Danish King Frederik X asked Defense Minister Troels Lund Poulsen, leader of the right-wing Venstre party, over the weekend to lead talks on forming a center-right government, after coalition negotiations led by incumbent Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen of the center-left collapsed.
Frederiksen, who has served as prime minister since 2019 and had hoped to win a third term, has been leading negotiations since the complex election held in March. However, her talks with potential partners reached a dead end, partly against the backdrop of a crisis in relations with the Trump administration over Greenland. On Friday, Frederiksen acknowledged the risk of losing her post, saying, "This may be the beginning of a process to form a center-right government."
Attacked Israel, then plunged in the election
For the Israeli public, Frederiksen will be remembered as someone who adopted a particularly hostile line. Just last August, when Denmark held the rotating presidency of the European Union, she called Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu "a problem in himself" and claimed Israel would be better off without him.
Frederiksen argued that the Israeli government was "going too far" in the Gaza Strip and even compared the pressure on Israel to the pressure imposed on Russia. She said Denmark was considering sanctions against settlers and ministers, as well as economic and research sanctions against Israel as a whole. Still, it is important to note that she refused to recognize a Palestinian state as long as Hamas controls the territory, saying she did not want to "reward" terrorism after the Oct. 7 massacre.
Despite her tough line toward the US president as well, mainly over his remarks about "taking over Greenland," Danish voters appear to have made their feelings clear at the ballot box. Her Social Democrats won only 38 of the 179 seats in parliament, the party's worst result since 1903.
The mandate, now, passes to Lund Poulsen. If he succeeds in securing sufficient support from the right and center blocs, he will become the next prime minister. If he fails, the task could return to Frederiksen or pass to another party leader. The royal household's official announcement made clear that Lund Poulsen had been asked to explore the formation of a government that would not include the Social Democrats, bringing Frederiksen closer to the end of her time in office.
