­­­The Week That Was, March 14th – 20th 2022:

Posted on 20. Mar, 2022 in: TWTW

Ukraine crisis:

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky appealed to Denmark and nine other countries who form the Joint Expeditionary Force (JEF) for more help in the war against Russia – speaking via video link to a meeting of the JEF hosted by British prime minister, Boris Johnson, in London, Mr Zelensky warned:  “We are all targets for Russia and if Ukraine does not stand firm, everything will go against Europe – help yourself by helping us.”

Former NATO commander Wesley Clark urged Denmark to act now to halt President Putin’s aggression – in a video conference hosted by the Centre for War Studies at the University of Southern Denmark (USD) the retired U.S. four-star general and one-time presidential candidate said: “If you think you can hide behind NATO and say ‘It’s a pity for the people of Ukraine but we are safe with NATO’, then let me say this: You are not safe with NATO.”

Following a meeting in Brussels, U.S. Defence Secretary Lloyd J. Austin thanked Minister of Defence Morten Bødskov for Denmark’s prompt and substantial contributions to NATO deterrence and defence on the Eastern Flank, as well as strong support to Ukraine in responding to Russia’s unprovoked and premeditated invasion.

In an interview with Danish TV2 news on the streets of Kyiv, ex-Ukraine president Petro Porosjenko appealed for a no-fly zone over his country and said he had some very bad news: ‘Putin has already gone mad’.

Facebook removed false claims, which also appeared on the Russian Embassy in Copenhagen’s account, that the bombing of a Ukraine hospital was a hoax.

Minister for Food, Agriculture and Fisheries Rasmus Prehn said he’s closely monitoring what effect Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is having on the food supply chain and urged everybody to ‘minimize food waste and stand together until peace arrives.’

Denmark is now experiencing the highest oil prices for years – if the Ukraine war drags out it could lead to a new ‘oil shock’ said raw materials analyst Ole Sloth Hansen of Saxo Bank.

Politics/Economy/EU/Foreign Affairs:

Defence bill parties agreed that military rearmament in the Baltic Sea should be a top priority when negotiations get underway regarding the ‘historic’ increase in defence spending announced by the government earlier this month – the Conservatives’ defence spokesman, Niels Flemming Hansen, said there’s ‘no doubt’ that Putin’s aggressive behavior requires a solid response.

Around 150 Danish troops arrived in Estonia as part of NATO’s Enhanced Forward Presence battlegroup.

After a 4-day visit to Greenland, Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen warned that Russia’s increased aggression in Europe could spread to the Arctic.

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said Denmark’s Nordic neighbours, Sweden and Finland, could become members of NATO ‘very quickly’ if they decide to apply.

Opposition parties said Russian soldiers, civil servants, and other officials who defect and surrender should be offered refuge in Denmark or another EU country.

The National Bank warned that the post-pandemic economic upturn will slow this year due to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine – Governor Lars Rohde said in a statement that the war will reduce GDP growth by approximately 1 percentage point and increase inflation by about 2 percentage points.

Denmark’s balance of payments surplus increased in January as exports rose and imports decreased – the total trade surplus rose to DKK 19.8bn (approx. $3bn) from DKK 13.5bn ($2bn) in December.

Socialist People’s Party (SPP) leader Pia Olsen Dyhr said she would like to become Minister of Finance if the left-wing party is invited to join a centre-left coalition after the next election.

Social Affairs:

Emergency legislation allowing Ukrainian refugees to be fast-tracked into Danish society was passed by a unanimous parliamentary majority, allowing those fleeing the war in Ukraine to start working, go to school and receive social benefits soon after arrival.

The Immigration Ministry said the state’s expenditure on Ukrainian refugees could be as much as DKK2.2bn ($320m) this year and DKK2bn in 2023 ($294m) but experts warned the real figures could be far higher.

The government presented its long-awaited health reform bill, including far-reaching measures to limit youth smoking and drinking – the bill includes proposals for a total ban on the sale of cigarettes to anyone born after 2010 and raising the age limit for buying any form of alcohol to 18.

A homeless Romanian was awarded DKK20,000 ($3,000) by the police after a court ruled his rights were violated when he was banned from collecting bottles in Copenhagen.

The police dismissed accusations of discriminating against foreign street beggars, despite figures showing that of 118 foreign nationals charged with ‘panhandling’ since the controversial anti-begging law was passed in 2017, only five were Danish citizens.

The National Serum Institute (NSI) confirmed a New York Times report that a new corona variant, a hybrid of the Omicron and Delta strains, has been discovered in Denmark. By the end of the week, the number of daily infections had fallen below 5,000 for the first time since last summer – health experts said flock immunity had been achieved and the numbers would continue to fall fast.

Business:

Carlsberg has paused all production and investment in Russia under its own name but continues to run Baltica, which according to Berlingske represents 90% of Carlsberg’s activities in the country – Ukraine’s ambassador, Vydoinyk Mykhailo, accused the Danish brewing giant of ‘trying to find loopholes’ in the economic sanctions on Russia, and ‘flirting with the Russian regime’. Carlsberg is one of a number of top companies that fear they could be nationalised by the Russian authorities, after Russia’s ambassador to Denmark, Vladimir Barbin, warned that all Danish businesses who’ve ceased business activity in his country could be taken over ‘because the West has declared financial war on Russia with the aim of destroying its economy’.

Shipping giant A.P. Moller-Maersk is selling off all its holdings in Russian ports due to the war in Ukraine.

One of Denmark’s biggest steelworks – NLMK DanSteel in Frederiksværk, owned by Russian oligarch Vladimir Lisin – is threatened by new EU sanctions…local union officials said its closure would be a ‘catastrophe’ for the local region.

Danish multinational engineering company FLSmidth was accused of violating EU sanctions for its involvement in a billion-dollar mining project in Belarus run by a Russian oligarch with close ties to longtime Belarusian president, Alexander Lukashenko.

The Socialist People’s Party (SPP), one of the government’s parliamentary allies, said the state should financially compensate Danish companies who’ve lost money in Russia due to sanctions.

And that was ­­­The Week That Was, March 14th – 20th 2022 – To read all the above articles in full see: http://seven59.dk/archive (subscription required).