Magtduoens triumf
BorgenUdenFilter
The episode analyzes a significant diplomatic victory for Mette Frederiksen and Lars Løkke Rasmussen regarding a new agreement with Donald T
Key takeaways
- Mette Frederiksen and Lars Løkke Rasmussen successfully negotiated a Greenland agreement in New York that maintains territorial integrity despite Trump's unpredictability.
- The new agreement uses 'code language' regarding environmental protections to avoid provoking Donald Trump.
Main topics
- Greenland-USA Agreement
- Venstre polling crisis
Notable quotes
He jumped up like a lion and fell down like a lamb.
Conclusion
While the Danish government has achieved a rare international diplomat
Transcript preview
Speaker 4 (0:08) Today we are signing an even bigger and better agreement. A deal that can last forever. Speaker 3 (0:15) Mette Frederiksen has learned the art of smear Donald Trump. He jumped up like a lion and fell down like a lamb and got... Over all, not what he had demanded, which was ownership over the entire Greenland. No, in reality, he just got the old agreements packed in on new in gold paper. It is and will be a huge triumph for Denmark and for the King's Kingdom. The question is just whether that triumph, in turn, whether it can also Speaker 2 (0:41) be Speaker 3 (0:41) changed here at home, internally, by Mette Frederiksen Speaker 2 (0:45) and Speaker 3 (0:45) Lars Lykke. Speaker 2 (0:46) But it cannot be discussed that Lykke and Mette Frederiksen brilliantly agreed to the agreement. not brilliant in the past week, is a man who for quite a while sat in government with the two, namely Truls Lund Poulsen. Truls Lund Poulsen got, as left-wing chairman, the worst opinion poll in the party's history, 5.8%. We were out there where Truls Lund Poulsen had to assure journalists that he has not lost control with the left. And it is so that if you are forced to say as chairman that I still have control. So it's usually because you don't have it. You're listening to Uden Filter, Denmark's largest independent Speaker 3 (1:27) podcast about Danish politics. We're recording here on Friday, September 25th in a studio in Vesterbro, in collaboration with our good partner, Sparekassen Kronøland. Henrik, you're on. Speaker 2 (1:43) Yes, I'm sitting here again. Last week we had to record at my place at Frederiksberg, because I was a little immobile. I'm still a little immobile, but I'm guessing there are some listeners who are tired of hearing about my knee problems. I can say that myself, but it bothers me. And if you could see in the studio, you would be able to see me as an old man sitting with my left leg up to relieve myself. But fortunately, Speaker 3 (2:05) Henrik, the talking clothes don't fail. Speaker 2 (2:09) It's Speaker 4 (2:10) a strange government. Speaker 2 (2:12) We are neither a bus, nor a car, nor a flying machine. And I can promise you, I will never point at Madder Frederiksen as prime minister. Speaker 4 (2:19) There could be a stick in the pan, and more than that. Keep Speaker 2 (2:22) it, Danish press. Speaker 4 (2:23) Live with it. Why, Speaker 2 (2:24) Satya? Great respect for the fact that everything in the journalistic world should go very, very fast, but this is not a joke. Now it's you who is prime minister, and me who is journalist. Speaker 4 (2:32) It's probably very good for the Danes, if I may say so. Speaker 3 (2:36) To the very last moment, the Danish government and the Greenland government feared what could happen when this agreement was to be presented in the FN building in New York. As the full uncle who can blame himself, I feared that they had studied, they had tried all kinds of scenarios, because what would happen if he found out, as has often happened with Donald Trump. and started to demand more, and maybe even humiliate the Speaker 2 (3:04) participants. Yes, what you're talking about here is the legendary Speaker 3 (3:07) Zelensky moment. And the way you could see that both Mette Frederiksen and Jens Frederik Nielsen were well prepared, was that Jens Frederik Nielsen had taken off Speaker 2 (3:17) his Speaker 3 (3:17) anorak and put on Speaker 2 (3:18) his Speaker 3 (3:18) jacket, because that little, can we say, just symbolism that could be in it, it shouldn't be something that was as obvious as it happened in his time with Zelensky. And it worked out over all expectations. Donald Trump believed it. He took the chair out of Mette Frederiksen and ended up kissing her without saying anything that was outside the manuscript. Something that could provoke. And on the contrary, Mette Frederiksen, as Danish Prime Minister, as a whole