HELLE THORNING-SCHMIDT

Denmark's first female Prime Minister has had a torrid opening three months. After a poor election as head of the Social Democratics, she was elected to the post as the leader of a 3-party minority coalition. Since then, a series of scandals about individual Ministers, the dropping of pre-election promises, and a general air of incompetence have caused a drop in popularity for both the Government and her personally. True, she inherited economic problems not of her making; nevertheless, she has managed neither to tar the opposition with responsibility for the problems, nor to provide a clear plan for solving them.

The tradition in Denmark is for the monarch to give an (apolitical) televised speech to the nation at 6.00pm on New Year's Eve, and for the Prime Minister to give a (very political) one at 7.15pm on New Year's Day. With such a large captive audience, it is a wonderful opportunity for a politician to improve their public standing. Last year, for example, Lars Løkke Rasmussen managed to spice up a tired 10-year old Government by using the speech to announce the reform of efterløn, the long-standing third rail of Danish politics. It was not enough to get him re-elected in September, but it was a close-run thing.

Ms. Thorning-Schmidt's speech this evening was quite good. She was honest enough to admit that the economic crisis will last for years, that unemployment will almost certainly rise in 2012, and that living standards will probably fall. She also said that the only way out of the mess is for everyone to pull together (as Danes have traditionally done in the past). The problem with it was that, with the situation as bad as it is, ordinary voters will probably not be satisfied with warm, if correct, sentiment; they want concrete actions that will save their job/protect their mortgage/give them an education.  

Unfortunately, those solutions are in very short supply, both in Denmark and in the rest of Europe. Indeed, by taking on the Presidency of the E.U.'s Council of Ministers from today, Ms. Thorning-Schmidt is in the awkward position of being responsible for events outside her own country, an impossible task. I fully expect both her, and her Government's, popularity to continue to fall during 2012.

Walter Blotscher