The plans are clearly not suitable for the Danes, because according to Berlingske, people from all over the country arrived in Copenhagen by bus on Sunday to protest against the plans.
Tens of thousands Danes demonstrated on Sunday against the government’s holiday plans. The news agency AFP and Danish newspapers such as Berlingske and a financial magazine Børsen.
In mid-December, the Danish government announced plans to drop one public holiday to improve productivity and the economy. The purpose of the solution is to strive for NATO’s goal that the defense spending of its member countries would be 2 percent of the gross domestic product. By giving up the public holiday, Denmark aims to reach the goal three years ahead of schedule.
“There is a war in Europe and we need to strengthen our defenses. It requires a little more participation from everyone”, the Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said in December.
Read more: Denmark plans to give up one public holiday – the prime minister justifies the decision with the war in Ukraine
For the Danes the plans clearly do not fit, because according to Berlingske, people from all over the country arrived in Copenhagen by bus on Sunday to protest against the plans. According to police estimates, 40,000–50,000 people had gathered in front of the parliament.
“Undemocratic nonsense” read the protester’s sign.
The saint that might be removed from the calendar would be Store Bededag, or “great day of prayer”, which is celebrated in Denmark on the fourth Friday after Easter. The day has been a holiday since 1686.
Danish unions, for example, have said the plan violates the country’s collective agreements.
“Extremely unfair proposal”, head of Fagbèvègeslens Hovedorganisation, the central trade union organization that organized the demonstration Lizette Risgaard told AFP.
“The next time the government thinks that money is needed for something, will they take another day off or Sunday off and say that there will be work on that day,” Risgaard said.
Also Christian groups have criticized the proposal. Dean of the Church of Copenhagen, which represents the Danish People’s Church, to which 73 percent of Danes belong Johannes Gregers Jensen told AFP that the Danish government is violating the principle.
In Denmark, it has long been a tradition that “the church and its members decide on church matters, not the government,” he said.
“Now they’re doing the opposite, and that’s a big problem.”
Both trade unions and the church have criticized the government’s proposal.
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