Two more Danish Venstre lawmakers defy party line on fertilizer bill

Four members of Denmark’s Venstre parliamentary group are set to defy the party line in a vote on the fertilizer bill, widening an internal disagreement before Thursday’s vote in Parliament.

Preben Bang Henriksen and Anni Matthiesen said Monday that they generally planned to vote against the bill. They joined Venstre colleagues Søren Gade and Amanda Heitmann, who had already announced that they would oppose it.

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I will vote against the fertilizer bill L5 on Thursday, unless it is decided beforehand to postpone the implementation date by at least six months.

Matthiesen said she would vote against bill L5 unless lawmakers first decided to postpone its implementation by at least six months. She described the decision as a personal break with the party’s position and said it was the first time in her 15 years as a member of Parliament that she had voted against the party line.

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This is the first time in the 15 years I have been a member of Parliament that I have voted against the party line, and I regret that, but in this case I have to follow my own conviction.

Henriksen argued that the proposal did not go far enough to take farmers’ circumstances into account. He said farmers who had invested in and borrowed heavily for their businesses, while operating under state rules, could lose all or part of their economic foundation without compensation.

Venstre has 18 members in the Danish Parliament, meaning the four dissenters represent a substantial minority of the group. The bill is scheduled for a vote in the parliamentary chamber on Thursday.

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I cannot accept that farmers who have invested in and borrowed heavily for an expensive farm, and operated it according to all the state's rules, should now have their economic foundation wholly or partly taken away without receiving compensation.