royal prime minister, she could say, well, now you would have made a bigger... Better, aftale, that will last forever. Og realiteten er, når man dykker ned i det, det er, at amerikanerne har fået, ja, lidt, den er blevet opdateret. Det er grundlæggende den samme aftale, der blev lavet helt tilbage i 51, opdateret i 2004. Grønlænderne, ja, de har fået meget, fordi de blev ved selve ceremonien på mange måder anerkendt som et folk, der... Jens Frederik Nielsen came back to Nuuk yesterday and was honored as a national hero. And I would say, Mette Frederiksen has also received a lot, because it has now become completely crushed, out of every doubt, that the theatrical integrity over the kingdom is intact. Trump was... Speaker 3 (4:44) But Henrik, this is also in newer times. And not only from that side, but also from a larger perspective. One of the biggest triumphs. Yes, Speaker 2 (4:56) we could sit here and look for the hard soap and try to explain that it is what it is. Namely, as you say, a triumph. You can't discuss that. There can't be two meanings. I'm aware that it's neither Lars Lykke nor Mette Frederiksen who wrote this agreement. It's someone insane. Speaker 2 (5:35) And let me Speaker 3 (5:38) just invite a little detail that shows how stupid you have actually done this. One of the things that the Greenlanders have gotten, is that... When new bases are built, it will probably be done both in Nassau and up in Mestersvig, new American bases, then you will have to continue to maintain Greenlandic environmental rules. But you knew well that if the word environment stood on paper in this agreement, then you would risk and tear Trump, and he would throw it all in... So what you've done instead of writing the word environment, is that you've referred to something called the Joint Declaration of 2004, which is about the Greenlandic environment law, and it should be respected. But it's just an example. It's mentioned in a lot of places that refer to the Joint Declaration of 2004. Which then Speaker 2 (6:23) forces Trump not to have a present. And Speaker 3 (6:26) he clearly didn't Speaker 2 (6:27) have that either. Speaker 3 (6:27) So you can say in reality with this code language, yes, you actually permitted to write some things in. where both Greenland and Denmark got the Americans to give some recommendations, which I'm sure the MPs that are negotiating, also from the American side, have been aware of. But it's just to make it completely concrete in the text, how they Speaker 2 (6:47) have been able to mingle it. I think sometimes, people like you and me, Lars, stand by and acknowledge, if we have been a little too much out of line. And that's what I'm actually doing now. Because I can remember how... You and I, and with us, quite a few of our commentators and colleagues, hit each other on the face, laughed a little, when Lars Døger Rasmussen, a few months ago, I think it was in January, proclaimed that now he had got it with him, that a high-level working group was being put down. And we were all in on it. Aha, here we go again. And it's a success, as we know him, and then because it's a guilty crutch, and... There's no way out of that, but we can talk and talk and talk. I mean, right should be right. There was something coming out of that high-level working group. It was actually the instrument that had to be used. And I think that you and I, and many of our colleagues, are standing by us and recognizing that this was actually quite a bit of a plan. Lars Lykke has, Speaker 3 (7:49) I think, got a great triumph in this, as it is formally seen by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, who has run this. But if we turn our focus over to Mette Frederiksen. Then she also comes back with a very, very significant trophy, also on the big political scene. You have to remember that this all started back in 2019, when we first heard the story that Trump had the idea of buying, he said at the time, that this would be a simple property deal. And Mette Frederiksen's first reaction, which was unfortunately enough when it broke out, was that this was an absurd discussion. That's when Trump chose to cancel an official state visit to the United States. Speaker 2 (8:28) And that Speaker 3 (8:28) was Speaker 2 (8:28) when the Speaker 3 (8:28) slogan Speaker 2 (8:28) Nasty was used. Speaker 3 (8:30) So he used the word Nasty, and we had some big, big tensions. Afterwards, yes, in many ways, you Speaker 2 (8:37) have Speaker 3 (8:37) laid down, slashed, but you just Speaker 2 (8:40) have Speaker 3 (8:40) to notice today that in this game between David and Goliath,