How the Danish head of government Mette Frederiksen wants to remain at the top of her country in the new elections called by a balancing act.
March 1, 2026, 10:31 p.mMarch 1, 2026, 10:31 p.m
Niels Anner, Copenhagen / ch media
Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen announces early elections in parliament in the Christiansborg Reichstag building in Copenhagen.Image: keystone
Denmark only has 6 million inhabitants, but its head of government is considered one of the most influential women ever. The business magazine “Forbes” ranks Mette Frederiksen among the 15 most powerful politicians in the world and the political medium “Politico” even named her the person with the second most power in Europe at the end of 2025.
There was only one person ahead of her, paradoxically Donald Trump – who plunged the Danish social democrat and her country into a crisis with his claim to Greenland. A crisis from which it emerges stronger thanks to its uncompromising rejection of the US President, cooperation with Greenland and the strong support of European countries.
Frederiksen has therefore called for new elections on March 24th – eight months earlier than legally required. If the plan works, she could achieve the feat of a third term in office.
Election poster with Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen in Copenhagen.Image: keystone
Trump complained in 2019 that it was “nasty” that Frederiksen rejected his first Greenland takeover offer as “absurd”. Just a few months ago, no one would have thought that he, of all people, could be the reason for their political survival. Because parallel to their international rise, the situation at home was completely different.
Big problems at home
The local elections in autumn 2025 were a humiliation for Frederiksen: the Social Democrats lost massive share of the vote and several strongholds, including Copenhagen, which they had ruled for a hundred years. At the same time, her government became unpopular over several domestic issues.
Frederiksen dared an experiment in 2022: a grand coalition with two bourgeois-liberal parties, which has hardly been tested in Denmark. This gave the government majorities, but ultimately made no one happy. All three parties continued to lose ground in the polls.
For Frederiksen, things went like they did for Emmanuel Macron, formerly Angela Merkel or Finland’s Sanna Marin: often tough in her own country, but the 48-year-old had a high profile internationally. She also left her signature abroad that characterizes her political rise with social democracy: left-wing social, liberal economic policy, tough migration and security policy as well as the ability to find pragmatic solutions even across divides.
Mette Frederiksen arrives at Danmarks Radio in Copenhagen for the party leader debate.Image: keystone
Denmark had a strong influence on the discussion in the EU about asylum centers outside Europe; Today, the solution approach, which was once heavily criticized, is openly discussed. Frederiksen was always unconditional on the Ukraine issue: in April 2022 she became the first Nordic head of government to travel to Kiev, and Denmark was one of the first countries to promise F-16 jets in 2023. In terms of economic performance, Denmark is one of the largest supporters of Ukraine in the world.
Leadership despite bullying from the USA
The international reputation helped Frederiksen enormously when Trump’s Greenland threats hit. She mobilized European partners, showed leadership – and managed to turn the crisis into diplomatic negotiations for better military cooperation in the Arctic. The reward: The decline in the polls in Denmark stopped; the election campaign could come.
Frederiksen surprised everyone at the start with the promise of a new wealth tax for the richest in Denmark. Around 22,000 people would be affected, and the income of the equivalent of 850 million francs would be invested in schools and the welfare state. The bourgeois camp and the business community are already protesting – we know the development in Norway, where there was a significant migration of wealthy people to Switzerland.
But for Frederiksen, the strategy is clear: she argues with growing inequality, with the aim of winning back left-wing voters and revitalizing cooperation with the other left-wing parties.
The Social Democrat has the mathematical prospect of a left-wing government, but also the possibility of forging a center-left coalition with new partners. She is leaving all options open and is prepared to perform a political balancing act in order to secure a third term in office. This would put her in an exclusive small group of Nordic heads of government. (aargauerzeitung.ch)