Mette Frederiksen is a Danish politician who has served as Prime Minister of Denmark since June 2019, and Leader of the Social Democrats since June 2015.
51 Facts About Mette Frederiksen
2.
Besides a brief career as a trade unionist, Frederiksen has never had any employment outside politics.
3.
Mette Frederiksen was first elected to the Folketing in the 2001 general election, representing Copenhagen County.
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Mette Frederiksen was promoted to Minister of Justice in 2014.
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Mette Frederiksen led her party into the 2019 general election, which resulted in the bloc of left-wing and centre-left parties winning a majority in the Folketing.
6.
In July 2022, the Mink Commission released a report that criticized Mette Frederiksen's government's handling of the Cluster 5 COVID-19 outbreak among Danish mink, though it absolved Mette Frederiksen of deliberate misleading of the public.
7.
The Danish Social Liberal Party brought an ultimatum against Mette Frederiksen threatening to bring a motion of no confidence against her government if she did not call for an early election.
8.
On 5 October 2022, Mette Frederiksen announced that an election was to be held on 1 November of the same year.
9.
Mette Frederiksen herself received 60,837 votes, the most of any candidate.
10.
On 13 December 2022, Mette Frederiksen announced that an accord on a coalition government with the Social Democrats, the Venstre, Denmarks liberal party and the Moderates had been reached, with herself continuing as prime minister.
11.
Mette Frederiksen was born 19 November 1977 in the city of Aalborg in North Denmark.
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Mette Frederiksen's father was a typographer and her mother was a teacher.
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Mette Frederiksen holds a bachelor's degree in Administration and Social Science from Aalborg University, and a master's degree in African Studies from the University of Copenhagen.
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Mette Frederiksen worked as a youth consultant for LO, The Danish Confederation of Trade Unions.
15.
Mette Frederiksen was elected as a member of parliament for Copenhagen County in the 2001 general election which saw the Social Democrats losing the first place and placing second for the first time since 1920.
16.
Under Mette Frederiksen's leadership starting after the 2015 general election in which the Social Democrats returned to first place and gained three seats in the Folketing, the party has moved back to the left on economic issues while taking a conservative stance on immigration.
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Mette Frederiksen was appointed Prime Minister on 27 June 2019, heading an exclusively Social Democratic minority government supported by the red bloc of the Social Liberal Party, the Red-Green Alliance and the Green Left.
18.
Mette Frederiksen gained international attention in August 2019 when US President Donald Trump cancelled a state visit to Denmark following her refusal to sell Greenland, an autonomous territory of the Kingdom of Denmark.
19.
Mette Frederiksen avoided the question on whether the killing was right, instead calling for de-escalation.
20.
At the request of the United States, Mette Frederiksen initiated diplomatic talks in early 2022 on the possible presence of American troops on Danish soil.
21.
Mette Frederiksen expressed enthusiasm for the talks, stating that "We want a stronger American presence in Europe and in Denmark".
22.
At the meeting, Mette Frederiksen promised an increase in arms and military aid to Ukraine by 600 million DKK, bringing the total Danish aid to 1 billion DKK.
23.
In 2020, Mette Frederiksen was labeled "Denmark's most eurosceptic PM in a long time" by the Danish online newspaper Altinget, as she has often criticised the EU's response to the COVID-19 pandemic, and their vaccine program.
24.
Mette Frederiksen had previously, as justice minister, supported the abolition of the judicial opt-out in the 2015 referendum.
25.
Mette Frederiksen said the 2022 Nord Stream gas leaks were sabotage, while cautioning that it was not an attack on Denmark as they occurred in international waters.
26.
Mette Frederiksen travelled to London and Brussels to discuss the leaks with British Prime Minister Liz Truss, President of the European Council Charles Michel and NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg.
27.
Mette Frederiksen talked with French President Emmanuel Macron over the phone.
28.
Mette Frederiksen reiterated to all she spoke with that there is a need for increased surveillance of critical infrastructure and that they must take Russian President Vladimir Putin's threats seriously.
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Mette Frederiksen has been leading the Danish Government response to the COVID-19 pandemic in Denmark.
30.
In June 2021, Mette Frederiksen's government announced a new model of distributing gymnasium applicants.
31.
In September 2022, Mette Frederiksen proposed that approximately half of all Master's degrees would be shortened from two years to one year.
32.
Mette Frederiksen denied this, claiming the quality of education was to increase and that workers could be trained on the job.
33.
Mette Frederiksen has stated a desire to be "Prime Minister of Children", and in 2021, she presented a plan, called, "Law of Children", in order to put the children at front in social cases, including giving municipalities more resources to take children away from violent parents, and to give children more rights in divorce cases.
34.
Mette Frederiksen is a vocal opponent of prostitution because she considers it violence against women.
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Mette Frederiksen backed the right-wing populist Danish People's Party in their paradigm shift push to make repatriation, rather than integration, the goal of asylum policy.
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Mette Frederiksen has called for a cap on non-Western immigrants, expulsion of asylum seekers to a reception centre in North Africa, and forced 37-hours-per-week labour for immigrants in exchange for benefits.
37.
Mette Frederiksen has argued that perception of the Social Democrats adopting the Third Way and practicing centrist, neoliberal economics and supporting unrestricted globalisation contributed to the party's poor electoral performance in the early 21st century.
38.
Mette Frederiksen's government has described its climate action strategy as a "hockey stick" model.
39.
Mette Frederiksen's government had plans to guarantee domestic flights during the COVID-19 crisis by subsidising domestic flights, a decision decried by green NGOs and the supporting parties Red-Green Alliance and the Socialist People's Party.
40.
Mette Frederiksen's government entered a formal agreement with the cement manufacturer Aalborg Portland concluding that they did not have to reduce their annual emissions below their 1990 level of 1.54 million CO2 tons.
41.
Previously, Mette Frederiksen had said: "I will chain myself to Portland before anyone is allowed to close them".
42.
In 2005, Mette Frederiksen had openly criticised parents who sent their children to private schools.
43.
Mette Frederiksen responded to the criticism by saying that her opinion on private education had become more nuanced since her remarks in 2005 and that it would have been hypocritical of her to put her own political career ahead of her daughter's best interest.
44.
Mette Frederiksen was strongly criticized for this - and both the Unity List and the Danish People's Party subsequently called her in consultation on the matter.
45.
Mette Frederiksen's government endured criticism in 2020 and 2021 for refusing to repatriate children with Danish citizenship from Syrian refugee camps in Kurdish-controlled Syria, due to their parents having joined the Islamic State.
46.
At a press conference on 4 November 2020, Mette Frederiksen stated that the government had decided that all mink in Denmark should be killed due to the risk of infection with COVID-19.
47.
Mette Frederiksen has denied knowledge of the lack of legal basis.
48.
The Red-Green Alliance and Green Left, both of which are supporting parties of Mette Frederiksen, announced they would not be voting for independent lawyer examination of the report, which could lead to impeachment.
49.
Mette Frederiksen later announced on 5 October 2022 that a general election would be held on 1 November 2022.
50.
Mette Frederiksen received an official reprimand from the Folketing on 5 July 2022 for her actions in handling the mink case.
51.
On 15 July 2020, Mette Frederiksen married her longtime boyfriend Bo Tengberg, a film director.