4.2.1. The Confederation of Danish Industries and
other trade and industry organizations:
Realizing that the investments necessitated by environmental requirements would have to be paid for by the enterprises themselves, the Danish environmental administration tried from the very beginning to gain the acceptance of the trade and industry sector. The foundation for this was laid as early as 1973 by virtue of the fact that the Environmental Protection Act then adopted was the result of negotiation between the Social Democrat government and the Trade and Industry Council (now the Confederation of Danish Industries). As most large enterprises are members of the Confederation of Danish Industries, the latter is the most influential organization in the Danish trade and industry sector.
It has since been taken for granted that new environmental requirements are intensively negotiated with the Confederation of Danish Industries or other affected organizations. There has not really been any right of veto, but more an understanding that serious and detailed negotiation should be entered into, and only in exceptional circumstances has the Minister for the Environment unilaterally imposed his will by force. In return, the Confederation of Danish Industries has been loyal to the requirements adopted and has often helped to gain its members’ acceptance of the requirements.
As far as concerns agriculture, the agricultural organizations play an extremely decisive role. They negotiate with the Ministry of Agriculture and virtually ignore the Ministry of Environment and Energy. Even though the agricultural sector only produces 3.7% of the GDP the sector’s influence is far greater. This is attributable to the fact that farmers hold many influential positions, for example in Municipal and County Councils, and that much of the Danish population has not too distant roots in the countryside.
The labour organizations do not play the same striking role on the environmental front as do the trade and industry sector organizations. However, they are routinely involved in the drawing up of new Acts, Statutory Orders and Guidelines.
4.2.2. The Municipal organizations:
Of the various municipal organizations, the most powerful is the National Association of Local Authorities in Denmark (NALAD). The organization represents all Danish municipalities other than Copenhagen and Frederiksberg, and is extremely powerful as far as concerns environmental matters. NALAD’s influence is due to the fact that all large political parties in the organization concur that the organization’s primary objective is to safeguard and strengthen local self-government.
NALAD’s legitimation is the fact that rulings on environmental questions are in the first instance made by the local politicians. At the same time the municipal officials have considerable practical experience with environmental administration, which lends a professional dimension to NALAD’s role in environmental policy making.
The Association of County Councils in Denmark does not have the same political clout. County politicians do not have quite the same weight as municipal politicians among rank and file party organizations (they are "further away" from the voters). Neither do they have the same ability to form a united front against the government. On the other hand, county officials often have considerable expertise, something which can give a certain amount of influence.
4.2.3. The so-called "green" organizations:
The Danish Society for the Conservation of Nature (approx. 250,000 member households) had considerable influence on the Action Plan on the Aquatic Environment in 1986-87. However, for some time it has concentrated most of its energy in the fight against the planned Øresund Fixed Link, a fight which has now been lost.
The Danish Anglers Federation (approx. 50,000 members) has had a consistently great influence since the time of the first Environmental Protect Act, although mainly as regards the condition of watercourses.
Other "green" organizations, e.g. Greenpeace (approx. 20,000 members), have occasionally had some influence. Greenpeace in Denmark has been undergoing a recession, but its success in the Brent Spar episode might perhaps reverse the trend.
Taken together, though, the nature and environmental organizations have
not had anything like the same influence as the Confederation of Danish Industries or
NALAD.