(Bloomberg) -- Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen avoided an impeachment trial and instead received an official reprimand from a majority in parliament after her 2020 order to cull all mink over Covid-19 concerns turned out to be illegal.
The rebuke followed hard criticism of Frederiksen and several senior officials in her government last week from a special commission investigating the controversial order to cull about 17 million mink amid concerns the virus could mutate in the animals and potentially halt vaccine efforts. The premier “grossly misled” the public when she gave the order, the commission found. Frederiksen has said she did not know at the time that her order was illegal.
Left-wing parties supporting the government and Frederiksen’s own Social Democrats voted in favor of the reprimand, which may damage her reputation but has no legal or political consequences. Opposition parties called for an impeachment trial and opposed the reprimand.
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