Furesø parties bypass mayor in budget deal

Five parties in Furesø Municipality have agreed on a preliminary deal for next year’s budget without the municipality’s Venstre mayor, DR reports.

The agreement, which will form the basis for the budget to be finalised this autumn, has surprised Mayor Nicolai Bechfeldt.

“I would have preferred a process in which all the parties negotiated. Much of the content of the agreement in question is something I believe a broad majority could agree on,” Bechfeldt said.

He added that the parties still disagree on some issues and that the preliminary deal would make it harder to reach a compromise.

The parties behind the agreement are the Social Democrats, Conservatives, Radicals, Socialist People’s Party and Red-Green Alliance. Together, they hold 16 of the 21 seats on the municipal council.

Venstre holds only two seats. Despite that, Bechfeldt secured the mayoral post after last year’s municipal election, ahead of, among others, the Conservatives.

Bechfeldt suggested that the Conservatives’ involvement in the agreement could be a form of payback. Conservative council member Lars Carstensen rejected that interpretation.

“This is about getting the measures we want in the budget. It has nothing to do with election night. We are not walking around bitter about things like that,” Carstensen said.