The Week That Was, November 25th –December 1st 2019:
Politics/Economy:
Ahead of this week’s summit of allied leaders in London to mark NATO’s 70th anniversary the Danish government is preparing to accede to Donald Trump’s demand to spend at least 2% of GDP on defence.
The latest Megafon poll for TV2 showed the ruling Social Democrats have suffered a dip in support since gaining power in June, dropping to 24%, the lowest level this year.
Despite efforts to become the greenest country in the world new figures show Denmark went more ‘black’ in 2018 – carbon (CO2) emissions rose by 1% as more coal was used to compensate for a lack of wind.
In a Eurobarometer survey of 28 European countries nearly half of the Danish electorate said climate change is the single most serious problem facing the world today.
Anti-Islamist Rasmus Paludan said he’s in no doubt his Stram Kurs (Hard Line) party would have entered parliament at his year’s general election if there had had been more time to prepare for the campaign.
The National Bank expressed concern that banks are poorly prepared to face a new financial crisis and urged them to reconsider their capital requirement.
Finance Denmark, the anti-money laundering task force set up last December following massive money laundering at Danske Bank’s Estonian branch, presented 25 recommendations on how the financial sector and the authorities can improve their efforts to combat financial crime.
For the 10th straight year Denmark was named the most prosperous country in the world by London-based think-tank, the Legatum Institute.
Foreign Affairs/EU:
U.S. Ambassador Carla Sands urged the government to purchase more American-made F-35 Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) jets and increase surveillance of the Arctic but her perceived ‘meddling’ in Danish defence policy was met with a barrage of criticism by the media – Berlingske’s political commentator, Jarl Cordua, said it’s time for ‘Trump’s puppet’ to return home.
Denmark offered to send more than 200 military advisors to lead the NATO training mission for Iraqi armed forces, taking over from Canada which has so far trained thousands of Iraqi troops for the ongoing battle against the Islamic State.
Following a meeting of NORDEFCO (Nordic Defence Cooperation) Defence Minister Trine Bramsen said Denmark should be prepared to come to Sweden and Finland’s aid in the event of a military, or even cyber, attack.
After being confirmed as the EU Commission’s Executive Vice President for Digital, Wednesday, Denmark’s Margrethe Vestager said the EU is still determined to push for a digital tax even if a similar move at the OECD fails.
A new OECD study showed Denmark has the lowest rate of obesity in the EU.
Opposition politicians criticised the government for failing to react to leaked documents revealing China’s systematic brainwashing of hundreds of thousands of Muslims in so-called ‘re-education camps’.
New figures from Eurostat showed Danish households pay the second most for electricity across the EU, slightly less than German families but nearly 30% more than the EU average.
Denmark was ranked a modest 7th on The European Consumer Payment Report (ECPR) a ranking of financial well-being in Europe.
The European Commission is suing Denmark for failing to prevent local companies from making and exporting outside the EU white cheese labelled as “feta,” breaching rules that limit that term to cheese from Greece.
Crown Prince Frederik and Crown Princess Mary made a 1-day visit to Poland, Monday, to mark the centenary of diplomatic relations between the two countries.
Social Affairs:
The government refused to come to the aid of a Danish citizen who’s appealed for repatriation – the woman travelled to Syria in 2015 and is today stuck in the Al-hol refugee camp with two small children.
Two foreign fighters were stripped of their passport by Immigration Minister Mattias Tesfaye in accordance with new legislation passed last month, one day before three men were found guilty of aiding the Islamic State (ISIS) by Copenhagen District Court. Justice Minister Nick Hækkerup said 11 Danish citizens who travelled abroad to fight in combat zones in or around Syria have been detained while a further 11 are still at large.
Leaked data from Iron March, a notorious website for violent white supremacists in the USA, revealed links to Danish extremists.
Business:
National Bank Governor Lars Rohde warned that negative interest rates will remain in negative territory for the next 5 to 10 years.
Partially state-owned Ørsted laid out an ambitious blueprint for the world’s first offshore wind energy island – an artificial island off the coast of Bornholm in the Baltic Sea that could link Denmark with Poland, Germany and Sweden.
Troubled Danske Bank agreed to improve governance of its IT systems following an inspection of the systems by the Danish Financial Supervisory Authority (FSA).
Following months of criticism of its dubious business practices, American property investment company Blackstone is changing its name in Denmark to the more Danish sounding Kereby.
Danish biotech/pharmaceutical company Veloxis is being sold to Japan’s Asahi Kasei Corp for DKK8.9bn ($1.31bn).
Wind energy giant Vestas secured an order to deliver 48MW of turbines for the expansion of the Astana wind project in Kazakhstan.
Shipping giant Maersk announced plans to lay off 200 workers around the world including around 100 in this country.
And That Was the The Week That Was, November 25th –December 1st 2019: To read all the above articles in full see: http://seven59.dk/archive (subscription required).