Speaking three weeks after Denmark's close-run election result, Rasmussen said that he expected the talks to continue long into May.
"My best honest guess is it will not be within the next month," he said in an interview with the YouTuber Jonas Laursen, predicting it will take more than a week before the "really deep negotiations" over policy even start.
Since Rasmussen on Friday forced Social Democrat leader Mette Frederiksen – who has been appointed the royal investigator – to invite the other centre-right parties to the talks, he said it would take at least one further week for agreement to be reached which parties should take part in substantive negotiations.
"Right now, we are in phase one and the jury is still out on which parties should be involved in the really deep negotiations," Rasmussen said.
"I have pushed the acting PM to also talk to the centre-right parties – because that's what we prefer, a cross-party government. I don't think that will be finalised or concluded before a week from now."
"When we reach the position where we know for sure it is these parties and not those parties we have to negotiate a political platform with, I foresee it will take some additional weeks, so my best honest guess is it will not be within the next month."
This would push the negotiating time well past the six weeks it took Denmark's political parties to agree on a new government after the 2022 election.
Up until Friday, Frederiksen has been negotiating primarily with the left-wing parties and the non-aligned Moderates, but on Friday Rasmussen declared that his party would not participate in further talks unless Mette Frederiksen also invited in the Liberal and the Conservative parties.
On Monday, the Liberal Party's deputy leader, Stephanie Lose, met Frederiksen for discussions (the party's leader, Troels Lund Poulsen, was on sick leave), saying afterwards she had had a "fine meeting".
On Tuesday, Conservative Party leader Mona Juul met Frederiksen, declaring afterwards that she wanted one of the centre-right party leaders to be appointed as royal investigator to see if they could form a centre-right-led coalition.
The Liberal Alliance, the Denmark Democrats, the Danish People's Party and the Citizens' Party have not been invited to negotiation meetings.
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