Denmark Prime Minister in Grip of Deadline to Announce Snap Elections Over ‘Minkgate’

Mette Frederiksen remains embroiled in the so-called “Minkgate” scandal pertaining to a decision by the Danish prime minister’s government in 2020 to cull the entire stock of farmed mink in the country due to a fear of COVID-19 mutations.

Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen has until Thursday to call an early general election or face a vote of no confidence amid the ongoing “Minkgate” row.

Frederiksen, who is at the helm of a Social Democrat minority government, at first faced a Tuesday deadline to announce a vote until the Social Liberals gave her an extra day.

Speaking to lawmakers earlier in the day, the prime minister stressed that “No matter what government has the responsibility after an election, there will be difficult decisions to make”. She outlined at least four pressing issues for the incoming cabinet, including economic development, welfare spending, climate change and security.

If called, Denmark's general election will come eight months ahead of schedule. The country’s national security recently came to the fore after the sabotage of Russia’s Nord Stream gas pipelines partly took place in Denmark's exclusive economic zone in the Baltic Sea, an incident that is currently under investigation.

The prime minister spoke a few months after she avoided impeachment over the “Minkgate” scandal. Her government decided in 2020 to cull Denmark’s 17-million mink population amid Covid worries, enraging farmers and animal rights activists alike.

Opposition parties at the time called for further prosecution, but a parliamentary enquiry committee issued Frederiksen a symbolic reprimand and decided against any more legal action.

The Danish government had moved to kill the entire stock of farmed mink in the country to stop a mutated Covid variant for fear that it would intervene with the vaccination process. This provoked a public uproar, as the move was found to be unconstitutional because Danish law doesn't support the killing of healthy animals. Subsequently, Frederiksen pointed to then-food minister and party mate Mogens Jensen, who left his post over the scandal.

Frederiksen, for her part, admitted her "mistakes", but argued that she was unaware that there was no law that allowed her to order the cull. She has also claimed that the decision to slaughter mink was "taken on the basis of a very serious risk assessment."