The Week That Was, December 16th – 22nd 2019:
Politics/Economy:
Climate Minister Dan Jørgensen was applauded at the COP25 summit in Madrid after presenting the government’s ambitious climate bill aimed at reducing CO2 emissions by 70% over the next decade.
Denmark is the second-highest ranked country, behind Sweden, on this year’s Climate Change Performance Index that monitors the climate protection performance of 57 countries and the EU.
Parties on both sides of the aisle called for a full-scale probe into potential fraud at state-run agencies, following the Britta Nielsen social fraud affair and alleged misappropriation of funds within the defence ministry. Defence Minister Trine Bramsen cancelled a long-planned trip to Greenland to deal with the growing controversy.
Danish inflation increased slightly in November – the consumer price index rose 0.7 percent year-on-year in November, following a 0.6 percent increase in October.
Foreign Affairs/EU:
A major NATO conference scheduled for Copenhagen was cancelled at the last minute by the Danish Atlantic Council after U.S. Ambassador to Denmark Carla Sands voiced concern about one of the keynote speakers who’s been critical of Donald Trump’s policies – Kristian Mouritzen, Berlingske’s security policy editor said rumours that the U.S. State Department has urged embassies around the world to distance themselves from Trump critics appear to have been confirmed.
The government announced plans to send a frigate, a helicopter and a crew of 155 people to support an international naval mission in the Strait of Hormuz from Autumn, 2020.
Danish military intelligence expressed concern about Russia’s new military airbase in the Arctic archipelago of Franz Josef Land that will be operational in 2020.
Greenland and Faroe Islands lawmakers accused the Danish government of ignoring them when discussing their respective countries’ foreign policy concerns – when Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen discussed Arctic policy with U.S. President Donald Trump on the sidelines of the NATO summit in London recently she was accompanied by an entourage that included her foreign minister and her defence minister, but no representatives from Greenland or the Faroes.
The Foreign Ministry confirmed there are no totally secure channels of communication between the governments of Denmark, Greenland, and Faroe Islands that allow decision makers in all three countries to speak confidentially without major powers such as China, Russia, and the U.S. listening in.
China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs dismissed claims that the country’s Ambassador to Denmark, Feng Tie, threatened the Faroe Islands home rule government that a trade agreement would be dropped if failed sign a 5G contract with Huawei. Foreign Minister Jeppe Kofod later denied that Denmark has advised the Faroe Islands’ government about its choice of a supplier for the upcoming 5G network.
Denmark will be working much more closely with Ireland and Sweden in the future on climate issues – Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen, Swedish Prime Minister Stefan Löfven, and Irish PM Leo Varadkar announced their ‘mini partnership’ at the EU summit, Thursday.
Social Affairs:
Danish police arrested 20 terror suspects, Wednesday, in a coordinated series of raids throughout the country. The police said all were suspected of involvement in Islamist terrorism and were ‘trying to obtain explosives and firearms for a suspected militant attack’. Eight of them – six men and two women – were later charged with aiding or inciting terrorism.
The man behind Denmark’s biggest ever fraud case was finally questioned by the Danish authorities – Sanjay Shah, the British businessman and main suspect in the DKK12.7bn share dividend scandal, was interviewed by the State Prosecutor’s Office for Serious Economic and International Crime (SØIK) at the Danish ambassador’s residence in Dubai.
83 people are at risk of losing their Danish passport after failing to disclose they had a criminal record when applying for citizenship.
Around 20,000 bitcoin speculators will be receiving an unpleasant letter from the tax authorities demanding a full breakdown of their crypto transactions.
Business:
Denmark’s industrial production fell a seasonally adjusted 0.6 percent month-on-month in October, after a 1.9 percent rise in September – goods imports decreased by 0.9 percent annually in October, following a 0.2 percent decline in the preceding month.
The government’s plan to crackdown on short-term property speculators provoked a storm of criticism from Denmark’s biggest pension funds who claimed they will be hard-hit by new legislation specifically aimed at U.S. investment group Blackstone.
Denmark’s pension industry has grown to more than double the country’s gross domestic product after adding nearly DKK700bn ($100bn) this year alone.
Labour-market pension fund Sampension announced an investment of DKK300m (€40m) in green bonds issued by Ireland and Germany.
Four leading banks were given a formal warning by the Danish Financial Supervisory Authority (FSA) for failing to sufficiently screen trading with stocks, bonds and shares – Danske Bank was specifically singled out for ‘serious deficiencies’ in its procedures.
Card payment services company, NETS, launched a pilot programme testing facial recognition as a payment method.
Scandinavia’s flagship airline, SAS, announced a direct route to Tokyo Haneda International Airport from Copenhagen to provide travellers with better access to downtown Tokyo and more connectivity to 30 domestic destinations in Japan.
And That Was the The Week That Was, December 16th – 22nd 2019: To read all the above articles in full see: http://seven59.dk/archive (subscription required).