Søren Gade believes that the chairman of Venstre (the Liberal Party), Troels Lund Poulsen, should focus on fewer tasks. Venstre’s chairman, Troels Lund Poulsen, has too many tasks, and this is something that concerns party colleague Søren Gade, who is also the chairman of the Folketinget (the Danish Parliament). According to Gade, Troels Lund Poulsen should focus more on his role as chairman of Venstre and as Deputy Prime Minister, and consider giving up one of his current tasks. “Troels Lund has three different roles that he has taken over from his predecessor, Jakob Ellemann-Jensen. I don’t think anyone can handle all those tasks effectively,” says Søren Gade. “If it were up to me, he should spend more time being Deputy Prime Minister and chairman of Venstre.”
Søren Gade’s comments come in the wake of polling data from both DR (Danish Broadcasting Corporation) and TV 2, which show that Venstre is set to gain two seats in the European Parliament. This is an improvement compared to previous polls. Søren Gade, who was Minister of Defense from 2004 to 2010, also emphasizes how demanding it is to be Minister of Defense. “I have been in that role for six years. It is a very demanding job, and I was not simultaneously Deputy Prime Minister or chairman of Venstre. I was only Minister of Defense,” says Gade.
When asked if Søren Gade is directly encouraging Troels Lund Poulsen to step down as Minister of Defense, he responds negatively. “No, it’s not up to me. I’m just saying that there will be a reshuffle. If I knew something specific about it, I couldn’t talk about it here. But there will be a reshuffle, because at some point the Prime Minister will have to appoint a commissioner, and it could be one of the ministers, which will naturally lead to a reshuffle in the government,” Søren Gade concludes. Ritzau (a Danish news agency) is trying to get a comment from Troels Lund Poulsen about Søren Gade’s statements.