The Week That Was, February 10th – 16th 2020
Politics/Economy:
The Tax Ministry covered up serious flaws in the Tax Authority’s (SKAT) control mechanisms of corporate tax, auto imports, and customs – parliament, despite repeated requests, has been denied access to 75 scathing reports compiled by the ministry’s own auditors.
SKAT has targeted some of the world’s biggest banks in its efforts to claw back some of the billions of kroner defrauded in the share dividend scandal, including Goldman Sachs, Germany’s Deutsche Bank, American Morgan Stanley, British Barclays, US Merrill Lynch, Swiss UBS, and Canadia’s Nova Scotia.
The government warned banks not to pass on a new finance sector tax, aimed at funding the costs of the Social Democrats’ campaign promise to set up a new early retirement scheme for ‘worn-out’ workers, to customers.
One week after being appointed joint head of a new EU panel tasked with fighting tax evasion, former prime minister Helle Thorning-Schmidt stepped down following reports linking her to tax shelters in Jersey.
According to the German Öko-Institut (Institute for Applied Ecology) more than half of the climate projects earmarked by the state to reduce Denmark’s CO2 emissions are useless – Denmark has spent around DKK1.4bn ($201m) on the credits.
Climate Minister Dan Jørgensen lobbied for Denmark’s proposal for an EU-wide ban on diesel and petrol cars by 2030 to combat climate change.
The government’s parliamentary ally, the Social Liberals (Radikale) joined the opposition Liberals in a joint initiative on electric cars, signaling discord in the ‘red’ bloc.
A number of parties admitted to voting for a parliamentary motion condemning violence and harassment against Jews without seeing any concrete evidence to support the claim.
The government continues to subsidise Muslim free schools despite the Social Democrats’ campaign promise to stop all funding.
Denmark’s record-low interest rates of minus 0.75% could soon be a thing of the past – leading economists predicted the National Bank, which links the krone to the euro, is likely to raise its key rate in the coming months.
230,000 industrial workers can look forward to improved wages and working conditions after the Confederation of Danish Industry and the Central Organisation for Industrial Employees concluded a new collective bargaining agreement.
Consumer prices rose 0.7 percent year-on-year in January, marginally slower than December’s 0.8 percent.
Exports fell a seasonally adjusted 3.0 percent year-on-year in December, after a 0.2 percent rise in November – imports decreased 4.0 percent annually in December, following a 0.5 percent decline in the preceding month.
Foreign Affairs/EU:
The defence ministers of Denmark, Estonia, and Latvia reached agreement on the establishment of Headquarters Multinational Division North of NATO – Defence Minister Trine Bramsen said the move is ‘essential for security and security’ in the region, highlighting Russia’s aggressive behavior in neighboring Ukraine from 2014 as an example.
The Iraqi government confirmed it needs NATO’s help to train and advise the country’s security forces, paving the way for Denmark to take over a training mission from Canada towards the end of this year – NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said Denmark has for years proved it can handle operations in difficult places, as shown in Afghanistan, Iraq and other places.
China protested to parliament against former speaker of the house Pia Kjærsgaard’s visit to Taiwan last October when she met President Tsai Ing-wen.
Danish MEPs backed the EU’s free trade deal with Vietnam despite reservations about the country’s human right record.
Latvia’s foreign ministry made a last-minute appeal to Denmark not to allow a 46-year-old woman to be extradited to face criminal charges in South Africa.
Denmark had the EU’s 5th-highest rate of employment in the third quarter (Q3) of 2019 – 75.5% of the 15-64 age group were employed, bettered only by the Netherlands (78,4 %).
Social Affairs:
Failed asylum seekers and other immigrants at the Kærshovedgård departure centre in mid-Jutland violated residency rules more than 40,000 times last year.
The Socialist People’s Party (SPP) called for a stop on all state subsidies to faith-based kindergartens, nurseries, and childcare centres following reports that the Taiba mosque in Copenhagen is planning to open a daycare centre funded by the Saudi Arabian embassy.
The High Court ordered the Politiken newspaper to pay DKK 250,000 ($36,000) and editor Christian Jensen DKK100,000 ($15,000) for violating an injunction by publishing a book based on interviews with the former head of Danish Intelligence (PET) Jacob Scharf.
On the 5th anniversary of the Copenhagen terror attack a new survey revealed that Danes are generally unconcerned about the threat of terrorism.
The three children of 65-year-old Britta Nielsen, who’s charged with embezzling DKK111m from the Danish social authorities, were themselves charged with receiving stolen property and money totaling DKK51m.
Business:
Berlingske revealed that Torm Shipping, one of the world’s leading carriers of refined oil products, is heavily implicated in Brazil’s biggest-ever anti-corruption investigation, ‘Operation Car Wash’.
Scandinavia’s flagship airline SAS was forced to edit a new online commercial that critics claimed was ‘unpatriotic’ and demeaned the region’s culture and history – & Co, the advertising agency behind the ad campaign, received a bomb threat.
The coronavirus has already started to impact transit figures at Copenhagen Airport – the number of travellers from China dropped by 3,000 in January and the downturn has strengthened this month. National mail carrier PostNord will no longer send, or accept, letters and packages to and from China as the coronavirus continues to spread.
Copenhagen, alongside London’s Heathrow, was named the leading airport for shoppers in Europe in a new study.
A record number of tourists flocked to Denmark last year – there were almost 56 million overnight stays in 2019, up from 53.8 million in 2018.
Organic products accounted for 11.5% of all Denmark’s retail sales in 2018, the highest in the world.
And That Was the Week That Was, February 10th – 16th 2020: To read all the above articles in full see: http://seven59.dk/archive (subscription required).