From 2016 to 2021, the Prime Minister spent 4.2 million Danish kroner on hotel and transportation expenses related to the Prime Minister’s participation in EU summits.
The funds, which should have been repaid according to EU rules, were paid from the treasury and should have been recovered by Denmark. However, this did not happen due to an error, according to a press release from the Prime Minister's office.
The Foreign Office checked whether the millions could be recovered retroactively, but the European Union declared that this was not possible because the accounts of the past five years had been closed.
According to Helen May Wiebholt, head of regulation and services at the Prime Minister's Office, as stated in the announcement: “This is a very regrettable administrative error, meaning that for several years they have not applied for the reimbursement they were entitled to. A new administrative practice has now been introduced to ensure that reimbursement is applied for both transport and hotels for all trips to EU summits that are completed or will be completed in 2022 and beyond.”.
From 2016 until June 2019, Lars Løkke Rasmussen was Prime Minister of Denmark, before being succeeded by Mette Frederiksen.
