I only discovered the Danish political series Borgen midway during the second series showing in the UK last year and although I was able to view a number of previous episodes I was left with the hunger to experience from the outset and also not to wait for the showing of the third and final series, here in the UK but which was already available on DVD at a price. I then acquired a DVD set of the first two series at a reasonable price and promised that I would view before the third series commenced sometime this year, something that I forgot to do. With the start of the third series on Saturday (November 16th, 2013) I abandoned the backlog of other cultural experiences still unreported (see 0035) and intended to begin to day for viewing the first episode of Borgen after a long night of sleep and fantasy of a different life to one I am having.
(Borgen is the nickname given to the building in the capital of Denmark which houses the main buildings of the state, The Parliament, The Prime Ministers office and the Supreme Court, and which also appears to include the offices of the main political parties).
It was a worthwhile decision as the first episode of series one immediately reminded why the programme had such an impact not only in Denmark but has now been broadcast in over 50 countries with over half the viewing public engaged in the home country and in the UK channel four attracting a million viewers unheard for one of the other channels to BBC1 and ITV and Sky Sports. Given the amount of time I am spending I will begin with the basics about Demnark, a constitutional monarchy.
According to Wikipedia Denmark 'dɛnmɑːrk; Danish: Danmark, pronounced 'd̥ɛnmɑg officially the Kingdom of Denmark (Danish: Kongeriget Danmark, ['kɔŋəʁiːəð 'd̥ɛnmɑg̊] is a sovereign state in Northern Europe, located south-west of Sweden, south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. The Kingdom has two autonomous constituent countries in the north Atlantic Ocean, the Faroe Islands and Greenland. At 43,094 square kilometres (16,638.69 sq mi) a population of around 5.6 million inhabitants, Denmark consists of a peninsula, Jutland, and the Danish archipelago of 407 islands which around 70 are inhabited, are characterised by flat, arable land and sandy coasts with little elevation and a temperate climate. The national language, Danish, is closely related to Swedish and Norwegian.
The Kingdom of Denmark is a unitary constitutional monarchy with Margrethe II as queen regnant, organised in a parliamentary democracy. Ending absolute monarchy introduced in 1660, the Constitution of Denmark was signed on 5 June 1849, only to be rewritten four times; the latest revision in 1953. The unicameral parliament, the Folketing, resides in the capital of Copenhagen, together with judicial, executive, and legislative powers. Denmark exercises hegemonic influence in the Danish Realm, devolving political powers to handle internal affairs to the Faroe Islands and Greenland. Denmark became a member of the European Union in 1973, maintaining four opt-outs from European Union policies, as outlined in the 1992 Edinburgh Agreement. Both the Faroe Islands and Greenland remain outside the Union.
Home of the Vikings, the unified kingdom of Denmark emerged in the 8th century as a proficient seafaring nation in the struggle for control of the Baltic Sea. The establishment of the personal Kalmar Union under Danish rule in 1397 ended with Swedish secession in 1523; one year later, Denmark entered union with Norway until its dissolution in 1814. Several cessions of Danish territory that had begun in the 17th century caused a surge of nationalist movements that gained momentum in the 1830s and concluded with a defeat in the 1864 Second Schleswig War. A new European outlook was sought after the war, resulting in adjustment and cooperation.
Denmark remained neutral during World War I and the German invasion in April 1940 saw brief military skirmishes while the Danish resistance movement was active from 1943 until the German surrender in May 1945. Denmark abandoned its traditional neutrality by joining NATO in 1949. The post-war period generated an increase of wealth and brought closer European integration. Denmark has been an active participant in international peacekeeping missions. It took part in the UN peacekeeping mission in the Balkans in the 1990s. More recently, it has participated in military engagements in the Middle East at the turn of the 21st century.
An industrialized exporter of agricultural produce in the second half of the 19th century, Denmark introduced social and labour-market reforms in the early decades of the 20th century, making the basis for the present welfare state with a highly developed mixed market economy. The Danish krone has been pegged to the euro since 1 January 1999. Denmark has close cultural, economic, and historical ties with its neighbours, resulting in the Danish-Swedish Øresund Bridge and the planned Danish-German Fehmarn Belt Fixed Link.
