The Social Democrats face criticism from the SF for allegedly undermining their own green EU promises on the domestic front. According to SF’s political spokesperson, Signe Munk, the Social Democrats use the EU as an excuse to not implement green initiatives in Denmark. In the EU, the Social Democrats have voted in favor of a nature restoration plan that requires 10 percent of nature to be strictly protected. However, SF believes that the party is not living up to this promise nationally. When six parties outside the government recently demanded that the government deliver the promised 10 percent, Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen reportedly responded dismissively, emphasizing that setting a goal is easy, but realizing it is difficult.
The Social Democrats’ lead candidate for the EU elections, Christel Schaldemose, has proposed a significant shift in agricultural support towards climate actions. Nevertheless, the government has voted to remove a requirement for four percent fallow land on agricultural fields, which SF sees as a contradiction. Furthermore, the government has failed to introduce a national ban on PFAS substances in all products, even though the Social Democrats aim to ban PFAS across the EU. SF criticizes that the government has only introduced a partial ban and therefore does not ban PFAS in, for example, prams.
The Climate spokesperson for the Social Democrats, Lea Wermelin, rejects the criticism and describes it as a diversionary tactic from SF, who, according to her, cannot clearly answer whether they will support a distribution mechanism in the EU that could result in 7,000 more refugees in Denmark. Wermelin emphasizes that there is full alignment between the Social Democrats’ actions in the EU and in Denmark. She highlights Denmark’s leading role in working towards an EU ban on PFAS and believes that the Danish national action plan is already a significant step forward. However, Wermelin points out that certain bans require global action, which can be difficult for a small country like Denmark to implement alone.
Regarding the goal of 10 percent strictly protected nature, she emphasizes that this is a regional goal, not a specific requirement for Denmark. She mentions that the green tripartite group, which is working on specific recommendations, should help achieve the EU goal, which Denmark has also supported. Overall, the Social Democrats reject SF’s criticism and maintain that they are working in line with their green ambitions both at the EU level and nationally.