The Week That Was, February 6th – 12th 2023
Politics/Economy:
The government continues to lose popularity – a new poll showed the centrist coalition has lost the support of 7.5 % of voters since the general election and now only garners 42.6 % of the vote, compared to 50.1% at the election last year – a potential loss of 13 seats.
Climate Minister Lars Aagaard ruled out any possibility of traditional nuclear power in Denmark.
The prime minister came out in support of proposed tax cuts for high earners, an issue that has traditionally been fiercely opposed by her own party for years.
Suspended ‘spy boss’ Lars Findsen called for an independent inquiry into whether convicted terrorist Ahmed Samsam was working as a double agent for FE (Military Intelligence) or PET (Police Intelligence) when convicted of fighting for the Islamic State in 2018 – opposition parties dismissed the government’s plan to investigate itself in the espionage affair and demanded an independent inquiry.
Minister of Defence Jakob Ellemann-Jensen Ellemann is taking sick leave for an undefined period after doctors prescribed stress.
Lars Boje Mathiesen was elected the new leader of the anti-migrant New Right (Nye Konservative) replacing party founder Pernille Vermund who announced last month she’s quitting politics.
Jyske, Denmark’s second-biggest bank is confident inflation will continue to fall at a rapid pace, with the possibility of negative inflation by the end of the year.
Foreign Affairs/EU:
Denmark donated DKK20m to Syria following the devastating earthquake that hit the country early Monday – additionally, the Danish Emergency Management Agency (DEMA) was selected to lead a team of Nordic emergency responders.
Denmark, alongside Germany and the Netherlands, agreed to renovate and donate at least 100 tanks to Ukraine – the Ministry of Defence said the first 80 Leopard 1A5 tanks are expected to be dispatched within the next few months.
Russian ambassador Vladimir Barbin warned that the Defence Ministry’s multi-billion kroner ‘wishlist’ of what the military needs to deal with Russia’s ‘increasingly aggressive behaviour’ – including more F-35 fighter jets and an offensive missile system that can hit Russia – is ‘damaging’ to DK-Russia relations.
The White House, CIA, and US Department dismissed accusations by a well-known investigative American journalist that the U.S. was responsible for the explosions that damaged the Nord Stream 1 and 2 gas pipelines last year.
Foreign Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen said Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has created a new foreign policy situation in the Arctic that requires increased EU involvement – at a Brussels meeting he also urged the EU to agree on a common policy to curb increased migration and said the government supports building fences along the bloc’s external borders.
Denmark joined a Nordic push to ban Russia from all international sporting events, including the Olympic Games in Paris next year.
The Danish Business Authority froze the bank accounts of the Russian House in Copenhagen.
The Ministry of Defence announced the deployment of a military air ambulance to Bosnia-Herzegovina, following a request from the EU.
Social Affairs:
Swedish police denied right-wing Danish Islamaphobe Rasmus Paludan permission to stage a new Koran-burning stunt outside Turkey’s embassy in Stockholm, Friday.
Justice Minister Peter Hummelgaard said Denmark’s aim to send foreign criminals to prisons in Kosovo will take another two years.
IT Company Tehtris reported a major rise in politically motivated hacker attacks.
Business:
Carlsberg’s Russian business earned DKK 1.9 bn ($283m) in 2022 on sales of DKK 10.2 bn ($1.5 bn) last year, an increase of 56%, even though the brewing giant dropped investments in Russia following the invasion of Ukraine.
Pharmaceutical exports continued to break records in 2022 as medicines worth DKK 157.7bn ($22.7bn] went abroad, an increase of DKK 21.1bn ($3 bn] from 2021.
And That was the Week That Was, February 6th – 12th, 2023: To read all the above articles in full see: http://seven59.dk/archive (subscription required).