Denmark’s Mette Frederiksen calls March election amid ‘Greenland bounce’ in polls – as it happened | Europe

Closing summary

Jakub Krupa

… and on that note, it’s a wrap for today!

• Danish prime minister Mette Frederiksen has announced general election on 24 March proposing wealth tax to fund schools, promising to secure the future of the commonwealth and pledging to hold Europe together (12:49, 12:58).

• The move is seen as an attempt to capitalise on recent poll gains after Frederiksen succeeded in rallying European allies in defence of Greenland amid continuing interest from US president Donald Trump (13:22, 13:57).

In other news,

• US and Ukrainian negotiators held another round of talks in Geneva about the proposed “prosperity deal” designed to help with the postwar reconstruction of Ukraine in case of a peace settlement with Russia (9:47, 11:20, 14:30).

• Hungary’s prime minister Viktor Orbán has urged the European Union to form a “fact-finding mission” to inspect the Druzhba pipeline amid escalating tension with Ukraine (11:48).

• Swedish and Nordic energy infrastructure operators were told step up their readiness in case of any possible acts of sabotage or disruption in response to a recent incident in Poland (11:37, 12:03, 14:21).

• A post-Brexit treaty permitting free movement between the British enclave of Gibraltar and Spain is set to be signed next month and come into force in April (16:55).

• Norway’s 89-year-old King Harald who fell ill while on holiday in Spain was expected to be discharged from hospital today (14:07).

And that’s all from me, Jakub Krupa, for today.

If you have any tips, comments or suggestions, email me at [email protected].

I am also on Bluesky at @jakubkrupa.bsky.social and on X at @jakubkrupa.

Hundreds of film-makers back Berlinale director in row over winners’ Gaza comments

Deborah Cole

in Berlin

Prominent directors and actors have rallied in support of the American head of the Berlin film festival in response to reports she could be sacked over comments by award-winners criticising the war in Gaza and the German government’s support for Israel.

Germany’s federal government commissioner for culture and media, Wolfram Weimer, convened a crisis meeting on Thursday on the “future direction of the Berlinale”, which is among Europe’s top three cinema showcases with Cannes and Venice.

Weimer’s office said after the talks that “discussions about the direction of the Berlinale will continue in the coming days” between the festival chief, Tricia Tuttle, and the event’s supervisory board.

The newspaper Bild had reported that Thursday’s meeting could result in the firing of Tuttle, the US director of the festival since 2024, after controversy over pro-Palestinian speeches at Saturday’s closing gala, one of which criticised Germany as “partners in the genocide”.

Bild cited sources close to Weimer as saying that the acceptance speech by the Syrian-Palestinian director Abdallah al-Khatib, who won the best first feature award for his drama Chronicles From the Siege, and a picture taken a week earlier that showed Tuttle with al-Khatib’s film team had caused particular offence.

The photograph showed several members of al-Khatib’s team wearing keffiyeh scarves and one holding a Palestinian flag.

The Berlinale director commonly takes pictures with the film crews during the festival.

A post-Brexit treaty permitting free movement between the British enclave of Gibraltar and Spain is set to be signed next month and come into force in April, AFP reported.

The agreement, negotiated between Britain and the EU, seeks to remove physical barriers and checks on people and goods moving between Spain and the territory.

The deal was reached last June after years of difficult negotiations, following tensions between London and Brussels in the aftermath of the UK’s 2016 Brexit vote and subsequent departure from the European Union.

A more than 1,000-page draft copy of the agreement was published today by both the UK and the Gibraltar authorities.

The agreement still needs to be signed, ratified and implemented.

The UK expects its signing to take place next month, Stephen Doughty, a foreign office minister, told parliament.

Gibraltar’s chief minister Fabian Picardo told the territory’s local parliament that the aim was for “provisional application by 10 April”.

This would coincide with the full rollout of the EU’s new digital border-control Entry/Exit System (EES) for non-EU nationals entering or leaving the Schengen Area.

UK denies ‘absurd’ criticism for new rules on dual nationals that risk leaving people stranded

Lisa O’Carroll

Meanwhile, the new UK rules for dual nationals – including thousands of Europeans who hold dual EU-UK citizenships – continue to cause additional stress and disruptions to people’s travel plans.

Under the rules, dual nationals risk being denied boarding if they do not present a British passport, current or expired, or a “certificate of entitlement”, costing £589, attached to the passport of their second nationality, to prove their right to enter the UK.

My colleague Lisa O’Carroll reported on several stories of people affected by the little-known change.

In her latest story, Lisa reports on a case involving a British man and a Danish woman who fear they will be separated from their young children in Copenhagen airport because of new border control rules on British dual nationals.

James Scrivens and his wife, Sara, who live in Wales, were visiting relatives in Norway and Denmark during the school holidays, and learned about the new Home Office rules only while they were abroad.

During an urgent question in which the Guardian was praised for bringing the plight of some dual nationals to light, the migration minister Mike Tapp dismissed as “absurd” claims that the government had failed to properly communicate the new rules.

The Czech Republic is “certainly not” setting a path to reach higher defence spending levels despite rising Nato targets, prime minister Andrej Babiš said, marking a clear departure from the previous government’s policy, as reported by Reuters.

Babiš’s government, led by his populist ANO party, took power in December and is pushing a re-worked 2026 budget plan through parliament. It has faced some criticism over lower defence spending, however.

The prime minister said before last year’s election that a Nato agreement to gradually raise defence spending to 5% of gross domestic product was unrealistic.

