Denmark votes for defence bill giving US access to its airbases

Denmark has voted overwhelmingly in favour of a new defence agreement giving the US sweeping powers on Danish soil, including “unhindered access” to its airbases.

The deal, which has been strongly criticised by politicians and human rights experts, means US soldiers in Denmark will remain under US jurisdiction. It gives US soldiers access to Danish airbases in three Danish cities – Karup, Skrydstrup and Aalborg – and grants American soldiers and military police powers over Danish civilians at these locations and outside them.

If US soldiers were to commit a crime in Denmark, they would be punished under the US, not Danish, legal system in the first instance. The US will also be able to carry out military activities in and from Denmark – including stationing personnel, storing military material and equipment, maintenance, training and exercise activities.

Despite heightened tensions between the US and Denmark amid Donald Trump’s unprecedented push to acquire Greenland – a strategically vital part of the Danish kingdom – and reports US intelligence agencies were ordered to increase espionage in the territory, a broad majority of the Danish parliament (Folketinget) voted in support of adopting the agreement. A total of 94 MPs voted for the bill and 11 against.

Just before the vote, the leader of the Unity List party, Pelle Dragsted, said the agreement was “harmful to the country”.

“It is an agreement that means that we will have areas in Denmark that are under American jurisdiction. Where Danish authorities cannot exercise control. And where mistreatment of prisoners can occur,” he said. “It is a gigantic failure towards the Danish population.”

The agreement was signed under the Biden administration in December 2023. Since Trump’s return to office, relations between Copenhagen and Washington DC have altered dramatically.

Some politicians believe the new agreement could surrender Danish sovereignty and even be a violation of the Danish constitution. The Danish government has said this is not the case.

The Danish prime minister, Mette Frederiksen, said the situation between the two countries made it even more necessary to maintain close ties. “The problem is not too much involvement from the US in Europe. On the contrary, the risk is that the US will withdraw and move troops away or stop donations to Ukraine,” she said.

At a consultation on Tuesday, the Danish justice minister, Peter Hummelgaard, said Danish authorities would have “primary safety responsibility both on and off the facilities covered by the agreement”.

The Danish Institute for Human Rights has said the bill risks giving US soldiers the right to stop demonstrations outside their bases and would prevent Denmark from prosecuting them if they used excessive force.

Peter Vedel Kessing, a senior researcher at the Danish Institute for Human Rights, told the Guardian in May: “If the bill is passed and American soldiers carry out illegal acts in Denmark, it will be beyond Danish control and outside the reach of the Danish legal system to prosecute such actions.”