Danish PM's Popularity Rebounding After Implementing Reforms

Had faced protests because of welfare cuts

(Reuters)—Danish Prime Minister Helle Thorning-Schmidt alienated her center-left voters when she started cutting one of Europe's most generous welfare systems shortly after she was elected.

Two years later there are signs the reforms by "Gucci Helle"—as the elegantly-dressed leader is known to critics—are paying dividends and her popularity has rebounded.

Denmark, along with similar ones other Nordic countries of Sweden, Finland and Norway, has long cherished a welfare system that includes living allowances for students and generous parental leaves, part of decades-long social policies focused on egalitarianism.