Finance time

Lars Loekke Rasmussen starts his first full day as Denmark’s prime minister with the economy mired in its severest recession in six decades and less than a sixth of the electorate wanting him to head the government.

Loekke Rasmussen yesterday became the country’s 40th premier after Anders Fogh Rasmussen stepped down to become NATO secretary general. He will lead a Liberal-Conservative coalition, backed by the Danish People’s Party, until elections are held, scheduled for no later than November 2011. The two Rasmussens are unrelated.

The 44-year-old finance minister must tackle an economy that is in the middle of a three-year recession, according to Deutsche Bank AG, the longest period of decline in more than 60 years. The coalition trails in opinion polls behind the Social Democratic-led opposition, which is calling for increased spending on hospitals, schools and green energy.

“I feel very humble,” Loekke Rasmussen told reporters outside the Royal Palace in Copenhagen yesterday after the announcement. “I know it’s a huge responsibility, and I also know that there are people who will question whether I can live up to it, but I will do my utmost.”

The government and its anti-euro ally the Danish People’s Party would receive 84 seats in the parliament and the opposition 91 seats, according to a poll published by Jyllands- Posten today.

Sixteen Percent

Sixteen percent support Loekke Rasmussen as prime minister, while 37 percent back Helle Thorning-Schmidt of the Social Democrats, according to the poll, which measures voters’ opinions of all parliamentary party leaders. Lene Espersen, deputy prime minister and head of the Conservative People’s Party, has the support of 22 percent of the voters, while 25 percent preferred a fourth candidate or were undecided.

“He’s facing a very hot political term,” said Hans Engell, a political analyst and former head of the conservatives, on TV2 News. “He needs to provide an ambitious and fresh agenda soon.”

Loekke Rasmussen said he will use the next few days to look into selecting a new Cabinet individual health insurance plans. Until then he will continue to hold the post of finance minister as well as prime minister.

“I hope that the new prime minister will take the economic crisis more seriously than he has done previously,” said Thorning-Schmidt, whose party has proposed a 36 billion-krone ($6.5 billion) growth package to spur employment. “The biggest problem today is that we’re losing 1,000 jobs a week.”

Job Losses

The unemployment rate advanced for a fifth consecutive month in February, rising to 2.5 percent from 2.3 percent the month before, Statistics Denmark said on March 26.

Fogh Rasmussen said on April 4 it will be up to Loekke Rasmussen to decide how to handle a referendum on adopting the euro, a vote the government has promised will be held before its term ends. Denmark currently pegs the krone to the euro in a 2.25 percent band. A narrow majority of 50.7 percent of Danes supports euro adoption, a poll published by Danske Bank A/S on Jan. 21 showed.

Loekke Rasmussen, who will be the country’s youngest premier in 60 years, will be the third Danish prime minister in a row with that surname. Fogh Rasmussen, 56, succeeded Social Democrat Poul Nyrup Rasmussen in 2001. The new prime minister has a degree in law from the University of Copenhagen. He entered the Cabinet as minister for the interior and health in 2001 and switched to finance minister six years later.

Fogh Rasmussen, 56, will succeed Dutchman Jaap de Hoop Scheffer on Aug. 1 to become the first Scandinavian chief of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.

Denmark’s economy contracted 1.1 percent last year, Statistics Denmark said on March 31. The economy may shrink 2.3 percent this year and 0.5 percent in 2010, according to a Feb. 4 forecast by Deutsche Bank.

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Filed under: finance by John