Denmark is frequently ranked as the happiest country in the world in cross-national studies of happiness Denmark ranks as having the world's highest social mobility, a high level of income equality and has one of the world's highest per capita income. For 2013, Denmark is listed 15th on the Human Development Index and 9th on the inequality-adjusted HDI. Denmark ranks highly positive on the Corruption Perceptions Index and the Legatum Prosperity Index, and as a full democracy on the Democracy Index. Denmark is among the founding members of the NATO, Nordic Council, OECD, OSCE, and the United Nations. There are three Danish heritage sites inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage list in Northern Europe.
In a separate article on politics Wikipedia states- Denmark has a multi-party system, with two or three strong parties, and four or five other significant parties. No single party has held an absolute majority in the Folketing since the beginning of the 20th century and no single party has formed a government alone since 1982. Since only four post-war coalition governments have enjoyed a majority, government bills rarely become law without negotiations and compromise with both supporting and opposition parties. Hence the Folketing tends to be more powerful than legislatures in other EU countries. The constitution does not grant the judiciary power of judicial review of legislation, however the courts have asserted this power with the consent of the other branches of government. Since there are no constitutional or administrative courts, the Supreme Court deals with a constitutional dimension.
On many issues the political parties tend to opt in for a co-operation, and the Danish state welfare model receives a broad parliamentary support. This ensures a focus on public-sector efficiency as well as devolved responsibilities of local government on regional and municipal levels. The degree of transparency and accountability is reflected in the public’s high level of satisfaction with the political institutions, while Denmark is also regularly considered one of the least corrupt countries in the world by international organizations.”
There are two Parties with major seats in the present Parliament, the Liberal Party which is Left with 47 seats and the Social Democrats on the centre left with 44. The Danish Peoples Party is right wing nationalistic and then four medium size Parties in terms of parliamentary seats with the Danish People’s Party said to be conservative right wing and nationalistic with 22 seats, the Danish Social Liberals as radical but centrist with 17 and the Socialist Party, left wing and green with 16, followed by the Red Green Alliance with seats and previously the Communist party and Socialist Workers Party. There is also a classical Liberal centre right party with 9 seats and a Conservative People’s Party with 8 plus a Eurosceptical Party which has one seat in the EU parliament but none in the national.
Given the number and length of the programmes I will not be able to view everything before Saturday night so I will record the new episodes and then view after the catching up which is now likely to take several days, especially with the contemporaneous writing up of each episode.
Because of the attention I am proposing to give I am taking even more care to identifying the main characters and key story lines than usual. The outstanding star of the series which won a British BAFTA last year is Birgitte Nyborg Christensen, played by Sidse Babett Knuden, who won an award at Cannes. When the series begins she is the leader of the Moderate party which is part of the opposition coalition led by the Labour Party, with the government led by the Liberal Party which has the support of the extreme right Party, the Freedom Party. There is also the centre Solidarity Party and the Green Party. Thus it will seen that the programme makers have carefully avoided any immediate connection between the fictional and the fact although the names of the parties identify the kinds of support and policies of the reality.
The series begins with three events which are to shape the outcome of the General Election taking place and which catapults Birgitte into the Prime Ministership.
The first event is the decision of the Labour Opposition leader to introduce and even tougher stance on immigrants insisting illegals will be deported and others restricted in what they do in terms of work and benefits. The announcement of this development is replayed during a pre arranged interview with Birgitte on the main TV station TV1 by the young ambitious Katrine and who presses Birgitte into distancing herself from the Labour Party, potentially ending the chances of the opposition coalition gaining power from the governing group.
Her media adviser Kasper is horrified with her response and with the TV Journalist for breaking convention by raising subjects not agreed beforehand, Later she attends a party arrange by the Labour Leader who refuses to retract the position with the consequence that she refuses his offer of two additional Ministry positions to those previously offered. The adviser also approaches the Governing coalition leadership to ensure if there is an arrangement possibility. Birgitte realises that her decision makes her unpopular with some party members and her position as leader has come into question.
