Denmark appoints first woman prime minister
Baku, October 3 (AZERTAC). Denmark`s queen has appointed the country`s first woman prime minister after Social Democratic leader Helle Thorning-Schmidt reached a deal on a coalition cabinet with two other parties.
Thorning-Schmidt said the new government with the Social Liberal and Socialist People`s parties would appoint its ministers today.
The presentation of the government platform and ministers today will come in time for Thorning-Schmidt to give the prime minister`s speech at the opening of parliament tomorrow, as required by the Constitution.
The three parties have been negotiating to form a government since the September 15 general elections which gave the centre-left a wafer thin victory over the centre-right government of Liberal leader Lars Loekke Rasmussen.
The three parties of the new centre-left government have 77 seats in parliament, but with the support of the left-wing Red Green Party, they have a total of 89 seats.
The former centre-right government and its supporters have a total of 86 seats.A majority in the 179-seat Folketing is 90 seats, with the final four seats reserved for two representatives each from the autonomous overseas territories of Greenland and the Faroe Islands. Three of these seats are centre-left, while one is centre right, assuring the Helle Thorning-Schmidt administration of a majority.
A news blackout on new government policy has been in place since negotiations began, but some policy indications have emerged in recent days.
Thorning-Schmidt, 45, who will be Denmark`s first female prime minister, aims to kick-start economic growth with a 10bn Danish crowns ($1.8bn) stimulus package. She also plans to invest in education and infrastructure to create more jobs.She has promised not to make life more expensive for one of the world`s most heavily taxed people, but asked Danes during the election campaign to work 12 minutes more per day, an hour a week, to boost productivity. She has said she will balance the budget by 2020.
The government will also adopt a more ambitious goal for cutting carbon dioxide emissions and boosting use of renewable energy, local media said. The government will rely for parliamentary support on the far-left Red-Green Alliance party, which made strong gains in the election but was not included in the coalition.
The Social Democrats are expected to get 11 ministerial portfolios, the Socialist People`s Party six and the Social Liberals six, Danish media reported. Social Liberal leader Margrethe Vestager, tipped to be deputy prime minister, was said by local media to have won many concessions in the talks to form the coalition, including blocking a plan to introduce a “millionaire tax” on the rich.
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