In 2024, the Great Prayer Day (Store Bededag), a public holiday in Denmark, was abolished.
The Danish parliament cancelled the holiday, introduced in the 17th century, to increase tax revenue and fund higher military spending in the wake of the Ukraine war.
The UK has slashed its development budget – amongst other things – for similar reasons. The French president, Emmanuel Macron, regularly warns that social sacrifices must be made in this “cruel world”.
And in the Netherlands, the three-party centre-right governing coalition has locked horns with trade unions and opposition parties over social welfare cuts.
Most European countries are, like the four mentioned here, set to spend 3.5 percent of their budgets or more on defence due to the growing threat of war.
