Liberalisterne

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Main article: Politics of Denmark

Liberalisterne - Frihed og Velstand
Leader	Torben Mark Pedersen
Founded	2005
Headquarters	Classensgade 63, 2.th. 2100 København Ø
Political ideology	Classical Liberalism
International affiliation	None
Website	http://www.liberalisterne.dk/

Liberalisterne - Frihed og Velstand (The Liberalists - Freedom and Prosperity) is a Danish political party based on classic liberalist ideology. Among its main goals are the introduction of a flat tax, opposition to recent anti-terror laws, and a general cut in public spending. The party was founded in 2005, and Torben Mark Pedersen serves as party chairman. Its youth wing is named Liberalisternes Ungdom.

The Liberalists seek to attract right-wing voters discontent with the policies of the current centre-right Venstre/Conservative coalition. The Liberalists claim that the current cabinet has essentially carried on the policies of its Social Democratic predecessor, the cabinet of Poul Nyrup Rasmussen.

[edit] Naming dispute

In August 2005, the newly-formed party approached the Danish Ministry of the Interior, asking for official registration as a political party. This application was ultimately rejected with the argument that the party name was too similar to Venstre's formal name: Venstre, Liberal Party of Denmark. This rejection led to accusations that the Minister of the Interior, Lars Løkke Rasmussen had a conflict of interest in the matter since Rasmussen himself is the deputy chairman of Venstre. The Liberalists subsequently filed a complaint to the Danish ombudsman, and in March 2006, Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen transferred the case to Justice Minister Lene Espersen (Conservative).[1] In September 2006, she too rejected the original application citing the same argument as the Ministry of the Interior. In January 2007, the party received official registration from the Ministry of Justice after the party accepted adding "Freedom and Prosperity" to the party name to make the distinction from Venstre more obvious. The party has stated that it will continue to use the shorter name and only apply the longer version in official contexts, e.g. on the ballot paper.[2] Several opposition parties have suggested that a multi-party commission be set up to decide future party name registrations and Lars Løkke Rasmussen has agreed to this proposal, although Rasmussen has suggested that this responsibility be transferred to an already existing parliamentary committee.[3]

[edit] External links

• Official website (Danish)

Political Parties in Denmark
Represented in the Folketing:	Venstre (52) | Social Democrats (47) | Danish People's Party (24) | Conservative People's Party (18) | Danish Social Liberal Party (17) | Socialist People's Party (11) | Red-Green Alliance (6) | Siumut (Greenland) (1) | Inuit Ataqatigiit (Greenland) (1) | Republican Party (Faroe Islands) (1) | People's Party (Faroe Islands) (1)
Represented in the European Parliament:	Social Democrats (5) | Venstre (3) | Danish People's Party (1) | Conservative People's Party (1) | Danish Social Liberal Party (1) | Socialist People's Party (1) | June Movement (1) | People's Movement against the EU (1)