Jump to content

Social Democrats (Denmark)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by 89.97.35.71 (talk) at 10:27, 27 February 2009. The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

Social Democrats
LeaderHelle Thorning-Schmidt
SecretaryLars Midtiby
Founded1871
HeadquartersDanasvej 7
1910 Frederiksberg C
IdeologySocial democracy,
Democratic socialism,
Third Way
European affiliationParty of European Socialists
European Parliament groupParty of European Socialists
International affiliationSocialist International
Website
http://www.socialdemokraterne.dk
Social Democratic election poster, October 1945

The Social Democrats (Template:Lang-da), is a Danish political party. It is currently the second largest party with 25.5% of votes and 45 of 175 seats. Since the Social Democrats were last in government, ending 2001, it is the first time the Social Democrats are not the most popular party since the end of World War II. The party is currently led by Helle Thorning-Schmidt, and it is a member of the Party of European Socialists and the Socialist International. It has five MEPs in the European Parliament, an increase of three after the election in 2004. The increase was mainly supported by the large number of voters who voted for former party leader and Prime Minister Poul Nyrup Rasmussen. He got 400.000 personal votes.

Recent history

In government 1993–2001

The Social Democrats' social policy through the 1990s and continuing in the 21st century involved a significant redistribution of income and the maintenance of a large state apparatus with collectively financed core services such as healthcare, education and infrastructure.

Social Democrat-led coalition governments (the Cabinets of Poul Nyrup Rasmussen I, II, III, IV) implemented the system known as flexicurity (flexibility and social security), mixing strong Scandinavian unemployment benefits with a more lax regulation of employment, making it easier for employers to fire people in order to encourage economic growth and reduce unemployment. It is required for people to continually try to remain an active part of the job force in order to receive benefits if they lose their job. This plan has proven to be successful at reducing unemployment,[citation needed] and it has been proposed as a plausible model for other European countries such as France.

The Cabinets of Poul Nyrup Rasmussen maintained a parliamentary majority during the period from 1993 to 2001 by virtue of their support from the Socialist People's Party and the Red-Green Alliance.

Towards the end of the 1990s, a trade surplus of 30 billion kroner (USD 4.9 billion) turned into a deficit.[citation needed] To combat this, the government increased taxes, limiting private consumption. The 1998 initiative, which was dubbed the Whitsun Packet (Danish: Pinsepakken) from the season it was issued, was not universally popular with the electorate, which may have been a factor in the Social Democrats' defeat in the 2001 parliamentary election.

In opposition 2001–present

After the defeat to the Liberal Party in the 2001 election, the party chairmanship went to former finance and foreign minister Mogens Lykketoft. Following another defeat in the January 2005 election, Lykketoft announced his resignation as party leader, and at an extraordinary congress on 12 March, it was decided that all members of the party would cast votes in an election of a new party leader. The two contenders for the leadership represented the two wings in the party, with Helle Thorning-Schmidt being viewed as centrist and Frank Jensen being viewed as slightly more left-wing. On 12 April 2005 Helle Thorning-Schmidt was elected as the new leader.

Leaders of the Social Democrats

See also

References

Template:Danish parliamentary election, 2007 navigation

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/enwiki/w/index.php?title=Social_Democrats_(Denmark)&oldid=273627125"