Danes and Slovenians cast their ballots earlier this week in key parliamentary elections. We take a look and what these votes mean for the European Union.
During a crucial electoral week for two European Union (EU) member states, Slovenia and Denmark, Brussels, My Love? sits down with Petros Fassoulas, secretary general of the European Movement International, to hear his take on these elections and explore what they have in common.
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Denmark’s snap parliamentary elections
Danes went to the polls on Tuesday, in a snap election called by Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen in February.
The election ended in an inconclusive result, leaving Frederiksen’s future unclear. Her party, the Social Democrats, won 21.8% of the vote, their lowest share in 120 years.
However, according to Fassoulas, the result shouldn’t be viewed too negatively, considering that since her party lost the mayorship of Copenhagen in 2025, predictions for her and her party had been quite dire.
“The fact that she managed to come out of this election, perhaps not with the result she wanted, but still in control of her own fate, able to perhaps keep her job, that in itself is quite an escape that just a few months ago wasn’t on the cards”.
Neither the left bloc nor the right bloc managed to win the majority in parliament, leaving the moderates, led by Foreign Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen, as the kingmaker of the election.
Slovenia’s parliamentary elections
Last Sunday, Slovenes voted in parliamentary elections.
The centre-left Freedom Movement led by Prime Minister Robert Golob won the election in a very tight race with the right-wing Slovenian Democratic Party led by Janez Janša.
As Fassoulas explained, the two blocs of the debate reported two different views of the world. “On the one side, you had a liberal pro-European politician who believes in social reforms, and he's very much open in his approach to various issues,” he said. “On the other hand, you had a politician who is a populist, a big supporter of Donald Trump.”
The EU is watching these elections closely. According to Fassoulas, there was a fear that if Janez Janša had won, he would have sided with Robert Fico and Viktor Orban, creating even more fragmentation in the EU.
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