Next stop Herning.
In Nyborg, Troels Lund Poulsen got what he came for. Venstre's main board has given full support to his political line and the vision that Venstre should be a greener and more modern liberal welfare party.
With that support, Troels Lund Poulsen stands strengthened heading into the next challenge – Venstre's national congress in Herning in just under three weeks.
Now it is clear that the rebels are not just in opposition to the chairman. They are in conflict with Venstre.
The party's main board, with its 136 members, is so large and composed in such a way that it covers a very broad spectrum of Venstre's organization and grassroots. The main board is Venstre's highest body between national congresses.
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Threat of expulsion
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With the backing, Troels Lund Poulsen has also received support to sanction members of parliament if a situation like the nitrogen law L5 arises again, where five out of 18 MPs voted against the party line.
And Troels Lund Poulsen's own interpretation of the text can hardly be understood as anything other than a threat of expulsion of MPs who directly vote against agreements that Venstre has entered into.
But right now, Troels Lund Poulsen must face a larger part of Venstre's grassroots when the party holds its national congress in Herning on November 14 and 15.
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A very important speech
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Here, the task is to deliver a speech that can give the grassroots confidence that Troels Lund Poulsen's vision for Venstre is the way to win back voters. Or at least enough trust in the party leadership's line to bring calm.
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> Even if it succeeds, calm does not, of course, magically make the crisis disappear.
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Even if it succeeds, calm does not, of course, magically make the crisis disappear. Venstre's crisis is largely a voter crisis, and there are no quick fixes that can solve it. It is a long, tough haul that could take several years.
But calm in the backfield is a prerequisite for Troels Lund Poulsen to even be able to reach voters again. It is impossible as long as everything about Venstre revolves around conflict and disagreement.
Venstre also cannot convince voters that the party is not in the pocket of agriculture if a vocal minority in the party keeps sending the opposite signal.
Many journalists and media outlets had gathered at the Nyborg Strand Hotel, where Venstre's main board meeting took place. (Photo: © Mads Claus Rasmussen, Ritzau Scanpix)
Calm does not necessarily mean that everyone in Venstre agrees on the course. The conflict between rural Venstre and urban Venstre has been ongoing for decades and flares up from time to time. This time in a violent conflict that is especially tough because Venstre has fundamentally been in permanent crisis since the dramatic leadership contest between Lars Løkke Rasmussen and Kristian Jensen in 2014.
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Political congestion on the suburban streets
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Previously, Venstre has managed to accommodate those differences. It has clearly become harder. Perhaps because the debate on the balance between rural and urban areas has become significantly more polarized in recent years. Which was very evident during the election campaign.
A polarization that Søren Gade put into words when, in his door-slamming interviews, he talked about Venstre never getting votes from "eco-spelt-eating women in Nørrebro".
Read also: 'If you look like a doormat, you have to accept that people step on you' (https://www.dr.dk/nyheder/politik/jeg-skal-redde-mig-selv-det-var-det-jeg-gjorde-i-soendags)
Now, it is not exactly those people that Venstre's leadership is primarily targeting with its strategy. To stay with Troels Lund Poulsen's travel metaphor, the journey is more towards the Danish provincial towns.
Venstre's leadership is particularly focused on the many Danes living in provincial towns across the country. But of course they also want to attract voters in the big cities and in rural areas. That must be the ambition for parties that want to be large, broad people's parties.
But in the Venstre leadership's view, being just a party for agriculture has no future. There simply aren't that many voters in or around agriculture.
Inger Støjberg has reached the same conclusion after a disappointing election result in the spring. That is why Støjberg, at the Denmark Democrats' national congress on Saturday, announced that the party should be less about country roads and more about suburban streets.
So there may be political congestion on the suburban streets of provincial towns.
Warning: This article was translated by a Large Language Model, in case of doubt, you can always visit the original source.