A majority in the Danish Parliament has confidence in Climate, Energy, and Utilities Minister Lars Aagaard of Moderaterne (A centrist party created before the last election by former Prime Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen, M).
This was confirmed following a vote of no confidence in Folketinget, the parliamentary chamber.
86 voted for Aagaard to continue as minister, 85 voted for his resignation, and 1 abstained.
Had a majority in Folketinget lost confidence in Aagaard, he would have been compelled to step down.
The vote was a consequence of the case where Aagaard withheld information about delays in the electricity grid from Parliament.
»I am focused on delivering results for the Danish people and the green transition. Next week, we will improve conditions for electricity customers in Denmark, make it safer, and then move forward with offshore wind, which I am very excited about,« Aagaard said after the vote.
Prior to the vote, it was already clear that Aagaard was protected as minister, despite the opposition’s expressed lack of confidence in him.
However, this protection had to be definitively secured through the vote, where the government’s supporting mandates physically needed to appear in the Folketings chamber to ensure Aagaard’s position.
Henrik Frandsen, the group chairman of Moderaterne (M), is pleased that there is a majority supporting Aagaard as minister. He is not worried about the future cooperation between Aagaard and the opposition, which wants the minister removed.
»I am convinced that the opposition will roll up their sleeves and be part of finding good, broad, and constructive solutions,« Frandsen said.
North Atlantic Mandates
The government has lost its domestic political majority, but among others, three North Atlantic mandates support the government in the Aagaard case, thereby ensuring the minister’s position.
Greenland’s Aaja Chemnitz (Inuit Ataqatigiit, IA) and the two Faroese mandates in Parliament, Anna Falkenberg (Sambandsflokkurin, SP) and Sjúrður Skaale (Javnaðarflokkurin, JF), support the government in this matter. Independent Jon Stephensen also helps secure Aagaard’s ministerial role.
Another independent, Theresa Scavenius, chose to abstain – neither for nor against – during the vote.
Independents Jeppe Søe and Mike Fonseca, both formerly with Moderaterne, supported the opposition in the case.
Greenlandic Parliament member Aki-Matilda Høegh-Dam (Naleraq) had announced she would likely abstain, but her vote was not registered.
»I did not vote at all. I don’t know if it makes a difference, but I didn’t press any button,« said Aki-Matilda Høegh-Dam, who unlike the other North Atlantic mandates in Parliament, did not support the government with a vote.
Votes of no confidence in the parliamentary chamber are extremely rare. The last one was in 2006, when then Konservative (Conservative party, C) Consumer Minister Lars Barfoed survived.
Aagaard is not himself a member of Parliament. Therefore, he could not vote, although he was present in Folketinget. He was brought into the government after the 2022 election.
Before that, he was the CEO of Dansk Energi from 2009-2022. Today, he is a parliamentary candidate.
ritzau
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