Former speaker of the Folketing enters debate on Søren Gade's double role – and he knows well what he himself would have done.

The pressure is mounting on Søren Gade, who is criticized from both sides of the Folketing hall for his dual role as chairman of both the Folketing and Esbjerg Port.

The criticism arises because Esbjerg Port is among other things in play to be the host port for the construction of the Defense's upcoming warships - a task that would secure the city hundreds of jobs.

Therefore, several members of parliament believe that it is questionable about Søren Gade's impartiality.

Mogens Lykketoft was chairman of the Folketing from 2011 to 2015 and says in an interview with Berlingske that he does not "want to get into any analysis of the concrete case."

But:

"I would certainly say what I did, and what I then thought was the right thing," says Mogens Lykketoft.

He emphasizes that it is undoubtedly the majority in the Folketing that decides which executive positions Søren Gade must hold.

Søren Gade was already appointed chairman of Esbjerg Port in 2021, while he was sitting in the European Parliament, and is annually remunerated with over 300,000 kroner.

In 2022, the Venstre leader was offered the position as chairman of the Folketing, and already at that time there was criticism of the fact that Søren Gade continued to hold the position in Esbjerg Port, but it did not shake him.

Even Mogens Lykketoft himself gave up his paid position in the Rockwool Foundation when he was offered the position as chairman of the Folketing in 2011.

"The tradition I have been a part of was that one should not hold any executive positions that had the slightest risk of suggesting that one was chairman of the entire Folketing and did not have special interests in conflict," he says and adds:

"It has been the line before in time."

Do you still think it would be the right thing to keep things separate in this way?

"Otherwise, I would have tried to change it, and I did not."

Would you, if you were in his position, have dropped the position in Esbjerg Port?

"It is certainly what I say, if you follow what I have done."

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Lykketoft: The chairman of the Folketing should be above any impartiality

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Mogens Lykketoft tells that as chairman of the Folketing one is not just chairman of a single party. But is in principle chairman of all members of parliament and should represent the interests of the Folketing.

"It is important that the chairman of the Folketing, I think, is above any doubt about impartiality in the same way as the Royal House. What has been decisive earlier is the very risk of being suspected of representing special interests," says Mogens Lykketoft.

Both the Denmark Democrats' Lise Bech and the Danish People's Party's Alex Ahrendtsen have told Berlingske (https://www.berlingske.dk/politik/ny-kritik-af-soeren-gades-dobbeltrolle-havneselskab-har-taette) that they would have dropped the position in Esbjerg Port if they were in Søren Gade's position.

The criticism is echoed by the group leader of the Red-Green Alliance, Peder Hvelplund.

"When one is chairman of the Folketing, one should only be chairman of the Folketing and not all possible other things such as representing Esbjerg Port's interests, what I go out on a limb to say that he should, when he is elected as chairman there," says Peder Hvelplund.

Berlingske could tell on Thursday that there are close ties between Esbjerg Port and the company Semco Maritime, which is part of the consortium that is competing for the billion-dollar order for the upcoming frigates for the Defense.

Therefore, it was Søren Gade himself who cut the ribbon when the company on Esbjerg Port in 2021 inaugurated the world's first thermal energy storage - one of several connections that have made parties sharpen the criticism of Søren Gade.

In the near future, the defense procurement committee will decide whether the upcoming Danish frigates will be built in Denmark. And here is Semco Maritime in Esbjerg part of a Danish consortium (https://www.berlingske.dk/politik/midt-under-historisk-oprustning-lancerer-konsortium-storstilet-plan-nye) that has a large-scale plan to get their fingers on the potential multi-billion-dollar order.

Berlingske has tried to get a comment from Søren Gade. It has not been possible.

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