Denmark on Thursday (15 September) elected former Social-Democrat MEP Helle Thorning-Schmidt to become its first female premier. The new government is likely to row back on controversial border checks and have a more generous approach to EU spending.
The leftist bloc behind Helle Thorning-Schmidt won 89 out of the 179 seats in the Danish Parliament, while the incumbent centre-right coalition only managed to secure 86 seats.
Through her marriage to Stephen Kinnock, the 44-year old Thorning-Schmidt is the daughter-in-law of Neil Kinnock, former leader of the British Labour Party and EU commissioner, and Glenys Kinnock, former UK minister for Europe. Trained at the "College of Europe" and a former MEP between 1999-2004, Thorning-Schmidt is set to "devote more attention to EU politics, which she knows from inside," Denmark's ambassador to Belgium Poul Skytte Christoffersen told this website.
In terms of policy, the Social Democrats have announced they are to roll back the enhanced border checks policy - a concession made by the centre-right to the anti-immigrant People's Party - which has put Denmark on collision course with the European Commission and Germany.
In terms of negotiations on the next EU budget, which will have to be carried out next year under the Danish and Cypriot EU presidencies, Christoffersen predicts that the leftist government may turn out to be less "restrictive" than the current one when it comes to EU spending. "Climate change may climb higher on the agenda, given that now it's almost a forgotten topic," he added.
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