Only 34 per cent believe they would be prepared to take up arms if Denmark were invaded, according to a poll conducted by Megafon for TV 2. Former Defence Minister Hans Engell calls the result ‘really disappointing’.
Megafon asked Danes whether they believed they would be prepared to take up arms to defend the country if a foreign power invaded Denmark. 50 per cent answered no, while 16 per cent answered ‘don’t know’, according to Danish TV 2’s poll, as reported by Presse-fotos.dk.
Among men, half answered yes and 33 per cent no. Among women, the corresponding figures were 16 and 67 per cent. In the 30–39 age group, 59 per cent answered no, the highest proportion answering no among the age groups that have been published.
‘It is a really disappointing result. Imagine that we live in a country where half say that they are not prepared to fight for Denmark,’ Hans Engell tells TV 2. He is a former Defence Minister of the country.
Engell points to several possible explanations. For many years, the threat of war has seemed remote to Danes. At the same time, the armed forces have called up few conscripts and have largely been able to rely on volunteers. He also believes that high employment and many choices have drawn young people in other directions.
B.T.’s debate editor Joachim B. Olsen reacts even more sharply. ‘They should be ashamed,’ he says of those who are unwilling to step up. Olsen points to the country that today’s Danes have inherited from previous generations and believes they have a duty to protect it for the next generation.
Fear of Russia
The poll comes as Danish authorities warn of a heightened threat environment. The Danish Defence Intelligence Service (Forsvarets Efterretningstjeneste) wrote on Thursday that Russia is expected to step up its hybrid warfare against NATO and the West in the months ahead. The service also assesses the risk of a limited military attack against a NATO country as low, but increasing. An outright invasion is described as unlikely, although it can no longer be ruled out.
In parts of the public debate, a possible confrontation is described as imminent. The intelligence service’s assessment does not, however, provide grounds for claiming that Denmark faces an invasion within a few weeks.
Is Denmark the home of the Danes?
The poll has also sparked a debate about what it is that Danes are being asked to defend. Nikita Nielsen of the Danish People’s Party Youth (Dansk Folkepartis Ungdom) writes on X that immigration and political decisions are in the process of changing the country, and that many are asking themselves which Denmark they would, in that case, be expected to fight for.
‘If Denmark is not first and foremost the home of the Danes, it is no longer Denmark as we know it,’ she writes.
The willingness to defend one’s country is therefore also about belonging: How many will sacrifice their lives for a country they fear is in the process of disappearing?
