Denmark's PM Frederiksen presents new left-right coalition government

Denmark's prime minister has presented a three-party majority coalition that crosses the left-right divide and includes the leader of the Liberal Party and a former prime minister in key jobs.

Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen named on Thursday former prime minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen as the new foreign minister. Rasmussen once headed the Liberals but left it to form the centrist Moderate party that wanted to bridge the centre gap.

Rasmussen served as prime minister from 2009-2011 and again from 2015-2019.

Meanwhile, Liberal leader Jakob Ellemann-Jensen was given the defence portfolio and the deputy prime minister post.

Ellemann-Jensen had campaigned against Frederiksen in the hope of building a right-wing majority but ultimately agreed to form a government with her "in Denmark's best interest".

Frederiksen's second term as prime minister looks set to be very different from her first, which ran from 2019-2022 when she led a minority Social Democratic government that relied on support from her traditional left-wing allies.

That left-wing bloc won an absolute majority in the November election, but Frederiksen chose nonetheless to form a left-right government.

She said the current global political context, with the war in Ukraine and the economic crisis, justified the move -- but convincing the Liberals to ally themselves with her is also sure to create a split on the right wing.

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Frederiksen failed however to convince the centre-left Social Liberal party to join the government, though it had been open to the possibility.

The government will have 23 ministries, of which Frederiksen's Social Democrats get 11 offices while the Liberals get seven and the Moderates five. There are eight women and 15 men.

The new governing coalition was announced late on Tuesday after 42 days of talks following the November 1 general elections. 

The three parties control 89 seats in the 179-seat parliament and are also supported by the four lawmakers representing the semi-independent Danish territories of Greenland and the Faroe Islands.

'Unusual alliance'

It was the first time in 44 years that such a centrist government had been formed, bringing an end to the two blocs that have opposed each other for decades.

But the alliance between the left-wing Social Democrats and right-wing Liberals is unusual in Denmark, with the last attempt in 1978-1979 lasting just 14 months.