--- description: Find out why Mette Frederiksen is one of the 100 most influential people of 2026. title: Mette Frederiksen: The 100 Most Influential People of 2026 image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9fc77e14ff6d4535/69dfb01249bc984c8140aeab/T100-2026-Web-Mette-Frederiksen-123.png?branch=production --- Apr 15, 2026 # Mette Frederiksen by [Nikhil Kumar](/author/nikhil-kumar/) ## Nikhil Kumar Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Kumar is an executive editor at TIME.  Courtesy of Frederiksen [Mette Frederiksen](https://time.com/7259818/exclusive-denmark-frederiksen-trump-greenland-interview/ "undefined") was barely a teenager when [Margaret Thatcher](https://time.com/archive/7150692/farewell-to-the-iron-lady-margaret-thatcher-1925-2013/ "undefined") left office, the British leader’s reputation as the “Iron Lady” by then solidified in no small part by the way she had cowed the country’s trade unions. So the Danish Social Democrat—the daughter of a former trade-union leader—must find it amusing when the same label is now lavished on her. Not that she is ever likely to show it. Frederiksen remained unyieldingly composed as President Trump threatened to “one way or another” acquire Danish-controlled Greenland. Behind the scenes, her military reportedly drew up plans to blow up airfields in the event of an American invasion. The news certainly aligned with her record as a defense hawk. At home, she has overseen a surge in military spending and an expansion in conscription. On the continental stage, alert to the Russia threat, she calls for a more muscular, self-reliant European defense—and she wants it now, prescribing an “emergency mindset” to build it. Thatcher would have recognized her determination. _Kumar is a TIME executive editor_ Mette Frederiksen Is on the 2026 TIME100 List ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"Article","@id":"https://time.com/collection/100-most-influential-people/2026/mette-frederiksen/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/collection/100-most-influential-people/2026/mette-frederiksen/"},"headline":"Mette Frederiksen","datePublished":"2026-04-15T11:00:00.000Z","dateModified":"2026-07-21T07:21:51.224Z","description":"","url":"https://time.com/collection/100-most-influential-people/2026/mette-frederiksen/","keywords":["TIME 100","list","franchise","Accolades"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9fc77e14ff6d4535/69dfb01249bc984c8140aeab/T100-2026-Web-Mette-Frederiksen-123.png?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Nikhil Kumar","jobTitle":"Kumar is an executive editor at TIME.","url":"https://time.com/author/nikhil-kumar/"}],"creator":"Nikhil Kumar","articleSection":"TIME100","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9fc77e14ff6d4535/69dfb01249bc984c8140aeab/T100-2026-Web-Mette-Frederiksen-123.png?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/time100/","name":"TIME100"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-100/","name":"TIME 100"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/collection/100-most-influential-people/2026/mette-frederiksen/","name":"Mette Frederiksen"}}]}] ```