In the email from September 2020, the special consultant Niels Torpegaard Christensen describes that in his eyes there was a legal basis in the law on keeping animals, which belonged to the then Ministry of the Environment and Food.
– I do not understand why we should enter the epidemic law. The law on keeping animals has a legal basis for killing, it says in the email.
Previously, department head Tejs Binderup from the then Ministry of the Environment and Food has explained that his ministry has never believed that there was a legal basis for killing all mink in the law on keeping animals.
– Then there has been a short period from 4. (November) at noon to 5. (November) at noon, where there are some who say that we think we can use your legal basis anyway, it sounded from Binderup in his interrogation.
The “someone” is apparently the Ministry of Health. Here, Niels Torpegaard Christensen’s mail, which at the time was over a month old and had been prepared in a different context, was highlighted.
Niels Torpegaard Christensen himself had meanwhile changed jobs.
On Friday, he was asked what the assessment in the September email was based on. He explained that it was based on a quick search. He himself estimated that it had taken maybe ten minutes of work – and it had not involved other ministries.
The government’s coordination committee, where a number of top ministers, including Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen, decided at a meeting on the evening of 3 November that all mink should be killed.
On the morning of 4 November, the various ministries will be informed of the decision. At a meeting between several ministries, Tejs Binderup raises questions about where there is a legal basis for a decision.
Here, department head Dorthe Søndergaard from the Ministry of Health refers to the fact that it must be there if you ask the health authorities in the right way.
An hour later, she sends parts of Niels Torpegaard Christensen’s email to the Ministry of Justice.
Then there are about 24 hours where the Ministry of the Environment and Food’s assessment is challenged before the Ministry of Justice must agree with their assessment: That there is no legal basis in the law on keeping animals to kill all mink.
During the 24 hours, on the afternoon of November 4, the government presented its decision to the public.
Source: The Nordic Page