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Sky Danish rich man throws large sums in no campaign | BT Politik - www.bt.dk Have you come across video ads on Facebook and Instagram with aircraft carriers and fighter jets with a clear message to vote no to abolishing the EU defense portfolio? Then you are not alone. More than 575,000 Danes have already seen the videos, and large sums have been thrown into reaching as many people as possible on social media before the referendum on the defense reservation on 1 June. The campaign money does not come from a political party, but instead from the 72-year-old Danish billionaire Søren Toft-Jensen from Silkeborg, who created his fortune on spare parts for cars. Actually, he prefers to stay out of the public spotlight, but the matter is so much on his mind that he takes his fortune to influence the outcome of the referendum on Wednesday. On Sunday, he had spent over 60,000 kroner on spreading the ads on Facebook. “It's really annoying to have to spend money on it. I think we had an agreement with the politicians on our 1993 reservation, and we must maintain them. I think it's a bit sneaky that politicians now want to get rid of the defense reservation. I'm really tired of that, "he says and adds:" The 60,000 kroner does not go very far. It will run up to several hundred thousand kroner for the campaign. ”Søren Toft-Jensen, 72 years and billionaire. The campaign videos link to the website forsvarsforbeholdet.dk, where the campaign's nine videos are gathered. Here you can also read that it is the advertising agency The Brand Agency and the advertising man Carsten Herholdt who has designed the campaign for Søren Toft-Jensen. ‘He has been fun to work with. When I saw that there was going to be a referendum, I thought of him. And when I went to bed at night, there was an email from him. There was only something up in the subject field. It just said: 'What are we doing then, Carsten?', "Says Carsten Herholdt. This is not the first time that Søren Toft-Jensen is behind political campaigns and collaborates with Carsten Herholdt. He also did so in the referendum on the legal reservation in 2015, where he fought to maintain the reservation, and in the parliamentary elections in 2019, he was behind a large-scale campaign in which he called on voters to vote some fresh forces into the parliament. The new campaign paints a picture that a 'yes' to abolishing the EU defense reservation will undermine NATO. Among other things, Søren Toft-Jensen is concerned about whether the abolition of the defense reservation will move Danish money from NATO to the EU. "In my view, only NATO can guarantee our security. That is why I think the most important thing is to pay our contribution to NATO, "he said. Conversely, Jasiden believes that there is no contradiction between participating in the EU's defense cooperation and a strong NATO. This was emphasized by Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen, for example, when she met with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg on 19 May at Kastellet in Copenhagen. A position shared by the Secretary-General: 'The EU's defense efforts must not compete with NATO. Increased efforts on defense can contribute to important things - also for NATO, "said Stoltenberg. Søren Toft-Jensen has a clear expectation that the campaign will have an effect on the distribution of votes on 1 June. “There are over half a million who have seen the campaign. I'm pretty sure it's going to move some voices, ”he says. Rune Slothuus is a professor of political communication at Aarhus University. He estimates that Søren Toft-Jensen's campaign may have an impact on voting. First, the campaign will reach out to some sofa voters who otherwise would not have voted. Second, it will put a noticeable weight in the weight bowl of the Negroes. "It can move something for some," says Rune Slothuus. Søren Toft-Jensen emphasizes that the campaign is politically neutral, that he is not a member of any political party, and that he otherwise feels politically homeless when he has to vote in the next parliamentary election. ABROAD Media: Football B.T.'s judgment Bookmakers' judgment Berlingske UDLAND Berlingske Media A / S Pilestræde 34 DK-1147 Copenhagen KTlf. +45 33 75 75 33 CVR.no .: 29 20 73 13