The party leader debate showed the extent of disagreement on the pension question

Denmark is the best country to be a wage earner.

This was quickly confirmed by both Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen (S) and the chairman of the Trade Union Confederation (FH), Morten Skov Christiansen, when FH held a meeting for wage earners at the venue Vega in Copenhagen in the afternoon.

Here, top politicians from various parties had the opportunity to discuss the issues that, according to FH, are most pressing for Danish wage earners.

In addition to investments in defense and rising food prices, there was indeed a topic that filled - namely the debate about the retirement age.

A debate that has particularly filled the air over the past year, and which indeed raises disagreement among the parties.

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Carpenters kick off debate

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According to FH, four out of five under the age of 50 are concerned about whether they can continue their careers.

This also applies to the two carpenters, Kasper and Viktor, who kicked off the debate about pensions with a question to the politicians.

They wanted to know if party leaders themselves believed they could continue to have their jobs until they were 74 years old.

And although none of the attending politicians could answer yes to that question, each had their own - very different - ideas on how the pension system should be arranged.

If it was Jakob Engel-Schmidt (M), we should not discuss whether the retirement age should be higher or lower.

He, however, would like to see the pension system become more individual.

- I represent a party that would like to look at this in a new way, he said.

- We have a proposal called flexible pension and part-time pension, which aims to help people stay on the labor market if they can work a little less.

Meanwhile, Nicolai Wammen (S) used his speaking time to praise the Arne pension, while Troels Lund Poulsen (V) preferred to focus on senior pensions, which he thanked the Radical Left for helping to introduce.

- We did this to ensure that it is not a specific year that determines whether one can retire from the labor market, but whether one is worn out, said Troels Lund Poulsen.

- That viewpoint seems to me, we should continue to uphold.

While finance minister Nicolai Wammen (S) praised the Arne pension, defense minister Troels Lund Poulsen (V) preferred to talk about senior pensions. (Photo: © Emil Nicolai Helms, Ritzau Scanpix)

Pia Olsen Dyhr (SF) reminded everyone that Danes, in fact, like to work.

- Danes just fundamentally like to work. It's part of our DNA. It's part of our morality, she said.

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Mouse or men?

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Although Jakob Engel-Schmidt (M) earlier in the debate insisted that party leaders were generally in agreement, there was not actually much agreement to be found, especially when it came to pension issues.

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> You have created chaos that I don't think Danes are familiar with

> Inger Støjberg, party leader for the Danish People's Party

And that prompted Inger Støjberg (DD) to send a jab at the government parties.

- It's like being at a government meeting. Three parties with three different views. That's actually a huge problem here, she said.

Despite the fact that it prompted Nicolai Wammen to interrupt and point out that the risk of Inger Støjberg being invited to such a meeting was not overwhelming, it did not stop her criticism.

- You have created chaos that I don't think Danes are familiar with. Mette Frederiksen throws stones, Venstre throws stones.

- Now you have to show if you are a mouse or a man.

It was Mette Frederiksen who last year opened the pension debate with a statement about how the retirement age should no longer automatically increase to the extent that it does now.

But what should happen to the retirement age instead was not clear at the time. And it is not clearer now.

Therefore, the pension issue is still completely open, and it may very well be after the next parliamentary election that the future pension system comes into play.

Warning: This article was translated by a Large Language Model, in case of doubt, you can always visit the original source.