Europe should stick to an open economy, to competition and we should refuse protectionism. It will not save one single job in the long run to protect non-competitive industries.

Rasmussen stated as one of the reasons to support a military intervention "Irak har masseødelæggelsesvåben. It was the first time since 1920 that the Social Democratic Party lost its position as the largest party in the Folketing (parliament) mainly due to a loss of working class votes to Dansk Folkeparti (The Danish People's Party). [citation needed]
The Danish Defence Intelligence Service (FE) produced a classified report stating that it had no absolute proof of WMDs in Iraq.

His term ends in the summer of 2014. His government introduced tougher limits on non-EEA immigration and a freeze on tax rates (skattestoppet in Danish). He authored several books about taxation and government structure.