Denmark in the 1960’s

Denmark in the 1960’s

The success of the Social Democratic Party, with the increase of six seats in Parliament, and its leader W. Kampmann, in the electoral consultation of November 1960, was accompanied by the decline in the parties of the government coalition (radicals and “Georgists” who lost three and nine seats respectively) and therefore by the impossibility of forming new stable majorities. The push against the Atlantic Pact, nuclear weapons and rearmament in general, alive in a large part of the Social Democratic electorate, assigned 11 seats to the People’s Socialist Party (founded by A. Larsen, former leader of the Communists), which was opposed to rearmament Germany, the increase in war potential and the increased participation of Denmark in NATO. The crisis was resolved by Kampmann by associating an independent deputy from Greenland and one of the Faroe Islands to the government. The contrast between social democrats and radicals in foreign policy, in particular on the creation of a united German-Danish military command in the Baltic Sea, it undermined the already weak coalition and the Denmark, albeit united to the countries of the Nordic area by bonds of multi-year cooperation, worked in those years for alignment with the Community Europe and for entry into the EEC. The surrender of the radicals in the electoral consultation of September 1964 forced the Social Democrats to form a single-color minority, unable to undo the knots of the Danish economic crisis, which opened in 1961-62 due to the ever increasing difficulty of placing agricultural products on the market. alignment with Community Europe and for entry into the EEC. The surrender of the radicals in the electoral consultation of September 1964 forced the Social Democrats to form a single-color minority, unable to undo the knots of the Danish economic crisis, which opened in 1961-62 due to the ever increasing difficulty of placing agricultural products on the market. alignment with Community Europe and for entry into the EEC. The surrender of the radicals in the electoral consultation of September 1964 forced the Social Democrats to form a single-color minority, unable to undo the knots of the Danish economic crisis, which opened in 1961-62 due to the ever increasing difficulty of placing agricultural products on the market.

Only in January 1966, with the support of the radicals and liberals, did the government succeed in passing a series of tax increases (electricity, advertising, alcohol, tobacco, cars, petrol, etc.) and getting the state budget to vote.. The government measures and the position of the radicals (on the left in domestic politics and on the right in foreign policy: collaboration with Bonn Germany, participation in NATO) ended up benefiting the non-governmental political formations, which obtained striking successes in the elections for the renewal of municipal and provincial councils. The different orientation of the electorate and the opposition of Parliament to the government bill relating to a different way of collecting income tax, led Krag to terminate the legislature early.

According to ehotelat, the recourse to the electorate, however, left the traditional equilibrium substantially intact and the Social Democratic Party formed a new minority cabinet which governed the country for about a year. The anti-inflationary policy proposed by the government (price freeze, temporary suspension of the sliding scale for wages, 3% increase in the tax on non-wage income) after the devaluation of the British pound and the Danish krone caused a rift in the interior of the popular socialists: the followers of Larsen and his “pragmatic socialism”, in favor of the government project, and the internal opponents who saw it as a betrayal of the interests of the working class. L’ inability to implement any government action led to a new early dissolution of Parliament and in January 1968 the Danes were called to the polls for the third time in less than four years. The further loss in seats and percentage suffered by the Social Democrats and the Socialists allowed the formation of a new center-right coalition (radicals, conservatives and liberals) headed by H. Baunsgaard. While maintaining the traditional lines of foreign policy (participation in NATO, readiness for disarmament, for overcoming the blocs and for developing dialogue with Eastern European countries), the new coalition, which governed the fate of the country until 1971, accelerated the negotiations for the entered the EEC and made a clean cut in public spending for a rebalancing of the balance of payments and the economy. The loss of 10 seats, suffered by the three governing parties in the elections of September 1971, and the slight resumption of the left, brought the Social Democrats back to the leadership of the government in a situation substantially equal to that of 1968: single-party minority with the external support of the popular socialists.

The entry into the EEC, definitively sanctioned by a popular referendum (October 1972), determined a strong exodus of Social Democratic members and prestige militants towards the popular socialists who had fought against membership. The leader Krag resigned and the direction of the government and the party was entrusted to A. Joergensen, a politician of worker origins, coming from the trade union movement and therefore with a greater capacity to hold on to the popular masses. The practical impossibility of exercising power due to the almost perfect balance established in the Danish parliament between conservatives and progressives frustrated Joergensen’s action (transfer of ownership of industrial enterprises to employees) and made it necessary to resort to early elections (December 1973), whose results caused a real political earthquake: the parties represented at the Folketing (parliament) went from 5 to 10 with sensational losses of all traditional forces. Massive losses of the Social Democrats (24 seats), the Conservatives (15 seats), the Liberals (8 seats), the Radicals (7 seats) and the People’s Socialists (6 seats). The most sensational affirmation was that of the recently formed Progressive Party, which with its 28 seats became the second Danish party. Its founder, M. Glistrup, summed up the tiredness and insecurity of Danish society by advocating the abolition of taxes, the army, bureaucracy, political parties and the prime minister’s office itself. Among the new political formations that appeared, the democratic center of E.

It was the liberal Hartling who gave life to a new coalition supported by the five moderate parties (conservatives, liberals, radicals, center democrats, Christian Democrats) which could have 79 seats out of 179. The worsening of the problems connected with inflation, the the increase in the unemployment rate, the changed political framework after the administrative offices of March 1974 and the substantial ungovernability of the country led the prime minister to the early dissolution of the Chamber (December 1974) and to resort to the electorate (January 1975): the government project freezing prices, wages and company dividends was the immediate cause. The results of the elections confirmed the political instability of the Denmark hit more than other countries by the rise in oil products, rising unemployment and an inflation rate of 16%. The success of Hartling’s party which increased its representation in parliament by 20 seats was matched by the significant loss suffered by all the parties of the government coalition. The task of forming the new cabinet was entrusted to the Social Democrat Joergensen who, having failed in the negotiations for a broader coalition, fell back on a single-color minority.

Denmark in the 1960's

Comments are closed.