Prime Minister acknowledges underestimation of resistance to abolishing Great Prayer Day Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen (S) admits that the resistance to the abolishment of Great Prayer Day has been underestimated, but it does not change the government’s decision; the day will not be reintroduced as a public holiday. Although the government’s popularity has suffered from this decision, the Prime Minister insists that Great Prayer Day remains abolished, despite several upgrades to the state’s financial leeway by 2030. “It is true that there is a leeway that has not yet been utilized. I expect that there will be many proposals on how the money can be used,” Mette Frederiksen said during a break in the concluding debate in the Folketing (Parliament). Since the abolishment of Great Prayer Day in 2023, the Ministry of Finance has raised the financial room by over 30 billion Danish kroner. Part of these funds has already been allocated, but there are still several billion kroner that are not earmarked. These upgrades took place twice in 2023 and again recently, leading to an additional 11.25 billion Danish kroner in the state treasury. However, this was announced in a press release late Friday afternoon rather than at a press conference as before. The government wants to use 4.1 billion kroner of these funds for citizens’ welfare in the upcoming agreement on next year’s economy for municipalities and regions, leaving around 7 billion kroner not yet allocated. “It is a political priority that I stand behind,” emphasized Mette Frederiksen. In the traditional concluding debate in Folketing, the Prime Minister acknowledged that she underestimated the resistance to abolishing Great Prayer Day as a public holiday. However, she pointed out that if some parties want to reintroduce the day as a public holiday, they must find the funding for it themselves. “There will come a day when each party must answer if they want to reintroduce Great Prayer Day, and where the three billion it costs will come from,” it was heard in the Folketing chamber. A Voxmeter survey for Ritzau from April showed that two out of three respondents believe that Great Prayer Day should be reintroduced. In addition to the three government parties – the Social Democrats, the Liberals, and the Conservatives – the Radical Left also voted for the abolishment. However, the acknowledgment does not change the Prime Minister’s stance. After the debate, she told journalists: “We cannot always agree on everything.”

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