Meanwhile the wife of the Prime Minister who feels neglected by her husband, and looks to have a drinking problem is not allowed to purchase an expensive handbag having maxed out her credit card with other purchases and the Prime Minister finding that he has left his wallet behind and anxious to prevent the scene developing used his government business card to meet the immediate situation. This is an untreatable abuse of position although he arranges for the money to be immediately reimbursed in a situation where in fact the transaction is not officially processes i.e. account has to be settled two weeks ahead. His media adviser, fixer, promises to sort out the problem.
This is a married man with two children having a secret affair with Katrine, announcing he wants to divorce his wife and marry her which they celebrate in his apartment in the capital. The following morning Katrine finds her lover, dead from an heart attack and contact her previous live in partner, Kasper who insists she leaves and removes all trace of being present. He then does a clean up job of her presence and discovers the file with the information regarding the misuse of public money. He tells Birgitte of his find but she insists the information is not used as this is not the kind of politics she wants to support.
Everyone is building up to the final TV debate which involves all the party leaders. Unbeknown to Birgitte Kasper on impulse has revealed the information to the Labour Leader who decides to use his final two minutes at the end of programme to reveal the information causing the Prime Minister to threaten legal action and to walk out of the studios. The revelation leads to a dramatic changes in the actual election from the polls but not in favour of the Labour Party and its leader who is dismissed from his position by his own political colleagues and supporters. Birgitte also instantly dismisses Kasper from his position removing his credentials the following morning.
The is a major swing to her party who gain 15 seats under the proportional representation system. This is because before the expenses revelation, she abandons her prepared script and makes an impromptu speech attacking professional politics, the media management etsct and calling for a new more honest approach, expecting this to be her swan song. She returns home from an elated party meeting in the early hours of the following day with the news that she is wanted as a new Coalition Prime Minister
In addition to these main events that are two areas which play parts of varying significance.
We meet her husband, a college lecturer, who had agreed to his wife’s request that they give matrimonial priority to her career for five years over his and then vice versa. They have a good relationship but only because he has been prepared to take a back seat in term of caring for their two children, a teenage girl at school and a younger son.
The other concerns the TV station where Katrine is number two to Hanne Holm, the main interviewer and presenter, a mature woman who had a drinking problem and where a main rival leaks to the management that the woman is drinking again just before the final televised election debate. Instead of asking him to take over he appoints Katrine. Hanne blames Katrine confronting her in a gym. A very good engaging start with authenticity bred through and through.
In the second episode we immediately learn that although the Moderate Party increased the number of its seats from 86 to 91 Labour is the largest single party and that all Birgitte is able to do is expect the Queen to appoint her as the person in charge of forming a coalition government and that this quickly becomes not as straightforward as it might appear as although she invites all the Party leaders to bring delegations to her about participating in a coalition, the ruling Liberal party send in someone junior for talks about talks thus signalling they have no intention of attempting to join a Cabinet with her as Leader. While the Leader of the right wing Freedom Party accepts the invitation for a Danish and coffee he makes its plain that he opposes everything she stands for and vice versa. The Labour Party put off a meeting and the following day she learns why, that its leader, despite the unpopularity of his last minute intervention has fashioned deal behind her back where he remains Prime Minister with the support of other parties and offers her an increase in the number of Ministries and their importance. However just when it looks as she has lost and must report the situation to the Queen, a leading member of the Socialist Party comes with information which successfully topples their leader because of internal emails in which he makes racist remarks.
The party has two deputy leaders one is of a long standing fourth generation of political leaders who has been sidelined by his leader and who is to be offered a Ministry outside of the cabinet.. The other is a political yes man without leadership qualities. However in the ballot for the new Leaders, it the light weight to come to fore and expects Birgitte and his party to accept his deal which she rejects because he lacks the qualities to be Prime Minister.
Just when she is about to advise the Queen that she needs to be appoint a new Government forming chair person there is what appears to be a significant development. The former Prime Minister goes on TV with his wife to explain her addiction to Alcohol, his failure to support his wife and how the problem re the use of the Government credit card came about. As this goes down well with the public he calls Birgitte to arrange a meeting which he cleverly arranges to take place in the office of the Prime Minister. She nearly swallows the ploy including the offer of a new Ministry for Overseas Development.
