Rasmussen backs agriculture minister and calls for negotiations

Eva Kjer Hansen to remain minister … for now

The prime minister, Lars Løkke Rasmussen, hasfully backed the embattled food and agriculture minister, Eva Kjer Hansen, in a press conference this afternoon.

Rasmussen instead called for new blue bloc negotiations regarding the minister and the contentious government-proposed agriculture package that has been criticised for not being environmentally-friendly enough.

“I have a difficult time seeing that Eva Kjer Hansen gave false information as part of the agriculture package,” Rasmussen said.

“So you then have to ask whether the mistrust is of such a character that it can’t be overcome, and whether it is of a character that would stall the government’s co-operation.”

READ MORE: Agriculture minister under pressure as new package endangers Blue Bloc majority

No new election
Rasmussen also refused to call for a new election, insisting that he would offer an olive branch in the form of negotiations to Konservative, which claimed yesterday that it had lost confidence in Hansen as minister.

The PM asserted that Denmark should instead focus on the huge challenges the nation is facing in the form of the ongoing refugee crisis.