8 | 5.4 | 1.9 | 1.6 | 9.5 | 1.7 | 26.8 | 4.3 | 2.0 |
The following is the number of constituency seats for each party with each asterix (*) indicating one of the seats won was a levelling seat.[40]
| Constituency | A | B | C | D | F | I | O | V | Ø | Å | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Copenhagen | 3 | 3 | 1 | 3* | 1* | 1* | 3 | 4* | 1 | 20 | |
| Greater Copenhagen | 4 | 2* | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3* | 1 | 1* | 14 | ||
| North Zealand | 3 | 2* | 2* | 1* | 1 | 1 | 3 | 1* | 14 | ||
| Bornholm | 1 | 1 | 2 | ||||||||
| Zealand | 8* | 2* | 2* | 1* | 3* | 3* | 7* | 2* | 1* | 29 | |
| Funen | 5* | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2* | 4* | 1 | 15 | |||
| South Jutland | 6 | 1 | 1 | 1* | 1 | 1* | 3 | 6 | 1* | 21 | |
| East Jutland | 7* | 3* | 1 | 1* | 2 | 1* | 2* | 6* | 1 | 1* | 25 |
| West Jutland | 4 | 1 | 2* | 1 | 1* | 1 | 5 | 1* | 16 | ||
| North Jutland | 7* | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2* | 5 | 1* | 1* | 19 | ||
| Total | 48 | 16 | 12 | 4 | 14 | 4 | 16 | 43 | 13 | 5 | 175 |
Social Democrats (Socialdemokraterne) was the biggest party with 50 Denmark seats, gaining two more seats.Liberal Party (Venstre) was the second with 23 Denmark seats, losing 20 seats. The third was the biggest winner, recently foundedModerates (Moderaterne) with 16 Denmark seats.Green Left (Socialistisk Folkeparti) secured 15 seats. In 2022 founded anti-immigration, far-rightDenmark Democrats (Danmarksdemokraterne) andLiberal Alliance secured both 14 seats.[41]
Denmark has an independent and highly professional judiciary.[42] Unlike the vast majority of civil servants, Danish judges are appointed directly by the Monarch.[43] However, since the constitution ensures the independence of the judiciary from Government and Parliament in providing that judges shall only take into account the laws of the country (i.e., acts, statutes and practices),[44] the procedure on appointments is only a formality.
Until 1999 appointment of judges was the responsibility of theMinistry of Justice, which was also charged with the overall administration of the justice system. On accusations ofnepotism andin-group bias, the Ministry in 1999 set up twoautonomous boards: the Judicial Appointments Council and the Danish Courts Administration, responsible for court appointments and administration, respectively.[45][46]
The Danish ParliamentaryOmbudsman, Jørgen Steen Sørensen,[47] is a lawyer who is elected by parliament to act as a watchdog over the government by inspecting institutions under government control, focusing primarily on the protection of citizens' rights.[48] The Ombudsman frequently inspects places where citizens are deprived of their personal freedom, including prisons and psychiatric hospitals.[47] While the Ombudsman has no power to personally act against the government, he or she can ask the courts to take up cases where the government might be violating Danish law.
The Ombudsman can criticize the government after an inspection and bring matters to public attention, and the government can choose to act upon or ignore his/her criticism, with whatever costs it might have towards the voters and the parliament.
Iceland,Greenland, and theFaroe Islands used to be dependencies of Denmark. TheDanish–Icelandic Act of Union (1918) changed the status of Iceland into that of a kingdom inpersonal union with Denmark. Iceland remained subordinate to Denmark until independence in 1944 amidst World War II. In the nineteenth century Greenland and the Faroe Islands were given the status of counties, and their own legislatures were disbanded, becoming integral parts of aunitary state.[49] They later gainedhome rule; the Faroe Islands in 1948 and Greenland in 1979.[49]
Today Greenland and the Faroe Islands are effectivelyself-governing in regards to domestic affairs,[49] with their own legislatures and executives. However, the devolved legislatures are subordinate to theFolketing where the two territories are represented by two seats each. This state of affairs is referred to as therigsfælleskab. In 2009 Greenland received greater autonomy in the form of "self-rule".
Theforeign policy of Denmark is based on its identity as a sovereign nation in Europe. As such its primary foreign policy focus is on its relations with other nations as a sovereign independent nation. Denmark has long had good relations with other nations.It has been involved in coordinating Western assistance to the Baltic states (Estonia,[50]Latvia, andLithuania).[51] The country is a strong supporter of internationalpeacekeeping. Danish forces were heavily engaged in the former Yugoslavia in the UN Protection Force (UNPROFOR), withIFOR,[52] and nowSFOR.[53] Denmark also strongly supportedAmerican operations inAfghanistan and has contributed both monetarily and materially to theISAF.[54] These initiatives are a part of the "active foreign policy" of Denmark. Instead of the traditional adaptative foreign policy of the small country, Denmark is today pursuing an active foreign policy, wherehuman rights,democracy and other crucial values is to be defended actively. In recent years,Greenland and theFaroe Islands have been guaranteed a say in foreign policy issues, such asfishing,whaling and geopolitical concerns.
FollowingWorld War II, Denmark ended its two-hundred-year-long policy of neutrality. Denmark has been a member ofNATO since its founding in 1949, and membership in NATO remains highly popular.[55] There were several serious confrontations between the U.S. and Denmark on security policy in the so-called "footnote era" (1982–88), when an alternative parliamentary majority forced the government to adopt specific national positions on nuclear and arms control issues. The alternative majority in these issues was because the Social liberal Party (Radikale Venstre) supported the governing majority in economic policy issues, but was against certain NATO policies and voted with the left in these issues. The conservative led Centre-right government accepted this variety of "minority parliamentarism", that is, without making it a question of the government's parliamentary survival.[55]With the end of theCold War, however, Denmark has been supportive of U.S. policy objectives in the Alliance.
Danes have enjoyed a reputation as "reluctant" Europeans. When they rejected ratification of theMaastricht Treaty on 2 June 1992, they put the EC's plans for the European Union on hold.[56] In December 1992, the rest of the EC agreed toexempt Denmark from certain aspects of the European Union, including a common defense, a common currency,EU citizenship, and certain aspects of legal cooperation. TheAmsterdam Treaty was approved in the referendum of 28 May 1998. In the autumn of 2000, Danish citizens rejected membership of theEuro currency group in a referendum. TheLisbon treaty was ratified by the Danish parliament alone.[57] It was not considered a surrendering of national sovereignty, which would have implied the holding of a referendum according to article 20 of the constitution.[58]
