In a significant statement, Arne Juhl, a former brewery worker and the face of the Social Democratic Party’s “Arne pension”, has criticized Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen for abolishing Great Prayer Day as an official holiday. This comes in connection with the celebration of Labor Day, where both Juhl and Frederiksen will participate in the festivities in Haderslev. Arne Juhl, who is just entering his early retirement, a right he became a symbol of during the 2019 election campaign, expresses dissatisfaction with the current government’s decision to remove Great Prayer Day from the list of holidays. “It was a mistake to abolish Great Prayer Day. It is the biggest mistake they have made,” Juhl told B.T. The so-called Arne pension, which was passed in 2020, allows Danes to retire early, depending on their years of work, with a maximum monthly payment of 14,456 Danish kroner. This reform was a central part of the Social Democratic Party’s election promises and has been a popular initiative among many Danes.
Despite his early retirement, Juhl is not afraid to criticize his own party leader, especially when it comes to labor market policy. In the past year, Frederiksen has repeatedly urged the Danes to increase their work effort, something Juhl directly opposes. “We have been fighting all the time I have been in the labor market to reduce hours. Now we have finally reduced to 37 hours per week,” he explains. The discussion about working hours has become more topical in light of the ongoing conflict in Ukraine, where Frederiksen has used the war as an argument that Danes cannot afford to work less. Juhl’s response to this is both sharp and ironic: “Well, Putin can just start a war in Denmark, because there are no longer any soldiers in the barracks.” Arne Juhl and Mette Frederiksen will both be present at the festivities on Labor Day, where they will celebrate the achieved labor rights but also discuss the future challenges for the labor market in Denmark.