Several local Conservative chairmen have been expressing their dismay over a decision by Party Leader, Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Lene Espersen to stay away from Monday’s EU foreign minister meeting and go on a family holiday to Italy instead, according to Ekstra Bladet.

The local chairman in Middelfart, Flemming Hansen, goes as far as saying that he would like to see Culture Minister Per Stig Møller re-shuffled back into the foreign ministry.

“If I were her, I would seriously consider whether it was sensible to swap places with Per Stig Møller,” Hansen tells Ekstra Bladet.

Former Conservative Foreign Minister Per Stig Møller was moved to the Culture Ministry in a major cabinet re-shuffle earlier this year that moved Espersen from the Economy and Trade Ministry to the Foreign Ministry.

The Vejle Local Chairman Jan Holdt Mathiesen has also expressed his consternation.

“It’s extremely unfortunate that the future of the party, its policies and visions take a back seat because of a vacation issue. Our members and voters are only talking about vacations and cancellations – not our policy,” Matthiesen tells Ekstra Bladet.

Allerød’s Conservative Mayor Erik Lund has also criticised his party leader.

“I think she should have handled the situation differently. Had I been minister, I would have gone to that EU meeting. That would have been sensible,” Lund tells Ekstra Bladet, which also quotes an unnamed Conservative MP as saying that Espersen’s decision not to attend a meeting of EU foreign ministers was ‘silly’.

Foreign Minister Lene Espersen has been dogged by controversy since she chose at the end of March to go on vacation rather than attend a five-country foreign ministers’ meeting on Arctic delineation, which also convened the U.S., Russian, Canadian and Norwegian ministers.