Denmark’s new left-right coalition has caused a bit of a stir after scraping the bank holiday Great Prayer Day to increase the spending on the country’s defense.
Great Prayer Day takes place on the fourth Friday after Easter and was first introduced as a public holiday in 1686. The holiday is a very popular day among the Christian community.
The Danish government explained that removing the holiday will help increase economic activity and productivity in the country, which aims to help reach Nato’s target of 2% of GDP on defense spending.
The government has seen a lot of backlash from the far left and far right, as well as from church and business communities. Danish party Nye Borgerlige threatened to trigger a referendum as the holiday was “associated with important traditions”.
The government explained that the decision would result in Danes having to “pay with their well-earned holiday so that those who have the most can get high-bracket income and corporation tax cuts”.