In a recent statement, Minister of Social Affairs Pernille Rosenkrantz-Theil (S) defended her approach to the negotiations on the new disability agreement, which has faced criticism from several political parties. The minister chose to include various parties in the negotiation process before all political parties were invited. This step has sparked debate about the traditional negotiation method at Christiansborg (the Danish parliament). The new framework agreement on the disability sector, presented on Thursday, is the first broad political agreement since 2007 and includes 25 initiatives. The agreement is the result of a collaboration between the government, Liberal Alliance, The Radical Left, and The Conservatives. The Danish People’s Party and the Denmark Democrats were also invited to the negotiations, but in the later stages and to an almost finished agreement text, which they found problematic. Mette Thiesen from the Danish People’s Party and Marlene Harpsøe from the Denmark Democrats have both described the negotiation process as unusual and criticized the lack of involvement from the beginning. Both parties chose to withdraw from the negotiations as they could not accept the premise of reducing administrative costs in municipalities.
The Minister of Social Affairs explains that her approach to political processes is to build greater trust and better solutions by having relevant parties at the table from the beginning. This method has been used before, for example, with the “Together about school” initiative in 2021, where parties within the public school sector were invited to discuss challenges and solutions together. Despite the criticism, Pernille Rosenkrantz-Theil defends her method and emphasizes the importance of involving relevant parties early in the process to achieve the most realistic and sustainable solutions. “In my conviction, it is one of the ways we get closest to reality,” she says. This approach to political work and negotiation is likely to continue to be a topic of discussion among politicians and the public as it breaks with more traditional methods at Christiansborg.