Now asked in an online interview on news server Denik.cz if the government was on a path to a core defence spending target of 3.5% of GDP set in the Nato agreement, Babis said: “Certainly not.“

“Our priority is the health of our citizens, so that they live long lives,” he said.

Meanwhile, we are getting a line from Berlin that the German domestic intelligence service must not refer to the Alternative for Germany (AfD) as right-wing extremist for now, according to a decision issued by an administrative court in Cologne, Reuters reported.

Here’s more on the original decision from last year:

Back to Geneva, the US-Ukraine talks are now under way, we are told.

“A bilateral meeting with the American delegation has begun – with Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner,” Ukraine’s Rustem Umerov said on social media, adding: “We will thoroughly work through the prosperity package.”

Here’s more on the context of the talks (11:20).

Staying with the Nordic theme, we also have a bit more detail on that warning about the energy infrastructure in Sweden (12:03).

The country’s signal intelligence agency FRA said in a statement quoted by local media that it was a routine move to ask the sector to stay vigilant following last December’s cyber-attack on the Polish energy sector targeting wind and solar farms, which was attributed to Russia (Europe Live reference).

In contrast to original media reporting, it said there was “no specific threat” behind the notice.

Deputy prime minister Ebba Busch said on X that “the energy sector has long been identified as a target for threats and attacks,” but there was “currently no new, specific threat against the Swedish energy system.”

In other news, Norway’s King Harald, 89, who fell ill while on holiday in Spain, will be discharged from hospital on Thursday, the royal palace said in a statement quoted by Reuters.

Europe’s oldest head of state was taken to hospital on Tuesday on the Spanish island of Tenerife, where he was on a private holiday, suffering from a skin infection on his leg as well as dehydration.

King Harald and his wife, Queen Sonja, will continue their private stay in Tenerife, and no decision has yet been made on when they will return home, the palace said.

‘Strange’ government runs out of track as Frederiksen hopes for new mandate for third term – snap analysis

Jakub Krupa

It’s worth remembering that the now-caretaker Danish government, formed in 2022, is a fairly unusual cross-partisan coalition of three parties across the political divide – two on centre-right, and one on centre-left – which often see things differently; for example, on the issue of wealth tax.

Frederiksen herself called it a “strange” government.

The election could see a new, more aligned, coalition emerge at the end of the process.

For her part, Frederiksen signalled she would be prepared to again work in the centre of the political spectrum or get closer to partners on the left as she hopes to secure a third term as the PM. “I am not ruling anything out in advance,” she said.

But, as DR notes, this is likely to be a strange and possibly divisive campaign, now pitting recent allies against each other.

And it’s not just Frederiksen who enjoyed good momentum in recent months as the Moderates party of the foreign minister, Lars Løkke Rasmussen, has gone up from 3% to 8% in the latest figures.

Defence minister Troels Lund Poulsen, of the Venstre party, is tipped as another potential prime ministerial candidate.

Let’s see how the campaign unfolds. We will follow it closely.

Frederiksen’s moves to capitalise on recent poll gains after rallying allies in defence of Greenland – snap analysis

Jakub Krupa

Mette Frederiksen’s Social Democrats are currently polling at 22-23%, a notable climb from 18% in December.

This surge follows her administration’s defiant stance against Donald Trump’s push to control Greenland.

By successfully rallying European allies behind Copenhagen and Nuuk – even despite threats of retaliatory tariffs from the US – Frederiksen appears to have solidified her domestic standing.

With an election deadline looming later this year, calling a vote now could allow her to capitalise on this momentum – particularly if, as Miranda said (12:58), Frederiksen wants the issue of European and Danish unity to play a big part in her campaign.

A YouGov poll found a big jump in her personal approval ratings in January, gaining 10pp compared to December, which the company said had to do with “a rally-around-the-flag effect, given the recent Greenland crisis.”

Still, her net result remained marginally negative, meaning more people had a negative view of her.

There will be a number of tricky issues that are likely to heavily future in the campaign, too – and Frederiksen had faced some criticism over her domestic record in recent months.

Denmark’s Berlingske newspaper said it expected lots of attention to be given to the issues of inequality and wealth – as already indicated by Frederiksen’s words on wealth tax – but also retirement, immigration, housing policy, and regulatory red tape.

Finally, there is the issue of Greenland.

Could Donald Trump possibly dare to seek to intervene in the (very short) campaign?

Frederiksen’s request for elections accepted by Danish King

Miranda Bryant

Nordic correspondent

The prime minister’s office said in a statement:

“Following the Prime Minister’s recommendation, which has been accepted by His Majesty the King, it has been decided by open letter that, in order to give the voters of Folketinget the opportunity to take a position on important political issues, new elections to Folketinget will be held on Tuesday, March 24, 2026.”

Denmark’s Frederiksen calls election amid ‘Greenland bounce’ in polls – snap analysis

Miranda Bryant

Nordic correspondent

Mette Frederiksen announces general election on 24 March proposing wealth tax to fund schools, promising to secure the future of the commonwealth and pledging to hold Europe together.

It will be a crucial election, she says, adding that Denmark and Europe must stand in their own right and that Denmark’s commonwealth must be secured.

Her decision to call the election now comes as the prime minister is said to be enjoying a “Greenland bounce” in the polls – after poor performance in local elections in which her party lost control of Copenhagen for the first time in decades – in response to her handling of the US crisis after Donald Trump’s repeated threats to invade Greenland.

And here we go: Mette Frederiksen says the Danes will go to the polls on 24 March.

Jakub Krupa

Are we going to get a specific commitment from Frederiksen on the date, or it is just general election talk since we know it has to happen this year?

Stay with us – we’ll bring you the latest here.