New Danish ministers previously supported a UN Parliamentary Assembly

19. Juli 2019

After the Danish national elections, which were held on June 5, the election winner and Denmark's new Prime Minister Mette Fredriksen has recently formed a minority government of the Social Democrats and announced her list of cabinet members. Two of the government's ministers are on record as signatories of the international appeal for a United Nations Parliamentary Assembly (UNPA).

Jeppe Kofod previously was a Member of the European Parliament. Image: EP

One of them is Jeppe Kofod, who has been appointed Foreign Minister. For the last five years Mr Kofod has served as a Member of the European Parliament, to which he was also elected for a second term in the European Parliament election in the end of May. Earlier in his parliamentary career Mr Kofod served 1998-2014 as a member of the Danish Parliament, Folketinget. 2011-2013 he was the chairman of the parliament's Foreign Policy Committee. In 2012 Mr Kofod endorsed the international call for a UNPA.

The other Danish cabinet member listed as a supporter is Dan Jørgensen, who has been appointed minister of Climate, Energy and Supply. Mr Jørgensen has also been a Member of the European Parliament (2004-2013) and he has served as Minister for Food, Agriculture and Fisheries in the Danish government 2013-2015. Mr Jørgensen signed the appeal already in 2007, the year when the international campaign for a UNPA was originally launched.

In letters sent to both ministers on behalf of the UNPA Campaign, Democracy Without Borders congratulated Mr Kofod and Mr Jørgensen on their appointments and expressed its hope that the new Danish government would help promote the cause of a more democratic UN in the intergovernmental realm.

Other prominent supporters in Denmark include three current party leaders: Pia Olsen Dyhr (Socialist’s People’s Party), Uffe Elbæk (The Alternative) and Pernille Skipper (Red-Green Alliance).

Top image: Christiansborg in Copenhagen seen from the Marble Bridge. Source: Moahim / Wikimedia Commons

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Tags: Denmark