The World Briefly

March 02, 2023

War and Holidays

Denmark

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Danish lawmakers voted this week to scrap a public holiday in order to boost defense spending prompted by the Ukraine war, a cancellation that outraged labor unions and opposition politicians, Sky News reported.

The vote would scrap Denmark’s Great Prayer Day, a Christian holiday that falls on the fourth Friday after Easter and dates back to the 17th century.

The government said the move will help raise tax revenues needed to pay for the country’s NATO defense spending commitments. NATO requests that its members commit at least two percent of their gross domestic product to defense spending to ensure the alliance’s military readiness.

Denmark will aim to meet that target by 2030, three years earlier than planned.

Officials predict that the holiday’s cancelation will provide more than $427 million in extra revenue earmarked for defense spending, according to the BBC.

But since the measure was introduced in December, trade unions and religious leaders have protested the holiday’s cancelation. Last month, around 50,000 protesters demonstrated outside the Danish parliament in the capital of Copenhagen against the plan.

Opposition lawmakers decried the cancelation as “foolish” and “totally wrong,” but failed to agree on calling a referendum on the issue – in Denmark, 60 legislators can demand a public vote.

Workers in Denmark currently receive up to 11 public holidays annually but this total is reduced in years when Christmas Day and New Year’s Day fall on weekends.

The government’s commitment to increasing defense spending comes amid greater concern for security following the damage to the Nord Stream pipelines, which transport gas from Russia to Germany through Danish waters.

This story originally appeared in the March 02, 2023 newsletter, A Dragon in the Shadows.