Cordsen: Søren Gade har selvskade, skade på sit parti og Esbjerg Havn.

Analyzing

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*Cordsen:* Søren Gade har compromised himself, his party, and Esbjerg Havn

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Today, the Danish Parliament will discuss whether Søren Gade can be both the Speaker of the Parliament and the Chairman of Esbjerg Havn.

Speaker of the Parliament Søren Gade. Archive photo (Photo: © Thomas Traasdahl, Ritzau Scanpix) Christine Cordsen ([email protected])

Political correspondent

54 min. ago

A hypothetical scenario:

The Chief of Defense enters Defense Minister Troels Lund Poulsen's (V) office to present the military assessment of who is best suited to build the new ships for the Danish Navy.

The message from the Chief of Defense is that, after thorough investigations, the recommendation is that the multi-billion dollar contract goes to the Danish consortium Danske Flådeskibe.

Puha. That will likely be the first thought of the Defense Minister. The case is that Danske Flådeskibe will build the arctic ships and frigates at Esbjerg Havn.

If Troels Lund Poulsen goes ahead with the military recommendation, he will undoubtedly be accused of being influenced by his party colleague, Speaker of the Parliament Søren Gade (V), who holds a position as Chairman of the Board of Esbjerg Havn.

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Detrimental to Esbjerg Havn

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If the Defense Minister instead chooses another solution, he can be accused of overlooking the military advice due to political considerations.

The dilemma illustrates that the recent weeks' harsh criticism of Søren Gade's position is not just a problem for Gade himself.

>

> Now Søren Gade has found himself in a situation, where the widespread opinion among

> his colleagues at Christiansborg is that he should resign from Esbjerg Havn

>

> Christine Cordsen, political correspondent

The situation is harmful to Esbjerg Havn, as it makes it difficult for the Defense Minister and, in that sense, also for the defense agreement parties to choose to build ships exactly on that harbor.

It makes life more difficult for Troels Lund Poulsen as Defense Minister, and as the leader of Venstre, he can note that it causes unrest at a time when Venstre has just made some progress in the polls and has some room to come out with political messages about, for example, wolves, nuclear power, and gas plants.

In Venstre's backyard, it is especially bad that Søren Gade receives an annual honorarium of 300,000 kroner for the board position in addition to the salary as Speaker of the Parliament, which is at the level of the Prime Minister's salary and includes a car, driver, and an apartment on Christiansborg for use.

In the classic backroom, it is perceived as inappropriate greed.

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Hope that Gade himself resigns

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And of course, criticism harms Søren Gade himself.

There is tradition for the Speaker of the Parliament to renounce all other paid positions, and that one should be raised above the daily political conflicts.

Now Søren Gade has found himself in a situation, where the widespread opinion among his colleagues at Christiansborg is that he should resign from Esbjerg Havn.

It applies also to the parties that will not vote for it when Enhedslisten today will try to get a majority to pass a text that in reality would make it impossible for Gade to both hold the board position and be Speaker of the Parliament.

The problem for several of the parties is that they said well for Søren Gade's harbor position when he was elected Speaker after the election in 2022.

So they cannot now come and say that it must not be, evaluates the Folketing's administration in a note to the Committee on Procedures, which has the matter on the agenda today.

Venstre's Søren Gade has been Speaker of the Parliament since 2022. Archive photo (Photo: © NIels Ahlmann Olesen, Ritzau Scanpix)

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Whispers in the taverns

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The administration also evaluates that it will always be a concrete political assessment whether the Speaker of the Parliament can maintain a specific position.

Members of Parliament can in principle not be inactive, as they are not covered by the Public Administration Act.

Members of Parliament are, after all, always elected in a local area and are expected to fight for that area.

There are also whispers in the taverns on Christiansborg about whether several of the harshest critics of Søren Gade's position are elected in areas with harbors that can compete with Esbjerg for the opportunity to lay the dock for the Navy's shipbuilding.

Enhedslisten has, in light of the administration's note, given up trying to make the rules. Instead, the party has made a so-called report, which the Committee on Procedures will vote on.

The text states that the Speaker of the Parliament cannot "hold paid positions outside of the Parliament."

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A new round in October

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There is no prospect of the text being passed. The governing parties have backing to reject it with support from at least The Conservatives and Liberal Alliance.

There is also no sign in the signals from Søren Gade himself that he has thought about resigning voluntarily from the harbor position.

But when the Parliament goes into a new session in October, Søren Gade must be re-elected if he wants to continue as Speaker of the Parliament.

If he is still Chairman of Esbjerg Havn at that time, he risks that several parties will vote against him.

This will weaken Søren Gade further, as the Parliament always strives to have a Speaker who is a politician that all parties can support. Because he should not act as a party politician, but as the whole Parliament's trustee.

Søren Gade has given the Parliament incorrect information about board work ( https://www.dr.dk/nyheder/seneste/soeren-gade-har-givet-folketinget-forkerte-oplysninger-om-bestyrelsespost )

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