It is her faithful and long term Party supporter and adviser, Bent, who persuades her against accepting this political bluff and presses her on taking power as the opportunity has arisen and she summons a meeting with the Labour Party and the Green Party and makes them offers of positions for their parties offering the Green Leader Energy and Climate and a new ministry of International Development. The episode ends with the new cabinet, 50% women being presented to the media with Birgitte as Prime Minister.
Katrine continued to struggle to cope after the death of her lover and she asks Kasper to accompany her to the man’s funeral where his wife talks of parliament being the other woman but of his loyalty to herself and their children. As the episodes ends after she has shared her distress with her mother, she finds that she has become pregnant. Hanne Holm before leaving tries to advise Katrine on what is really going on behind the scenes politically and apologies for she had said and accused her of.
There are swings of emotion among Brigitte’s household as pride is tinged with awe at the prospect of her becoming the Prime Minister, relief when this does not appear the situation as well as fear when she does . There is also a hint of the problems to come when one of the most attractive students where her husband is lecturing and when she calls to collect him with her children is clearly setting her cap at the tutor.
The third episodes begins some two and a half months into the Premiership Birgitte is facing a budget crisis as two members of the Workers party Labour are defying their leadership over the agreed budget demanding something more for pensioners. When she agrees this the demand is for a new Motorway which the Greens and one other party object to for environmental reasons.
Because of all the pressure she hires an academic as her media manager but because he takes the moral high ground and attempts to be rational he becomes easy meat, especially for the new political editor of a popular daily none other than the former Labour Party leader sent on doing everything he can down to bring down Birgitte out of personal hatred rather than for political reasons. Hanne Holm is also working for the newspaper.
After Christmas, the paper leads with a story alleging an affair between the Prime Minister and the New political adviser and where he attempts to rebut on TV he strays into political matters attacking the basis of the readership of the newspaper. She sacks him and reappoints Kasper who meanwhile has been working for TV1. It is Kasper who warns her not to yield to the rebels Worker Party man because his agenda is different. Some years before he got into difficulties over expenses and had been protected by his party leader. Without the party leader in place he feels vulnerable and sees his himself as bringing down the Prime Minister’s administration and helping the former Labour leader to regain power. It is Kasper who makes her aware of the machinations and says that if she gives in on the motorway he will asks for something more which he does when tested.
It is at thus point she attempts to do a deal with the New Right, a party supporting the Liberals and where its female leader is described by the Liberal leader as always doing what he says. Birgitte has already done a deal with the Liberal leader by gaining from him extra time for the budget negotiations on the promise she will veto the call for a special commission. She meets separately with the leader of the New Right Party and offers her the money gained for the Motorway, to improve the police and the army. Hanne Holm reports the development as a triumph for the Prime Minister getting her budget through and also dividing the opposition.
Katrine is faced with a great choice over her pregnancy where both Kasper and her mother are convinced she should have an abortion, her mother seeing the child as another indicator that her daughter still does not accept that he lover is dead and that she has to move on in her life. And finally she has an abortion.
Kasper has drafted the New Year Speech for the prime Minister full of platitudes but also making reference to new life, intended as an olive branch to Katrine too late as she gets the message after the abortion has taken place. We see something of back story between them His parents live in the South of France and she was never introduced them while he has met her family who live on a farm close to the capital. We do not yet know why they separated.
There is also growing tension in the household of the Prime Minister as she is rarely home before the children are in bed. She can only give an hour to Christ present buying and even the this has to be cut short. They are still strong together but cracks are beginning to appear.
The fourth episode is most powerful with the first collision between the political and journalist truth of the main characters.
Katrine is approached by a mysterious figures who announces that he has information which could bring the government down. It much later on transpires that he holds a senior position in military intelligence. His first claim which he supports with flight information and a photo is that the USA has used an airbase in Greenland for a rendition flight transfer from the middle east en route to Guantanamo Bay. They run with story and the Secret Service plays heavy handed charging various members of the TV company and telling them not to pursue the story. The matter is taken up with the USA who say the flight was an emergency one.
