The Prime Minister Does Not Want Questions About the Authorities or the Logic of Rearmament

Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen has delivered her eighth opening speech in the Danish Parliament.


As is customary, Mette Frederiksen delivered her opening speech in the Danish Parliament on the first Tuesday of October. It was her eighth such speech, and the first in her capacity as leader of the four-party government following the 2026 parliamentary election.

The speech covered a wide range of issues, from agriculture and inequality between rural and urban areas to the everyday economic situation of Danes. However, it was her remarks on rearmament, the war in Ukraine and the so-called "hybrid war" allegedly being waged by Russia that have attracted the most attention among peace-loving forces in Denmark.

As she has done many times before, she stressed that "rearmament is necessary" and that it will simply continue. There is nothing particularly new about that in itself. However, the Prime Minister went further than she previously has when speaking about the issue.

For example, she went through a number of claims that she wanted to warn Danes in advance were nothing more than Russian propaganda. These claims were:

That rearmament and military support for Ukraine should stop.
That Ukraine is a country with widespread corruption.
That rearmament and military support are escalating the conflict.

In other words, anyone who holds these views about the war in Ukraine and rearmament is presumably paid by Moscow and acting as a Russian propagandist. Surely these cannot simply be positions that genuinely exist in the public debate. That would be absurd!

For the country s Prime Minister to stand at the parliamentary podium and promote this kind of poisoning of the public debate represents a new development. We are witnessing a Prime Minister who excludes certain voices in advance simply because they do not conform to the government s line. It is difficult to imagine a more authoritarian approach.

And Mette Frederiksen did not stop there. She also spoke about how Danes must be prepared for the "hybrid attacks" that Russia will, according to the Danish Defence Intelligence Service (FE), carry out against Denmark in the future. These allegedly include disinformation that may appear on social media.

She therefore urged Danes to follow and read the traditional media — presumably preferably those that promote the government-approved narrative — and to trust the authorities.

The public debate must be shaped by the people, not by the Prime Minister. Pre-emptively dismissing arguments and demanding an end to criticism of the authorities from a head of government is not worthy of a democracy.

Trust in the authorities was particularly important in Mette Frederiksen s speech. Among other things, she said that "of course we can trust the Danish authorities."

"We cannot and must not simply sit back and wait for the authorities to present evidence of each individual Russian attack. The fact that we still think this way has an air of naivety about it," she continued.

Demanding evidence for claims made by the authorities is apparently, quite simply, naive. This is despite the fact that the Danish Armed Forces recently had to amend their report concerning the alleged drones over Denmark in 2025, after, among others, TV 2 demonstrated that they had provided an incorrect time for when shots had been fired by the Danish military at a potential drone.

This was an important correction, because at the time the shots were fired, a Norwegian passenger aircraft was flying across the sky above the soldiers who fired them.

Moreover, there is still no concrete evidence that there were drones at all — but apparently demanding such evidence is now considered naive!

If it were up to the Prime Minister, this kind of questioning and critical approach towards the authorities should stop. Only the official narrative should be followed; no one should oppose rearmament or criticise the government s war-driven line.

Trust the government s escalation in Ukraine and the authorities propagation of fear — that appears to be the message from the Prime Minister.

This represents an authoritarian shift on the part of those in power. It will not work on us at Arbejderen. We will continue to challenge those in power, challenge rearmament and challenge the logic of war, regardless of whatever accusations of Russian propaganda Mette Frederiksen may make.

The public debate must be shaped by the people, not by the Prime Minister. Pre-emptively dismissing arguments and demanding an end to criticism of the authorities from a head of government is not worthy of a democracy.

https://arbejderen.dk/leder/statsministeren-vil-ikke-have-spoergsmaal-til-myndighederne-eller-oprustningens-logik

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