Wake-up call: Danish PM Frederiksen’s first interview after the attack

Denmark’s Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said the recent assault on her in Copenhagen was proof that the boundaries in society are changing fast, spurred on by social media, and described the disappointing results for her coalition in the European election as a “wake-up call”.

The Social Democratic prime minister declared in an interview with Danmarks Radio – the first since the attack on Friday (7 June) – that she is not yet “completely herself”.

Frederiksen was attacked by a man in a square in Copenhagen and was taken to hospital with a minor neck injury.

The attacker, said to have been under the influence of drugs and alcohol, was arrested at the scene and has been remanded in custody. In questioning, he is reported to have expressed remorse and described Frederiksen as a good prime minister.

“I have no doubt that it was the prime minister that the blow was aimed at. In that sense, it also becomes a kind of attack against us all”, Frederiksen told the radio on Tuesday (11 June).

“I am Mette in my own heart, but I am the country’s prime minister. And such an institution cannot be attacked, like the police”, she added.

According to Frederiksen, this means there are now places where Danish politicians can no longer go.

“I’m so sad because we’ve always been so happy and I think proud of a country where the prime minister cycles to work and we meet down at the supermarket,” she said.

According to her, the boundaries in society move very quickly, pointing to comments on social media where people seemed to rejoice at the attack on her.

“There is a landslide going on. And I think it’s hard to argue anything other than that social media is not helpful to our democracy, but on the contrary incites more hatred and polarization,” she concluded.

A wake-up call

Denmark’s three governing parties  – the Social Democrats (S&D), Venstre (Renew), and the Moderates (Renew) – jointly won 36.2% at the EU elections, a far cry from the 50.9% they received in the 2022 national elections.

Frederiksen’s own Social Democrats came second with just 15.6%, their worst election result in more than 125 years.

“I’m really annoyed by this result. It’s a wake-up call. I’m listening. Both from a social democratic perspective, it was definitely not good enough. But also in terms of the government.”, she said in the interview.

Foreign Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen (Renew Europe) said in his speech on election night that the EU election was a finger pointed  to the government, which must rethink how its project can be ‘revitalised’.

But Frederiksen chose to play it down, while acknowledging that changes must be done.

“I don’t think you can see it as anything other than a warning”, she said, adding that it is definitely a a wake-up call and a message from the Danes that there is something wrong with this government.

“Also in some policy areas where large parts of the population do not think we are where we need to be. We’ll have to think about that”, she concluded.

[Edited by Zoran Radosavljevic]

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