Tønder drops referendums on renewable energy projects

TØNDER: In 2023, Danish history was written in Tønder when the municipality became the first in the country to hold indicative referendums on local renewable energy (RE) projects, including wind turbines and solar farms.

But on Thursday, that practice was surprisingly abolished when a majority in Tønder City Council decided to abolish the indicative referendums on wind turbines and solar cells. Instead, new ways of involving citizens will be found. This is reported by JydskeVestkysten.

The decision came after Allan Svendsen of the Danish People's Party had originally filed a case via the right of initiative with a proposal to stop new renewable energy projects.

Instead of supporting this proposal, an amendment was proposed by SF and Tønderlisten to drop the indicative votes "and that the political parties meet as soon as possible with a view to finding other ways to involve the local population, instead of the indicative votes."

This amendment was supported by 20 city council members against 11. In addition to the proposers, the Schleswig Party, the Social Democrats and the Liberal Alliance voted in favor. This means that local votes will no longer be part of the decision-making basis in cases regarding wind and solar projects.

The votes have otherwise given a clear popular voice. There has been a "no majority" for all but two projects. According to Mayor Jørgen Popp Petersen (Schleswig Party), the decision is due, among other things, to the fact that the indicative votes have created challenges in practice.

- The problem is that people do not want to acknowledge that these are indicative votes. Regardless of how a result is handled, there will always be someone who is dissatisfied, he tells the local media.

Harsh criticism from opponents

However, the decision has triggered criticism from several parties. Venstre believes that the abolition is a breach of the political settlement on renewable energy from 2022 and at the same time criticizes the process behind the decision.

- This is in reality a breach of settlement, which also automatically cancels the original settlement, says Martin Iversen, who is the group chairman and 1st deputy mayor of Venstre, in a press release, in which he calls on the mayor to convene all parties to clarify the situation in relation to the municipality's line.

At the same time, the Danish People's Party has brought the matter to the Danish Social Appeals Board with reference to the fact that the decision may have been made in violation of applicable rules.

Jørgen Popp Petersen indicates that he intends to convene the settlement group, and at the same time he takes note of DF's complaint about the decision to the Danish Social Appeals Board, but takes it easy, as he is "completely confident that it is within the disk".