Maybe Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen was reading the same opinion column (DK) as I was yesterday about relaxing the restriction on freedom of assembly because the government has proposed increasing the number of people allowed at a gathering from ten to 50 on Monday. It sent a letter to the other party leaders as a preparation for negotiations on the measure this weekend. The proposal entails a plan to raise the limit on gatherings (DK) in three phases: to 50 on June 8, to 100 on July 8, and to 200 on August 8, with certain exceptions and qualifications. The government has been under increasing pressure to lift the ban recently as the number of COVID-19 infections and deaths continue to decline during the reopening of the economy.
Stay in your seats
The most important exception to the limitations concerns the first phase. The government will allow up to 500 persons to attend an event if the participants are sitting down, for example at a soccer match in a stadium, at a wedding reception in a restaurant, and at an annual general meeting in a conference center, as well as for summer activities for children. The increase to 200 in August will be allowed only for events that are arranged in accordance with “sector partnership guidelines.” The proposal also contains an extension of the limit on space for individuals in private businesses – that is, of one person per 2 square meters – to apply to all locations where attendees are sitting down. The parties had agreed on a general intention to ease the limit on gatherings at earlier negotiations in May.
The proposal does not cover indoor sports, fitness centers and swimming halls. Negotiations on those activities, which are subject to one of the last remaining prohibitions, are also supposed to be completed by Monday.
Grudging acknowledgment
The other parties were pleased with the news. “It’s about time that the government made this announcement,” said Kristian Thulesen Dahl of the Danish People’s Party, which has wanted people to be able to hold receptions and large parties, which will also help restaurants recover some of their usual revenues. Sophie Løhde from the Liberal Party wished the announcement had come earlier because uncertainty about the prohibition might have caused some people to cancel their wedding plans. She also wants soccer clubs to receive compensation if they normally attract more than 500 spectators. The government’s supporting parties also think the proposal is sensible, adding that they depend on the continued observance of hygienic recommendations as well as contact tracing and isolation of infection cases.
Not him again
If this weren’t enough good news for Constitution Day, Denmark, via the person of Queen Margrethe, received congratulations from an unexpected quarter (DK), none other than the national leader whose reputation has sunk to the most horrendous depths this week. Trump’s people took the time to make this gesture on a day when the president was busy saying that this was "a great day for [George Floyd]" because the unemployment rate fell for the first time since the pandemic hit. The message also mentions the reopening of the US Consulate in Greenland, a reminder of the country’s security interest in the region and Trump’s offer to buy the autonomous territory last year, which was rejected as “absurd” by PM Frederiksen.
Commentator Troels Mylenberg notes that especially on Constitution Day such congratulations should have been directed toward the democratically elected Parliament rather than a monarchic figurehead and that they wouldn’t have come at all if Trump wasn’t still interested in expanding US activities in Greenland. The message appears on the US Embassy’s website beside an alert about demonstrations against police brutality and racism that will be held in front of the Embassy this weekend.
Today is Constitution Day in Denmark, the country’s equivalent of the Fourth of July. It is also exactly one year since the latest Danish elections, which brought the Social Democrats to power with Mette Frederiksen as Prime Minister. The party received 26 percent of the vote, not a strong showing, but the right wing was divided and lost votes to the other left-wing parties. The Social Democrats were criticized by traditional left-wing voters particularly for moving to the right on immigration in an attempt to take voters from the nationalistic Danish People’s Party.
When the coronavirus hit, Frederiksen appealed to the population with the traditional social democratic values of a strong welfare state, especially the healthcare sector, and solidarity across classes in the common cause of containing the epidemic. She was considered almost authoritarian in her adherence to the precautionary principle during the lockdown phase, but her popularity soared. Although the government’s policy was criticized by the right-wing parties and the private sector for being too hard on the economy, Frederiksen won admiration even from former critics for her consistency and ability to communicate effectively to the citizenry.
Triumph of the welfare state
The Social Democrats are now polling at 34 percent (DK) of the electorate, a level they haven’t seen for decades. National leaders almost always see a boost in popularity during a crisis, but Frederiksen has maintained her support even after segments of the population began to express impatience with the gradual reopening of the economy and disclosures of the government’s rejection of the Health Authority’s recommendation came to light. According to political commentator Erik Holstein, “The Social Democratic Party has succeeded in creating a story that the solution to the coronavirus crisis is the social democratic welfare state.” Holstein expects the polling number to decline somewhat but thinks there is a good possibility that the party can retain some of its new adherents and regain its clear position as the country’s largest party.
Celebrating Constitution Day on Zoom
Denmark has seen some protests against the lockdown that claim that the threat of the coronavirus has been vastly exaggerated and the government is using the crisis as a pretext to implement authoritarian controls on the population. But such charges bordering on conspiracy theory have never gained a substantial following. On the occasion of Constitution Day, however, the issue is being raised in another quarter, the Institute for Human Rights (DK). Louise Holck, the head of the organization, notes that this year Constitution Day must be observed in a different way than usual because our freedom of assembly is being limited.
Holck asks how long Danish citizens’ rights should be restricted as drastically as they have been during the crisis. The right to assembly is one of the fundamental rights in a democratic society, and it is closely related to the essential right to expression. It is in gatherings that citizens express and exchange ideas. The Constitution says that citizens “have a right to gather unarmed without advance permission.” It says nothing about restrictions on peaceful gatherings, but the prevailing interpretation is that such restrictions should be “necessary and proportional.”
Speed up the reopening
Holck does not deny that the limitation on gatherings was necessary when the lockdown was announced on March 13 and while the epidemic continued to pose a clear threat to the population. Her position is similar to that of conservative party leaders, who questioned only the extent and duration of lockdown. But now, as the number of patients hospitalized has fallen below 100 and the economy is reopening, the restriction no longer seems "proportional": “It is harder and harder to see the justification for maintaining a ban on gatherings as small as 11 persons.”
The government has said that it will consider raising the limit on gatherings this month.
