"At a meeting held in June 2021, the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) launched a roadmap for the trade unions with the explicit aim of building responses to the rise of the far-right. The document begins with these words: Trade unions and the far-right are opposites. Not only because of trade unions' history and proud tradition of opposing the far-right in past, but because of what trade unions stand for today. Trade unions, above all else, believe in solidarity: we seek better lives, social justice and opportunity, for all working people. We stand for unity over division. The statement is followed by a list of fifteen concrete actions that aim to combat the spread of populism and far-right positions within trade unions and society. The strategies include the mapping of the farright at the workplace and in the public opinion; the incentivizing of internal communication and training, education, networking activities; and the promotion of alliance building and mutual learning. Concern about the growing electoral support for the far right in recent European elections was reiterated by ETUC president Laurent Berger, who warned: Without more dialogue between institutions, trade unions, and civil society, Europe will see chaos and the rise of the far-right, Adding to these words that: […] Hungary, Poland, Italy, or even Sweden. The farright comes out on top every time in elections, [although] Europe has never enjoyed freedom, equality and fraternity in extremist regimes Labour unions have over the past decades experienced the pressure of hyper-globalisation and de-industrialisation processes, the effects of economic and financial crises, the constant decline in party and union membership (Lehndorff/Dribbusch/Schulten 2018) and the rising electoral support for the radical right among workers (see Rydgren 2013; Salo/Rydgren 2021; Oesch/ Rennwald 2018). The growing disaffection of the working class with labour union organisations and their general decline in influence are today highlighted by the scholarly literature in relation to a twofold transformation. On the one side, there has been a change in voters' political identification and voting preferences, particularly in terms of class-based alignment and support (Kitschelt 1994). On the other side, the role played by trade unions in their negotiations and bargaining strategies has narrowed and become more limited by sector (Dancygier/Walter 2015). On the top of these transformations, the multiple global crises that followed the 2008 Great Recession have reinforced workers' belief that uncertainty and risk are now permanent. National as well as transnational cycles of protests and mobilisations have responded to TRADE UNIONS AND RIGHT-WING POPULISM IN EUROPE Country Study Denmark COUNTRY REPORT DENMARK 2 the political and societal accelerations in society, either by deepening, or by narrowing the range of democratic opportunities (Della Porta 2013). Citizenship and democracy studies warn against the profound implications that the rising polarisation and distrust in democratic institutions might have on the very structures and the stability of liberal democracy (Crouch 2003; Krastev 2017; Levitsky/Ziblatt 2018; Mounk 2022). With the above backdrop in mind, we began to ask questions about the role the major trade unions play in today's Denmark; a context where the effects of the crises have been comparatively less harmful than elsewhere in Europe, but where the political influence of the populist right has been on the rise in the past decades (Meret 2021a, 2021b). Furthermore, the appeal that right-wing populism has for manual labourers raises questions about the kind of responses labour unions have been able to put up to tackle these issues over time. Apart from few sporadic studies (Rathgeb/ Klitgaard 2022; Mosiman/Rennwald/Zimmerman 2019; Arndt/Rennwald 2016) the research within this field is still limited in Denmark. This is in contrast with other Scandinavian and Nordic countries, such as Sweden, where these issues have been more widely discussed (see e.g., Oskarson/Demker 2015; Neergaard 2017; Mulinari/Neergaard 2015) and are matter of specific focus and targeted activities. An example is the resolution Crush Right-wing extremism!(Krossa högerextremismen!) drafted at the Nordic Forum in the summer of 2021, which addressed the topic explicitly: The trade union movement must contribute to the fight against right-wing extremism by educating our own members. Right-wing extremists work across national borders and within the labour movement in the Nordic countries and Europe we need to start a network of activists who can exchange experiences and cooperate in the fight against these forces. STRUCTURE OF THE STUDY Our study consists of three main sections. In the first section we introduce some of the main features characterising the Danish labour market model and the Danish political system. We examine in particular the development and consolidation of right-wing populism in the country. In the second section, we focus on the Danish labour unions, their history, organisation, membership, and on the role these play in Danish society today. Within this section we look at how union representatives formulate and perceive the challenges coming from the far right and how they understand the functions and responsibility of their union to contend with these. Our data consist of semi-structured interviews conducted in August and September 2022 with fifteen trade union representatives of the three major Danish trade unions. We then consider the trade union strategies aimed at preventing the spreading of racism, discrimination and sexism. This encompasses trade unions' anti-racist, antidiscriminatory, and anti-sexist initiatives and campaigns, issues of trans-sectoral and transnational worker solidarity, and other relevant actions aimed at promoting inclusion, equality, and solidarity among members. To conclude, we strive to put forward a few recommendations for action, based on an assessment of the trade unions' experiences, but also on the ideas of how to counter extremism and exclusions that emerged during the interviews..."

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