Topic summary
Mette Frederiksen
20 November 2001
Greater Copenhagen(2007–2019)
North Jutland(2019–present)
University of Copenhagen (MA)
Mette FrederiksenK.1 (Danish:; 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 following Helle Thorning-Schmidt, 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.
Frederiksen led the red bloc to a Folketing majority in 2019, becoming prime minister on 27 June. Her first cabinet navigated through the COVID-19 pandemic in Denmark. The Mink Commission criticised government handling of the Cluster 5 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 centrist coalition with Venstre and the Moderates.
Domestically, Frederiksen pursued strict immigration policies, combining law-and-order measures with welfare and defence policies. As part of her environmental policy, she passed the Climate Act (70% emissions reduction by 2030) and introduced a tax on agricultural emissions. Social reforms included expanded early retirement, strengthened vocational education, and limits on some master's programmes.
Initially a Eurosceptic, 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. Under Frederiksen, Denmark increased defence spending to more than 3% of GDP in 2025–2026, extended conscription to women, and abolished its EU defence opt-out. In 2025, Politico ranked her Europe's second most powerful person, and in 2026 she was included on Time's list of the world's 100 most influential people. She has consistently condemned Donald Trump's proposed US acquisition of Greenland; her response to Trump's threats gave Frederiksen and her party a political boost ahead of the 2026 general election, in which her party again placed first.