Today’s big topic: Konservative claim it was Mette Frederiksen who wanted to abolish the Great Prayer Day

Foto: Jens Dresling

What’s happening?

It was Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen (Socialdemokratiet, S) who brought the proposal to abolish the Great Prayer Day as a public holiday to the table. And notably, it was not Venstre or Moderaterne. who both later accepted the much-maligned proposal, which caused the SVM government a significant drop in the polls.

This is according to soon-to-be former Konservative MP Rasmus Jarlov, based on his own experiences during the government negotiations at Marienborg in November 2022.

»I participated in the negotiations at Marienborg along with Søren Pape Poulsen, Mai Mercado, and Mette Abildgaard. We were negotiating, and Mette Frederiksen told us that Socialdemokratiet wanted to abolish the Great Prayer Day. There was no one else in the room. Only Socialdemokratiet.«

»The abolition of the Great Prayer Day was Mette Frederiksen’s proposal for forming a new government back then,« Jarlov says.

Why it matters!

The now dissolved SVM government’s abolition of Great Prayer Day has been heavily debated and critiqued by the other parties in parliament.

When Mette Frederiksen called for elections last Thursday, Foreign Minister and leader of Moderaterne Lars Løkke Rasmussen chose to break the musketeer oath that the SVM parties had maintained since the formation of the government, refraining from revealing details from the government negotiations. Regarding the abolition of the Great Prayer Day, he said:

»It was not my invention. I think other solutions could have been found,« Løkke told DR.

It is an open question whether a new government will reinstate the Great Prayer Day as a holiday. Liberal Alliance (LA), Dansk Folkeparti (DF), Danmarksdemokraterne (DD) and Konservative (K) in the blue bloc want the Great Prayer Day reinstated, and SF leader Pia Olsen Dyhr has called it a requirement for SF support for an incoming government that the holiday is reinstated.

During the first party leader debate on Thursday evening, Mette Frederiksen, Lars Løkke Rasmussen, Troels Lund Poulsen, and Radikale Venstre’s leader Martin Lidegaard were the only party leaders who did not raise their hands when asked if they wanted to reinstate the former holiday.

Still curious? Read the full article here.

In other news

– Women negotiate salary just as much as men, but the results are worse

There is no difference in how often men and women attend salary negotiations. Almost half – 48 percent – of both men and women reported in the survey that they »have negotiated salary in the past year. Women and men thus have the same ambitions to get a higher salary« notes Djøf chairwoman Sara Vergo. »But they do not have the same success in getting their salary increased«. Male private sector employees in Djøf received on average about 4,000 kroner more per month in their salary accounts than their female colleagues, according to the union’s equal pay analysis in March 2025.

–Blue parties could break historic red dominance in the North Atlantic

Two blue parties are leading in the Faroe Islands, while the political landscape in Greenland appears more muddled. The likelihood of four blue North Atlantic mandates is high, according to Sjúrður Skaale, a Faroese member of Denmark’s parliament. In every parliamentary election since 2001, the red mandates have been in the majority in Greenland and the Faroe Islands, thus benefiting the incumbent Social Democratic party leader. But this time, the odds suggest it may result in a total of four blue mandates.

– FC København miss out on Championship round as AGF top the table

All 12 teams played simultaneously on a dramatic Sunday in the final round of the Superliga’s regular season. FCK lost 2-1 to Randers and thus, incredibly, will not be part of the championship play-offs. The result concluded a regular season in which the country’s most successful club collapsed both on and off the field. AGF, on the other hand, had a brilliant regular season, finishing with a 1-2 victory over Vejle. The Aarhus team now has a 4-point lead over FC Midtjylland, who played to a 0-0 draw with Brøndby IF.

Talk of town: DF issues non-negotiable demand for net emigration of Muslims

Foto: Jens Dresling

The talk of town these days is election, election and more election. The rumours about a general election in March had been swirling since the start of 2026, and when it became clear that Mette Frederiksen would call the election last Thursday, the politicians and party leaders were quick to kick off their campaign.

Over the weekend, Dansk Folkeparti stated a non-negotiable demand for a future government. »Dansk Folkeparti will only join a future government if it can guarantee that more Muslim immigrants will leave Denmark than come here,« wrote chairman Morten Messerschmidt in a Facebook post. »If the government does not meet this demand, we will topple it. No nonsense.«

Among the other parties in the right-wing bloc, DF’s demand is met with either silence or skepticism.

Konservative (K) have declined to be interviewed about the proposal, while Venstre (V) and the Danmarksdemokraterne (DD) have not responded to Politiken’s inquiries. However, the political spokesperson for Liberal Alliance (LA), Sólbjørg Jakobsen, has responded and is not very keen on the demand:

»We are a bit more cautious about making such statements but I am 100 percent sure that we can find common ground with Dansk Folkeparti on a strict immigration policy regarding who we admit from abroad,« says Sólbjørg Jakobsen, who continues with a reservation:

»But setting religion as a criterion in itself, we are a bit more reserved about in the Liberal Alliance. We do not believe that is the right way to go, but the policy can certainly mean that more Muslims leave the country.«

Read the full story and DF’s elaboration on the proposal here.

This newsletter features stories originally published in Danish. AI was used to shorten and translate the articles into English, after which a member of the editorial staff reviewed and refined the content.