LA and SF withdraw support after two months for priest in Parliament

Liberal Alliance and the Socialist People's Party (SF) have backed away from a plan to have a chaplain attached to the Danish Parliament, reversing an earlier agreement. The Parliament's Presidium had unanimously accepted an offer in June from the Bishop of Copenhagen, Peter Skov-Jakobsen, for priests to be available to MPs.

However, nearly two months later, Lars-Christian Brask of Liberal Alliance stated that his party does not support the arrangement and considers the matter closed. Brask suggested he was either "couped" or "asleep at the wheel" when the initial press release was issued, indicating a lack of full party backing from the outset. The article notes the delay in Brask publicly stating his opposition.

Similarly, SF's representative on the Presidium, Karsten Hønge, expressed reservations about the arrangement. He stated that the church should not have any special status within Parliament. Like Brask, Hønge's public comments came nearly two months after the initial announcement, with the article questioning the timing.

The chairman of the Presidium, Søren Gade of Venstre, indicated that discussions were meant to continue after the summer break and declined further comment out of respect for that agreement. Minister for Ecclesiastical Affairs Ida Auken of the Social Democrats also declined to comment.

Auken had previously faced internal criticism from within the Social Democrats after celebrating the decision in a social media video. Tine Aurvig-Huggenberger, a former deputy chair of the LO trade union confederation, resigned from the Social Democrats after 36 years, citing Auken's "victory dance" over the chaplain appointment as a final straw.