The Danish government, which hoped to raise funds to finance the increase in military spending, faces an almost general opposition to the announced end of this holiday.
by Anne -Françoise winter (Malmö (Sweden), regional correspondent)
The revolt rumbles in Denmark. Who could have imagined the inhabitants of the Scandinavian kingdom also attached to their “big day of prayer”, the Bededag blind, instituted the fourth Friday after Easter, by Bishop Hans Bagger in 1686? Obviously not, in any case, the new government coalition: composed of the social democrats, the liberals and the centrist party of the moderates, it decided to suppress this holiday, to finance the increase in the defense budget and thus reach 2 % GDP by 2030, with four years ahead of the calendar initially announced.
Since this project was revealed by the leaders of the three parties, on December 14, critics are raining and did not seem about to diminish. On the contrary. Anger continues to intensify. Tuesday, January 17, the nine opposition parties from the far left to the far right have announced that they would refuse to participate in a new agreement on defense policy if the government did not withdraw its proposal.
A few times earlier, the main union center of Denmark, Fagbevægelsens Hovedorganization (FH), with 1.3 million members (in a country of 5.8 million inhabitants), launched an online petition, calling for all the Danes to sign it. “Life is not limited to work and calculation sheets, notes the organization. The big day of prayer is our day of common leave, when we can relax or be with our family and our friends. This must remain In the future in Denmark. “
” Summer and sadness “
FH plans to organize a demonstration before the Parliament and requires a referendum. In addition to wanting to suppress a public holiday, the unions criticize the government for bringing the “Danish model” into play, by imposing the agenda of collective negotiations between the social partners, who have just started for 600,000 private employees.
They are not the only ones to protest. The Evangelical Lutheran Church – official church in Denmark – does not take off. In a letter addressed to the Minister of worship, on January 13, the ten bishops of the country share their “astonishment and sadness” and denounce “a break in relationships of trust” between the Church and the State. In a press release published a few days earlier, they recalled the importance of traditions and stressed that the Bededag store, with the return of sunny days, is particularly conducive to the holding of confirmations.
Economists, for their part, question the calculations of the Ministry of Finance, which expects an increase in working time of 0.34 %, allowing to bring in 3 billion crowns (400 million euros) to State funds and increase GDP by 1.2 billion euros. Provided that companies agree to pay one more wages to their employees one day and that the Danes do not put themselves on leave.