The Week That Was, March 28th – April 3rd 2022:
Ukraine crisis:
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelinsky told the Danish parliament, Tuesday, that Europe must tighten sanctions on Russia by blocking trade, stopping buying oil, and closing ports to Russian ships – speaking via a direct video link, the President thanked Denmark and the Danish population for helping Ukraine and Ukrainians. Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen described the Ukraine leader as a ‘proud leader of a brave nation.’
The government rejected Russia’s gas-for-roubles demand after President Putin warned ‘unfriendly’ nations they must start paying for gas in roubles or supplies will be cut.
Denmark will send a battalion of 800 soldiers to Latvia to strengthen NATO’s eastern flank – following a meeting with her Latvian counterpart, Krisjanis Karins, in Riga, Thursday, Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said the West needs to provide Ukraine with the weapons it needs, help Ukrainian refugees and keep putting pressure on the Kremlin.
Greenpeace activists blocked the transfer of Russian oil between two tankers off the coast of Frederikshavn in north Jutland, Thursday.
Politics/Economy/EU/Foreign Affairs:
Former Danish prime minister, Anders Fogh Rasmussen, compared Vladimir Putin to Adolf Hitler and Joseph Stalin – the former NATO secretary-general also accused the West of being far too naïve in the past when dealing with the Russian president.
In an interview with Berlingske, Foreign Minister Jeppe Kofod said Denmark is ready to ‘go far’ in the confrontation with Russia to ensure peace in Ukraine and declined to rule out the possibility of severing diplomatic ties – Russia’s ambassador to Denmark, Vladimir V.Barbin accused Western media and politicians of ‘maliciously’ distorting the truth about his country’s nuclear threat.
During a visit to Georgia, Thursday, Mr Kofod said it would be a violation of international law if the authorities in the Moscow-backed separatist region of South Ossetia holds a referendum on being incorporated into Russia.
Mr Kofod came under fire for spending DKK 3.5m ($520,000) of taxpayers’ money on private, chartered planes last year instead of taking scheduled flights.
During a visit to Estonia, Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen told reporters Denmark would fully support Finnish NATO membership if the country were to apply,
A new poll showed 73% of the electorate believe Denmark should stop all imports of Russian gas even though it would lead to rising prices and a possible energy shortage.
The economy grew by more than expected in 2021 – year-end growth of 4.7%, a 27-year high, surpassed the previous forecast of 4.1% and was significantly more than the years preceding the 2008 financial crisis.
The PM warned that consumers won’t be compensated for the fast-rising price of energy and food and called for ’national unity’ to help the thousands of Ukrainian refugees arriving in Denmark.
Former immigration minister Inger Støjberg, sentenced to 60 days in prison by the Court of Impeachment in December after being found guilty of ordering the separation of under-age couples seeking asylum in the Child Brides affair, started serving her custodial sentence but with an electronic ankle tag instead of prison time.
The Tax Ministry said it’s ‘cautiously optimistic’ it could recover up to 75% of the DKK12.7bn defrauded from the Danish state in the 2015 share dividend scam.
The Tibet Commission 2 concluded that the Foreign Ministry and Danish Intelligence (PET) were ultimately responsible for denying pro-Tibet demonstrators the right to protest during visits by Chinese dignitaries in the early 00s.
Internal defence documents obtained by Berlingske showed the Danish military’s 45 infantry fighting vehicles (IFV), used to carry troops into battle and provide direct fire support, are so worn out that they can travel no more than 1.6 kilometres a day.
Danish shipping giant Maersk and the Egyptian authorities signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the aim of speeding up green fuel production in the Middle East country.
Social Affairs / Corona:
In its latest annual threat assessment, published Tuesday, Danish Intelligence (PET) said the general terrorism threat towards Denmark is ‘serious’ but the risk of any attack on the public remains ‘very’ low.
Immigration Minister Mattias Tesfaye was summoned to a parliamentary consultation to answer accusations that an Iranian woman facing deportation was forcibly sedated by the Danish authorities.
The Danish People’s Party (DPP) urged the government to examine the possibility of housing Ukrainian refugees in tent cities instead of under-privileged social housing areas, often termed ‘ghettos’ – some local authorities said they are already struggling to accommodate the influx.
The jobless rate declined to 2.5 percent in February, the lowest level in nearly 14 years – 4,000 people joined the labour market in January although the month-on-month increase was slower than the surge towards the end of 2021. Despite the slowdown, 2.91m are now employed, an all-time high.
Consumer pessimism, fuelled by rising inflation and the Ukraine crisis, was reflected in declining retail sales that fell 1.2% month-on-month in February, after 5% growth in January.
All remaining Covid-19 restrictions on travellers entering Denmark were removed.
The state is going ahead with plans to buy 5 million Covid-19 tests in April even though many testing centres throughout the country have closed down and the health authorities are sitting on a stockpile of 20 million.
Business:
Brewing giant Carlsberg is pulling out of Russia – CEO Cees ’t Hart said the company has taken the ‘difficult and immediate decision’ to seek a full disposal of its business in the country.
Danish bedding giant JYSK is closing down all its business operations in Russia.
Two of Denmark’s biggest supermarket chains, Føtex and Bilka, raised the price of 7,500 – 8,500 goods this week, blaming higher energy prices.
Struggling pan-Scandinavian airline SAS lost its challenge against a multi-million euro fine imposed by EU regulators five years ago for taking part in an air cargo cartel and was ordered to pay a fine of €70.2m (DKK522m).