At the core of this story is the relationship between Denmark and Greenland with Wikipedia describing as Kalaallit Nunaat [ka'laːɬit nunaːt] is an autonomous country within the Kingdom of Denmark, located between the Arctic and Atlantic Oceans, east of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. Though physiographically a part of the continent of North America, Greenland has been politically and culturally associated with Europe (specifically Norway and later Denmark) for more than a millennium. In 2008, the people of Greenland passed a referendum supporting greater autonomy; 75% of votes cast were in favour. Greenland is, in terms of area, the world's largest island, over three-quarters of which is covered by the only contemporary ice sheet outside of Antarctica. With a population of 56,370 (2013), it is the least densely populated country in the world, (The population is therefore 100 time smaller than the sovereign state but is over 50 times larger in terms of land area)
Greenland has been inhabited off and on for at least the last 4,500 years by Arctic peoples whose forebears migrated there from Canada. Norsemen settled on the uninhabited southern part of Greenland beginning in the 10th century. Inuit peoples arrived in the 13th century. The Norse colonies disappeared in the late 15th century. In the early 18th century, Scandinavia and Greenland came back into contact with each other, and Denmark established sovereignty over the island.
Having been ruled by Denmark–Norway for centuries, Greenland (Danish: Grønland) became a Danish colony in 1814, and a part of the Danish Realm in 1953 under the Constitution of Denmark. In 1973, Greenland joined the European Economic Community with Denmark. However, in a referendum in 1983, a majority of the population voted for Greenland to withdraw from the EEC, and Greenland officially withdrew in 1985. In 1979, Denmark granted home rule to Greenland, and in 2008, Greenlanders voted in favour of the Self-Government Act which transferred more power from the Danish royal government to the local Greenlandic government. Under the new structure, in effect since 21 June 2009,[9] Greenland can gradually assume responsibility for policing, judicial system, company law, accounting and auditing; mineral resource activities; aviation; law of legal capacity, family law and succession law; aliens and border controls; the working environment; and financial regulation and supervision. The Danish government retains control of foreign affairs, national defence. It also retains control of monetary policy, providing an initial annual subsidy of DKK 3.4 billion, slated to diminish gradually over time as Greenland's economy is strengthened by increased income from the extraction of natural resources.”
In order to appease the Greenland sensibilities the Prime Minister sees the Greenland equivalent who understands the situation perfectly in terms of having no say over National Security matters. The USA government pleased at the handling of the situation suggests a presidential visit and Birgitte decides to make a visit to Greenland which is in effect kept to a day return much to the anger of the ethnic political leader, who counters the information fed by the press adviser and chief Civil Servant by persuading her to stay over night and go out and meet the people and understand a little more of the reality of his country.
The decision not to pursue the allegations against the USA also angers the man who risks his life disclosing the information especially as he can prove that two of the men being transferred are farmers who Amnesty International or similar body has listed as having disappeared. He also draws attention that always the SA government gets round the potential problem by claiming emergency flight and landing status for this and other flights which can be checked. He agrees to be interviewed live on camera but then fails to arrive revealing that it has been made clear to him that aspects of his background will be presented in such a way to destroy his reputation and credibility but worse from his viewpoint creates a major problem for his daughter who is about to seek a job as a teacher. Faced with this reality Katrine with the support of her management decides to hold fire.
However his actions have not been without positive consequence because Birgitte ensures that Greenland will participate in future negotiation over changes to the area controlled and decisions taken by the USA government. However the USA president cancel his visit due to pressure of domestic business.
Birgitte shows that although she is inexperienced in the use of political power and the machinations of others, including those in her own party and coalition government she is able to hold onto her own and the principles of her party, However she admits ruefully that she is making terminological inexactitudes in terms of the interests of her country,
The episodes sees Kasper holding a position of great influence and knowledge re establishing a relationship, as best friend, with Katrine but they also have a problem in that she cannot reveal aspects of her work, because of his position and vice versa. Birgitte on the other hand suggests that given a gap of three weeks between having sex with her husband they plan to have relations on to a couple of set nights each week. Sex by appointment with the Prime Minister. The children are showing support but also missing her even more than previous, often without seeing her apart from breakfast.
No comments:
Post a Comment