Mette Frederiksen
Mette Frederiksen | |
|---|---|
Frederiksen in 2026 | |
| Prime Minister of Denmark | |
| Assumed office 27 June 2019 | |
| Monarchs | Margrethe II Frederik X |
| Deputy | Jakob Ellemann-Jensen Troels Lund Poulsen |
| Preceded by | Lars Løkke Rasmussen |
| Leader of the Social Democrats | |
| Assumed office 28 June 2015 | |
| Deputy | Frank Jensen Mogens Jensen |
| Preceded by | Helle Thorning-Schmidt |
| Minister of Justice | |
| In office 10 October 2014 – 28 June 2015 | |
| Prime Minister | Helle Thorning-Schmidt |
| Preceded by | Karen Hækkerup |
| Succeeded by | Søren Pind |
| Minister of Employment | |
| In office 3 October 2011 – 10 October 2014 | |
| Prime Minister | Helle Thorning-Schmidt |
| Preceded by | Inger Støjberg |
| Succeeded by | Henrik Dam Kristensen |
| Member of the Folketing | |
| Assumed office 20 November 2001 | |
| Constituency | Copenhagen (2001–2007) Greater Copenhagen (2007–2019) North Jutland (2019–present) |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 19 November 1977 Aalborg, Denmark |
| Party | Social Democrats |
| Spouses | Erik Harr
(m. 2003; div. 2014)Bo Tengberg (m. 2020) |
| Children | 2 |
| Alma mater | Aalborg University (BA) University of Copenhagen (MA) |
Mette Frederiksen K.1 (Danish: [ˈmetə ˈfʁeðˀəʁeksn̩] ⓘ; born 19 November 1977) is a Danish politician who has served as the Prime Minister of Denmark since 2019 and the Leader of the Social Democrats since 2015. She is the second woman to hold either office and is also the youngest prime minister in Danish history.
Frederiksen worked briefly as a trade unionist before entering politics. Elected to the Folketing in 2001 for Copenhagen County, she became Minister of Employment in 2011 and later Minister of Justice in 2014, in the governments of Helle Thorning-Schmidt. After the Social Democrats' defeat in 2015, she succeeded Thorning-Schmidt as party leader and became Leader of the Opposition.
She led the centre-left bloc to a Folketing majority in 2019, becoming prime minister on 27 June. Her first cabinet navigated Denmark through the COVID-19 pandemic. The Mink Commission criticised government handling of the mink outbreak in July 2022, but Frederiksen was cleared of deliberately misleading the public. She called an early election in November 2022, winning the Social Democrats' best result in 20 years and forming a coalition with Venstre and the Moderates.
Domestically, Frederiksen has pursued strict immigration policies while steering the Social Democrats to the political centre, combining law-and-order measures with welfare and defence policies. She passed the Climate Act (70% emissions reduction by 2030) and introduced a 2024 tax on agricultural emissions. Social reforms include expanded early retirement, strengthened vocational education, and limits on some master's programmes.
Initially EU-sceptical, Frederiksen shifted after Russia's invasion of Ukraine, supporting joint EU defence borrowing and leaving the Frugal Four. She has taken a hawkish stance on defence and security, strongly supporting NATO and the United States, and Denmark has become a top economic and military contributor of Ukraine relative to GDP. Defence spending surpassed 3% of GDP in 2025–26, conscription now includes women, and the EU defence opt-out was abolished. Politico ranked her Europe's second most powerful individual in 2025. In 2026, she condemned Donald Trump's proposed US acquisition of Greenland.