Following the 2001 election,
Venstre formed a government in a parliamentary coalition with the
Conservative People's Party to form a
minority government with the parliamentary support of Dansk Folkeparti. Together these three parties survived both the
2005 election and the
2007 election. After becoming prime minister, Rasmussen distanced himself from his earlier writings and announced the death of
neoliberalism during the national elections of 2005. Commonly regarded to have been inspired by the success of
Tony Blair, Rasmussen now seemed more in favour of the theories of
Anthony Giddens and his
third way. There was talk in
Libertas of revoking Fogh Rasmussen's award as a result of this, though this never happened. His government enacted tough measures designed to limit the number of immigrants coming to Denmark, specifically as
asylum seekers or through arranged marriages. However, his governments depended on the support of
Dansk Folkeparti, and it is impossible to draw a clear dividing line between his personal ideology and the required compromises with Dansk Folkeparti.
Tax reform After the 2001 elections, Venstre banned all tax increases. Venstre campaigned by claiming that taxes had been growing constantly during the previous eight years under the
Social Democrats. While the overall tax burden was more or less unchanged from 1993 until 2001, there was a shift from the taxation of income, both corporate and personal, to a personal consumption (especially through the "ecological taxes" (da.
grønne afgifter)), which gave the average citizen the impression of rising taxes. This "tax stop" was criticised by left wing parties, allegedly for being "antisocial" and "only for the rich." Since the tax stop also froze the tax on real property (da.
ejendomsværdiskat, 1%), it was beneficial to homeowners in densely populated regions that had experienced rising real estate values. The property tax was set at a nominal level – not at a relative level. While the rate was one percent when the tax stop was enacted, the rate is much less today when recent increases in property value (+20%/p.a. in large cities) are considered. The Danish Economic Council criticized this as unfairly benefiting current homeowners. Even though the total tax burden was marginally higher in 2005 than in 2001, the tax stop was popular among voters. Thus, in January 2005, the
Social Democrats announced that they accepted the principle of a tax stop until at least one right-wing party was willing to participate in tax reform. The tax stop has, however, been ineffective, judging by Venstre's intentions. Its goal was to halt the growth of public expenditures (and halt the growth of taxes), but even with cuts in public spending (which were considered aggressive by the political left wing), overall spending continued to rise by approximately one percentage point above inflation each year. From 2004 and onwards, minor tax cuts came into effect, on two accounts: • People with jobs got a 3% tax reduction on the 5.5% "bottom tax" (da.
bundskat). • An "employment deduction" (da.
beskæftigelsesfradrag) was introduced. This initiative was to encourage people to get off welfare and take jobs instead. • The bottom limit of the "middle tax" (da.
mellemskat) of 6%, was raised by 12.000
DKK every year, over the next four years. This was supposed to limit the income stresses of middle incomes and families with children. In 2009 a major tax reform was implemented. The overall marginal tax rate was reduced by 7.5%. In the end, the top tax rate (topskatten) was not changed, but the income level at which it applied was raised. This removed 350,000 Danes from the top tax bracket. The medium tax rate was eliminated, and the lowest was reduced by 1.5%. Various other tax reforms were enacted such as an increase in the old age pension, incentives for renovation, and various initiatives designed to improve energy efficiency. Finance Minister, Lars Lokke Rasmussen, called it the biggest reduction in the marginal tax rate since the introduction of income tax in 1903. In 2009 tax revenue was 777,375 million Krone. It had grown to 831,172 million in 2011, 901,001 million in 2013, 954,473 million in 2015, and 995,058 million in 2017. It's important to note that from 2011 to 2015 Social Democrat
Helle Thorning-Schmidt was the prime minister, however, she passed a tax-reform with support from the liberal-conservative opposition. It raised the top tax threshold, effectively lowering tax rates for high income earners.
2002 EU Presidency Rasmussen held the rotating presidency of the
European Union from July to December 2002, proving his dedication to a pro-EU agenda and the guiding principles of the
Ellemann-Jensen doctrine. He pursued this to its logical conclusion by publicly denouncing the
Danish collaboration policy during its second World War occupation, the first official apology on behalf of Denmark for this.
