 Fourty-two days after his party s victory in the Danish general elections, Anders Fogh Rasmussen speaks to the Danish people in the traditional televised New Year s speech. In what became one of the big talking-points of that winter and spring he announces his intention to severely cut the expenses for numerous government councils and institutions. Throughout the speech, he focuses on the idea of freedom, ranging from emotional words about the totalitarianisms of the 20th century and the reunion of Eastern and Western Europe to the concept of individual choice between different solutions in the welfare state. He also comments on the war on terrorism and the Danish contribution to the attack on Afghanistan.