Rasmussen exits the Amalienborg Palace after presenting his new government to Queen Margrethe in Copenhagen. He will be leading a minority government after talks to form a coalition failed.

Reuters/DPA
Copenhagen
Liberal party leader Lars Lokke Rasmussen was appointed Danish prime minister yesterday and named ministers in a government that has a small minority in parliament and will have to rely heavily on outside support on a vote-by-vote basis.
The Liberals (Venstre) were part of a group of centre-right parties that won a general election over a week ago but the party itself had its worst results in a quarter of a century and was unable to form a broad coalition within the bloc.
The Danish People’s Party (DF), which is eurosceptic and right-wing in most aspects of its policies, refused to join the government despite winning its best election result yet and becoming the largest party on the right in parliament.
It had held out on a number of demands including a referendum on whether Denmark should remain in the European Union, spending increases and curbs on immigration.
Rasmussen will now have to depend on other parties’ support, including the DF, on a vote-by-vote basis.
“We have the ambition to cooperate broadly in parliament,” he said yesterday.
He said on Friday that he would form a minority government over the weekend after talks with DF and other parties collapsed.
He named veteran party member Claus Frederiksen as finance minister, a position he has held in 2009 to 2011.
Frederiksen is known to have a good working relationship with DF.
Kristian Jensen was named foreign minister. He has little experience in this sphere but has a senior rank in the party and was at one point last year widely expected to take over leadership from Rasmussen, who was hit by an expenses scandal.
Minister for Foreigners and Integration Inger Stojberg will be responsible for toughening Denmark’s rules on granting asylum, which had been part of Venstre’s election manifesto during the campaign.
“This is an absolute dream ministry for me,” she told TV2 news.
The government has pledged to publish a draft immigration law in the coming weeks.
With 34 seats of 179 in parliament, this is the second smallest government formed in Denmark’s history and some pundits doubt it will manage a full term.
Only one government, in 1973, had fewer members in parliament, with 22 seats. That cabinet lasted 14 months.
Venstre only achieving 19.5% of the total vote, giving the party 34 seats, behind the populist DP on 37, and the outgoing Social Democrats with 47 seats.
The combined left-leaning parties could not secure an overall majority, leading former prime minister Helle Thorning-Schmidt of the Social Democrats to concede defeat to Rasmussen and step down as leader of her party.
Thorning-Schmidt was replaced at the helm of the Social Democrats by Mette Frederiksen, the former justice minister, yesterday.
The 37-year-old has been a member of parliament for 14 years and was put forward by Thorning-Schmidt as her replacement.
She was the only candidate for the leadership.