The Week That Was, August 31st– September 6th 2020:

Coronavirus/ What happened last week:

New studies by both the EU and Scandinavian authorities indicated that head of the Danish Health Authority (DHA), Søren Brostrøm, was correct when he warned the prime minister on March 11th not to close down schools: Children are not corona spreaders and the closure of schools had no noticeable effect on the number of pupils infected or the transmission rate amongst the general public, the study said.

A new poll based on the responses of local residents showed Denmark has handled the corona crisis better than all developed countries – 95% of people in this country believe their country’s politicians have performed well under the pressure of the crisis.

An alarming escalation of 35 confirmed COVID-19 cases among students who were participating in a teacher training program at UCL University College of Odense resulted in 1,072 students being sent home.

179 new COVID-19 infections were registered Thursday, the highest rate since late April.

Politics/Economy:

Finance Minister Nikolaj Wammen said the government’s draft budget for 2021 published this week has one, single overriding aim – to steer Denmark through the corona crisis safely, soundly, and with as few economic repercussions as possible. Although there’s no money for expensive climate measures or welfare initiatives Denmark will pay DKK2.2bn (€295m) more to the EU in 2021, the highest amount ever. The government will need to borrow DKK374bn ($60 billion) this year, 25% more than its previous forecast of DKK294bn,. DKK759m (€100m) earmarked by the previous Liberal-led government a refugee holding centre on the deserted island of Lindholm disappeared from the 2021 budget.

The budget contained a proposal to double Denmark’s 2021 contribution to the World Health Organisation (WHO) next year, from the current DKK35m($5.7m) to DKK70m ($11.1m).

Companies and businesses hard hit by the corona crisis will be allowed to implement work-sharing programmes to replace the wage compensation scheme that expired, Monday – at the same the government extended emergency aid schemes for theatres, sport clubs and other cultural activities impacted by coronavirus until the end of October.

Liberal leader Jakob Ellemann-Jensen dismissed policy advice from his predecessor, Lars Løkke Rasmussen, as ’destructive’ and ‘not very constructive’ – in a new biography the former prime minister repeated his campaign theory that across the aisle cooperation is the only way forward for the party to regain power.

Danes have a very positive view of the economy despite the devastation caused by the corona crisis – a new survey by the U,S. think-tank Pew Research conducted this summer in 14 nations in Europe, North America and the Asia-Pacific region, showed 74% of the Danish electorate rate their country’s economic condition positively.

The reason behind the suspension of Denmark’s top military snoop became clearer when DR News revealed that Military Intelligence (FE) has shared raw data from information cables with the U.S. National Security Agency, which could have given the NSA access to Danish citizens’ personal data and private communications.

Hard Line (Stram Kurs) party leader Rasmus Paludan warned he will keep holding Quran-burning demonstrations in Sweden despite being banned from the country for two years.

A parliamentary majority agreed to reform sexual violence legislation so that in future, consent is the central element in determining rape.

The government is backing the Faroe Islands’ bid to become the third associate member of the World Health Organisation (WHO), in line with Puerto Rico and Tokelau.

The latest Statistics Denmark data showed the gross unemployment rate fell by 5,500 to 148,100 in July from 153,700 in the preceding month.

Foreign Affairs/EU:

Foreign Minister Jeppe Kofod condemned the suspected poisoning of Alexay Navalny after German experts said tests carried out on the Russian opposition leader had provided ‘unequivocal evidence of a chemical nerve agent’ from the Novichok group – Soviet-era chemical weapons. A parliamentary majority called for ‘tough, painful sanctions’ on the Russians responsible that would prevent them from buying property in Europe or sending their children to expensive private schools within the EU.

German politician Norbert Roettgen, head of the German parliament’s foreign affairs committee and a potential successor to Chancellor Angela Merkel, said the attempted murder of the Russian opposition leader should have serious repercussions for the controversial Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline currently under construction in Danish territorial waters.

Denmark backed the EU’s condemnation of the US’ move to impose sanctions on two officials of the International Criminal Court (ICC).

Foreign Minister Jeppe Kofod warned Russia’s ambassador to Denmark that further violations of Danish airspace will not be tolerated, following reports that a Russian fighter jet committed a ‘significant violation’ while intercepting a U.S. Air Force bomber in the Baltic Sea region near Bornholm.

French satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo stirred up the Islam debate again, Wednesday, with a front cover featuring the 12 original cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed, which were first published by Jyllands-Posten in 2005 and sparked off riots throughout the Muslim world.

Strict border controls with Germany and Sweden imposed in March to help control the corona virus were eased, Thursday.

Susanne Hyldelund, the former head of the Trade Council and Global Sustainability, became Denmark’s new ambassador to Germany, replacing Thomas Ahrenkiel who’s been suspended after being implicated in the military intelligence scandal.

Crown Prince Frederik and Crown Princess Mary postponed a November trip to the Netherlands due to the corona crisis – the couple were scheduled to head a Danish trade delegation to a “Partnering for Green Transition” conference.

Business:

Business confidence rose to 84.9 in August from 82.0 in July, although industrial confidence deteriorated to -10 in August from -7 in the previous month.

The Danish tax authorities lunched a review of Google’s accounts in Denmark to determine whether the tech giant has any outstanding tax obligation

Danish shipping giant A.P.Moller-Maersk (APM) appealed for international assistance after one of its tankers, anchored off the coast of Malta for nearly a month, was again denied the right to offload 27 illegal migrants rescued from a sinking boat on August 4th.

Danske Bank has for 28 years broken the law by demanding excessive or outdated debt from some of its most vulnerable customers – it’s estimated that the country’s biggest bank collected more debt than it was entitled to from up to 106,000 customers due to ‘IT errors and data quality issues’. The bank saw an increase of 22% in cybercrime attempts last year as fraudsters’ profits went up by 45%.

Toy giant Lego posted impressive 7% growth in revenue during the first half year (H1) of 2020, at a time when its rivals suffered a ‘corona downturn’.

Novo Nordisk unveiled a production line of its key insulin drug in Iran.

Bouyed by a a $1.3bn bailout from the Danish and Swedish governments, struggling airine SAS announced plans to restart weekly flights between Copenhagen and Shanghai from the end of September, as well as resuming service from the Danish capital to Washington, and increasing its Copenhagen-New York frequency to daily.

And That Was the Week That Was, August 31st– September 6th 2020: To read all the above articles in full see: http://seven59.dk/archive (subscription required).