The Week That Was, July 1st – July 7th 2019:
Politics/Economy:
New Immigration Minister Mattias Tesfay signalled a softer tone in the immigration debate by removing a ‘legislation counter’ from the ministry’s website, used by his predecessor Inger Støjberg to proudly show how many restrictions the previous government had implemented – 114 at the last count. He also issued a new set of guidelines for failed asylum seekers housed at the controversial Sjælsmark Transit Centre, which will allow children to enjoy meals in their own room, as suggested by the Red Cross.
The new government and its ‘red bloc’ allies agreed to appropriate between DKK250m – DKK300m in emergency child funding for cash-strapped families on welfare but, according to the right-leaning think-tank CEPOS, there will still be 57,500 children living under the poverty level.
New figures suggested the Social Democrat government is taking over just as the economy is slowing down – Gross Domestic Product (GDP) grew at an annual rate of 1.9% in the first three months of the year, down from a preliminary estimate of 2.2%.
Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen was accused of bypassing the democratic process by giving the Social Democrats’ chief of staff Martin Rossen a seat on two powerful parliamentary committees.
Denmark became the first developed economy this year to offer negative yields on government bonds – the National Bank sold 10-year government bonds worth DKK 1.72bn ($260.40m) at an interest rate of minus 0.32%, Wednesday.
Four lawyers employed to investigate the DKK12.7bn share dividend scandal were ordered to pay back their million-kroner fees after the Danish Law & Bar Society found they were involved in a conflict of interest.
Foreign Affairs/EU:
Margrethe Vestager failed in her bid to become President of the EU Commission – EU leaders nominated Ursula von der Leyen, the German defence minister, for the most powerful position in Brussels.
New Foreign Minister Jeppe Kofod said the Nord Stream 2 pipeline is ‘out of his hands’ after Russian state gas producer Gazprom withdrew its application for a route through Danish territorial waters south of Bornholm.
When Brexit Party MEPs defiantly turned their backs during the EU’s anthem as the European Parliament returned, Tuesday, they were joined by the Danish People’s Party’s Peter Kofod who said even though it’s tradition he could see no reason to pay respect to an institution that’s ‘too expensive, too bureaucratic, ineffective, and riddled with mistakes.’
Social Affairs:
64,100 refugees and non-western immigrants, including people from ethnic minorities born and raised in this country, will this summer receive an offer of DKK140,000 to voluntary return home.
Social researchers sounded the alarm about the lack of integration following a new study showing Muslims rarely choose a Danish spouse – only 12% of immigrants from the Middle East and Africa have over the past 20 years married a Dane.
Anti-Islamist Rasmus Paludan lost his appeal against a conditional 14-day prison sentence for racism.
A Muslim free school in Odense is closing down after losing its annual state-funded education grant following allegations of social control and gender-based education.
A Danish foreign fighter who left Denmark in 2013 to join the Islamic State in Syria pleaded to be allowed to come home – 28-year-old Ahmed el-Haj fled to Turkey after being injured in a bomb attack where he’s currently in a transit centre awaiting extradition.
Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen promised to apologise, on behalf of the state, to the so-called ‘Godhavns Boys’ who were placed in a children’s home on Bornholm between 1946-76 where they were beaten, abused and subjected to medical experiments.
The National Police (Rigspolitiet) acknowledged that innocent people could have been found guilty of crimes they didn’t commit in the telecom data scandal after it was revealed last month that 10,000 criminal cases are to be reviewed due to ‘a major malfunction’ in data collection procedures.
TV2 reported how social case officers at Helsingør Town Council were offered ice cream and cake if they were successful in reducing the number of unemployed claiming sickness benefits.
Copenhagen and its south Sweden neighbour, Malmø, will jointly host Wordpride 2021, the biggest gay event in the world.
Business:
The government will increase the counter-cyclical buffer for banks to 1.5% from June next year to ensure banks prepare for the bad times that may lay ahead – despite this the financial industry is preparing to resist new global rules regarding capital, claiming they’re ‘unnecessary’ and will damage the economy.
Denmark became the first developed economy this year to offer negative yields on government bonds – the National Bank sold 10-year government bonds worth DKK 1.72bn ($260.40m) at an interest rate of minus 0.32%, Wednesday.
The State Prosecutor’s Office for Serious Economic and International Crime widened its ongoing investigation of Danske Bank to include the bank’s decision to fire an independent company hired to examine warnings of money laundering by a whistle-blower.
Danish wind energy giant Vestas finished off the second quarter of 2019 with a flurry of activity, announcing 1,775 megawatts (MW) of new wind turbine orders over the last four days of June, pushing its total orders for the first half of the year to 7,605 MW, a 40% increase over the same period in 2018.
MP Pension lifted its ban on investment in Australian bank Macquarie, which was placed in quarantine in October 2018 after it emerged the bank was involved in the so-called cum-ex transactions.
AP Pension launched a sustainable pension product where investments will contribute to a green transition and to support a number of the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
2,290 new electric cars were sold in this country during the first six months of the year compared to only 52 over the same period last year, a 337% increase – however, Denmark has a long way to go to match Norway, where there are nearly 50,000 on the road.
A group of wealthy Danes co-invested DKK35m ($5.3m) in Danish tattoo marketplace platform Tattoodo, which claims to be “the world’s largest tattoo community with more than 500,000 registered artists.”
Danish start-up Motility Count was given a significant marketplace boost after the US FDA approved its home sperm test, opening up a potential market of 330 million people.
Danish card payment services company, NETS, teamed up with GIRO Zrt to offer an instant payments platform in Hungary.
The organisers of the Tour de France start in Copenhagen in 2021 were accused of cosmetically enhancing the viewing figures for the three stages in Denmark to attract public funding.
Copenhagen Airport’s new food hall was awarded the regional European award for Airport Food Hall of the Year.
And That Was the Week That Was, July 1st – July 7th 2019: To read all the above articles in full see: http://seven59.dk/archive (subscription required).