Interesting difference between Denmark and Norway (I think). In Denmark the ministers would have left office at once and visited the Queen (or Regent) at the royal residence to be releaved of their duties. New ministers would normally take their place the same - or next - day. I understand the empty portfolios will not be filled until "before the end of January" which does not sound very urgent.
I dont' get your last sentence. What do you mean?
DTH
Answering both Torkel and Dag:
Again a very interesting difference between the political culture in Denmark and Norway: In Denmark it would be seen as a huge sign of weakness if the Prime Minister did not replace an outgoing minister within 24-72 hours after they announced their resignation. The Queen (or regent) would the recieve the outgoing and incoming minister the same day. Even if it is not planned - she changes her schedule. In Norway this seem less urgent, one can wait a week or two or three - and outgoing Ministers can remain in office for weeks with no problems.
When was the last time a Danish political party left the government and the PM stayed in office, replacing the outgoing ministers with people from the other parties?
On Thursday 30 January 2014 Socialist Peoples Party announced that they were leaving the government and the 6 new ministers from Social Democrats and Leftwing Liberals took office Monday 3 February.
Prime Minister Helle Thorning-Schmidt used the weekend to change the setup of some of the portfolios and departments, shuffle some of the existing ministers and appoint a number of new ministers - so the resignation of the 6 SF ministers lead to 12 new appointments. The Queen recieved both outoging and incoming ministers on 3 Feb.
Before that, one party left a 4 party government in 1996, but at that point new negotiations had to take place, so it took 10 days for the new ministers to be appointed.
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