War in Iraq As prime minister, Rasmussen strongly supported the
2003 Iraq War. As in most European countries he faced considerable opposition, both in the parliament and in the general population. Subsequent opinion polls suggested the Danish population's opinion was split on the issue. One vocal protester managed to get into the Danish parliament during the period before the war, where he poured red paint on the prime minister while yelling "Du har blod på dine hænder" (literally: "You have blood on your hands"). A member of the Danish parliament for the socialist
Red-Green Alliance,
Pernille Rosenkrantz-Theil, stated that it was a reaction she might have made under the circumstances, although she later denounced such behaviour. Denmark was one of only five countries to take part in the actual invasion operations (the others being the
U.S.,
UK,
Poland and
Australia) though the contingent mainly consisted of two minor warships and staff and radio units that were never involved in actual combat. In the months after the initial phase of the war, Danish troops participated in the
multi-national force stationed in Iraq. Approximately 550
Danish troops were stationed in Iraq from 2004 and into 2007, first at "Camp Dannevang" and later at "Camp Einherjer", both near
Basra. When the contingent of troops left around August 2007, it was not replaced and Denmark shifted its focus to non-military support around Baghdad. The official reason provided is that the Iraqi government should now be able to handle security in the Basra area. Critics of Rasmussen argued that the withdrawal was motivated by decreasing domestic support for the war. In 2004 Rasmussen's government came under attack based on questions of how much intelligence it had with regard to
Iraqi
weapons of mass destruction. The government held hearings, and was forced to publish classified reports it had consulted about the likelihood of banned weapons existing in Iraq. While the Blair and Bush administrations became the subject of criticism for extended periods because of their reliance on questionable intelligence, Rasmussen stayed clear of this controversy. This is probably largely because the motion passed by parliament (Folketinget) authorising the deployment of Danish troops states as the reason for the deployment Iraq's continued refusal to cooperate with UN inspectors in violation of the UN Security Council's resolution. The Danish deployment of troops was thus not formally based on a claim that Iraq had WMD's. escorts Rasmussen into
the Pentagon on 8 May 2003. In March 2003, Rasmussen stated as one of the reasons to support a military intervention: In English, this translates to:
Gay marriage Civil unions between
gay couples became legal in Denmark in 1989. In January 2004, Rasmussen stated his belief that homosexuals should be able to marry in religious ceremonies, which were not allowed at the time in the Evangelical Lutheran State
Church of Denmark, but he has said it should be up to religious communities to decide whether to perform ceremonies for gay couples.
2005 election On 18 January 2005 Rasmussen called an
election for 8 February 2005. He delayed the call by a couple of weeks because of the
2004 Indian Ocean earthquake which killed several Danes. His government was criticized for its allegedly slow response to that crisis, although a clear majority applauded the government's actions. Although his party's support was reduced from the 2001 election, costing it four seats,
Venstre was able to maintain its coalition through gains by other parties, and on 18 February Rasmussen formed the
Cabinet of Anders Fogh Rasmussen II. Rasmussen received the most "personal votes" ever of any politician in the Folketing (Denmark's Parliament) with 61,792.
Muhammad cartoons and Danish goods boycott A major period of conflict in Rasmussen's political career concerned a set of cartoons printed in
Jyllands-Posten, a major Danish newspaper. In September 2005 the newspaper printed a full page with 12 cartoons depicting various interpretations of Muhammad. Due to the cartoons portraying Muhammad as a terrorist, some Muslims found the cartoons offensive. Rasmussen denied a request from 11 ambassadors of Middle-Eastern countries to discuss the issue. Rasmussen described the controversy as Denmark's worst international crisis since World War II. Later he stated, that he "was deeply distressed that the cartoons were seen by some Muslims as an attempt by Denmark to mark and insult or behave disrespectfully towards Islam or Mohammed."
Municipal reform One of Rasmussen's main initiatives was the introduction of municipal reform, the aim of which was the geographic and administrative consolidation of smaller municipalities and the abolition of counties. Major areas of public services, such as the national health service, were consolidated into five regional bodies, while the number of municipalities was reduced from 271 to 98. The reform was ratified on 16 June 2005 and was effective as of 1 January 2007.
2007 election and resignation In October 2007, Rasmussen called the
2007 general election, which was held on 13 November. His official reason for doing so was to allow parliament to face important upcoming decisions without being distracted by a future election, with welfare reform being cited as an example. Initial polls had predicted that neither the incumbent alliance nor the left-wing opposition would win a majority, leaving the centrist
New Alliance with the balance of power. with
Lula da Silva, 25 April 2007 At 11:30 p.m. on the night of the election, Rasmussen claimed victory on the basis of almost-complete results. By the morning of 14 November 2007, after results came through from the
Faroe Islands and
Greenland, his centre-right coalition of the
Liberals, the
Conservative People's Party and the
Danish People's Party secured 90 seats, the minimum number required for a majority. Rasmussen went on to become the longest-ruling Liberal Prime Minister of Denmark. Shortly after his second reelection in 2007, rumours began to spread in the Danish media that Rasmussen was a candidate for high-profile international jobs. A first rumour was that he was informally one of the top candidates for the new position of
President of the European Council that could be created when the
Lisbon Treaty would come into effect. Following the Irish
rejection of the treaty in June 2008, it became obvious that this position would not be created in the near future. Rumors then spread around Rasmussen's candidacy for Secretary General of NATO. Rasmussen denied the rumors until a few days before the official announcement of his selection was made. Rasmussen expressed support for
Israel's right to defend itself during the
Gaza–Israel conflict. He said that, "it was Hamas that broke the truce, and Hamas started the conflict by firing rockets on Israel. No country can just passively accept being fired on." After he was confirmed as the NATO Secretary General, Rasmussen announced that he would resign as Prime Minister of Denmark on 5 April 2009. == NATO Secretary General ==