Five parties in Furesø Municipality in North Zealand have agreed on a pre-deal for next year’s budget without the sitting Venstre mayor, Nicolai Bechfeldt.
The pre-agreement was reported on September 9 by DR. According to the broadcaster, the five parties have settled positions ahead of the budget that must be finalized this autumn. The mayor and his party were not part of that deal.
The group consists of the Social Democrats, the Conservatives, the Danish Social Liberal Party, SF and the Red Green Alliance. Per DR, the five parties together hold 16 of the 21 seats in the Furesø city council. That gives them a clear majority in the coming negotiations.
Bechfeldt told DR he was surprised by the move. He said he would have preferred a process in which all parties negotiated together. He also noted that much of the content in the agreement is something a broad majority probably supports.
The mayor added that real disagreements remain between the parties. In his assessment, the pre-agreement makes it harder to bring the two ends together in the final budget talks.
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Venstre holds only two seats in the Furesø council. As DR notes, Bechfeldt still secured the mayor’s post on that narrow basis after the municipal election last year. He did so ahead of the Conservatives, among others.
Bechfeldt believes the pre-agreement can be read as a response to that outcome. Conservative council member Lars Carstensen rejects that interpretation, according to DR. He said the point is to get the items the party wants into the budget.
Carstensen also stated that the deal has nothing to do with election night. He said the parties are not walking around sour about that kind of thing. DR did not report further comments from the other four parties in the group.
Furesø Municipality covers Værløse and Farum and lies northwest of Copenhagen. It takes its name from Furesø Lake, which borders the municipality. The council must adopt its budget for the coming year during the autumn, as all Danish municipalities do.
Danish municipal budget talks usually run through September and October. Several other councils have faced difficult negotiations in recent years, including Skanderborg. In Furesø, the reported pre-agreement means the mayor now faces a majority that has already coordinated its demands.
