21. februar 2012, 15:05 – opdateret 21. februar 2012, 15:16

Prime Minister Helle Thorning-Schmidt assured journalists at her weekly press conference that cooperation between the government coalition parties remains excellent, despite reported internal division about the controversial congestion charge.

She dismissed rumours that the Socialist People’s Party had threatened to pull out of the government if it didn’t receive concessions on the toll ring proposal, but said the press, and Denmark, would have to wait until tomorrow (Wednesday) to hear what the three coalition parties agreed at their crisis meeting this morning. She also found time to praise the far-left Red/Green Alliance, the government’s guarantor of a parliamentary majority, who claimed last night’s she’s on a ‘suicide mission’ for her willingness to compromise with the right instead of left.

“They are free to express themselves as they want but our relationship is fine and I’m pleased about the agreements that have been made with their help,” said the PM.

Ms Thorning-Schmidt also confirmed that Minister of Foreign Affairs Villy Søvndal will participate in the inaugural meeting of the ‘Friends of Syria’ group in Tunisia, Friday, that will explore ways to further isolate President Bashar Assad and end the violence. She said Denmark needs to show its support right from the start.

“We need to help the opposition, stay in contact with the opposition, and at the same time help the Syrian people who continue to suffer under the al-Assad regime’s brutality,” she said, repeating her disappointment, expressed the previous day to President Sarkozy in Paris, about Russia and China’s veto of a Western and Arab resolution at the U.N. that would have pressured Assad to step down.