Minister may cancel defense pact over conscription

Danish Defense Minister Troels Lund Poulsen (V) threatens to terminate the defense agreement if the Liberal Alliance and the Danish Democrats persist in their opposition to gender-equal conscription. Declaring this a critical priority, Lund Poulsen insisted that their blockade against necessary defense investments will not be tolerated. He criticized the Liberal Alliance’s stance against conscription and favored a ‘volunteer defense’ instead. The Liberal Alliance remains unmoved by the government’s gender-equal conscription proposal. Danish Democrat leader Inger Støjberg shows some flexibility but reiterates non-support for mandatory female conscription. The minister highlighted the consensus on the need for a longer, more robust, and equal conscription reached in the summer of 2023, seeing the Liberal Alliance’s isolation on the issue as regrettable.