The Week That Was, November 4th – November 10th 2019

Politics/Economy:

A new political party, ‘Fremad’ (Forward), launched by Liberal Alliance defectors Simon Emil Ammitzbøll-Bille and Christina Egelund, was given a collective ‘thumbs down’ by leading newspapers who warned it will lead to wasted votes, more division on the right, and a long time in power for the Social Democrats – leading political commentator Søs Marie Serup said the emergence of yet another political party reflects the chaos amongst the centre-right opposition.

Berlingske reported how the Liberal Alliance was very close to quitting the tripartite centre-right coalition in 2017 after being forced to back down on its demands for tax cuts in budget negotiations.

The government announced plans to set up an independent commission to investigate former immigration minister Inger Støjberg’s role in the child brides affair.

Leading legal experts accused politicians of compromising their democratic principles in the fight against criminality and terrorism.

The government proposed a new, cross-agency authority to coordinate investigations into VAT fraud, money laundering and terrorist financing cases.

The Danish People’s Party proposed that the state’s future revenue from North Sea oil should be counter-spent on green conversion.

The Red/Greens called for a probe into reports the state ‘doctored’ a report about new, high-voltage power lines in Jutland.

The Defence Ministry is working on new job application guidelines for the military’s top officers to stop speculation that people are being promoted without the necessary qualifications.

New Statistics Denmark figures revealed Danish GDP was 1.5% higher in 2018 than previously estimated, which means the population has, collectively, become DKK23bn richer – around DKK4,000 per person.

Industrial production rose by a seasonally adjusted 1.5 percent month-on-month in September, reversing a 1.1 percent fall in August.

For the first time since January the National Bank entered foreign currency markets to support the Danish krone’s fixed link to the euro – the Bank spent DKK400m shoring up the krone as foreign exchange reserves declined DKK2.3bn to DKK443bn.

Foreign Affairs/EU:

A new EU-financed report that characterised Denmark as ‘Islamophobic’ and ‘non-democratic’ was dismissed as ‘ridiculous, foolish and a scandal’ by Danish lawmakers and experts.

Gert Jan Koopman, head of the European Commission’s Budget Department, criticised countries, including Denmark, opposed to the EU’s proposed budget increase – Denmark has joined Austria, the Netherlands, and Sweden in a ‘Gang of Four’ unwilling to pay more than 1 per cent of GDP  to the EU’s Multi-annual Financial Framework (MFF) for 2021-27.

Denmark launched an appeal against a landmark ruling by the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) that experts claim will make it far more difficult to deport mentally-ill criminals.

A new report by Copenhagen think-tank Europa showed Denmark is increasingly being kept out of EU military and security missions by its defence opt-out – between 1996-2006 the opt out was activated on no more than 34 occasions but this has risen to 125 over the past decade.

Top U.S. diplomat Bill Taylor testified to a congressional committee that White House cabinet officlals were so busy trying to deal with President Trump’s Greenland idea over the summer they sidelined the Ukraine aid issue.

Greenland’s governing party, Siumut, is looking to forge closer ties with the U.S. and China by opening representation offices in both countries – Minister for Foreign Affairs Ane Lone Bagger said the primary aim is to ‘open doors’ for more direct trade.  The American embassy in Copenhagen advertised for local staff to man the new consulate in Greenland’s that’s set to due to open in Nuuk next year. The Danish People’s Party (DPP) expressed concern that Greenland’s home-rule administration is going behind Denmark’s back by negotiating directly with the USA.

Foreign Minister Jeppe Kofod arrived in Africa as the first step in ‘re-thinking’ Denmark’s Africa policy – ahead of his trip the minister said the aim is to encourage the international society to work together to increase trade and political co-operation throughout the continent.

The European Commission’s European Economic Forecast / Autumn 2019 concluded that although economic growth has slowed in some of Denmark’s largest export markets the Danish economy has managed to defy the global slowdown.

Denmark signed a statement, Thursday, urging the next European Commission to propose new measures on aviation pricing but Finance Minister Nicolai Wammen said the government still hasn’t made a decision as to whether to support a tax on flight tickets.

Social Affairs:

The Danish Debt Collection Agency started to send out reminders to some of the 1.3 million citizens and companies that owe the state an estimated DKK117bn (€16bn) in the form of unpaid taxes, VAT, train fines, TV licence, parking tickets, and others.

According to a new book published by social worker Ali Aminali, many Muslim refugees in his country would prefer to collect social benefits than work and are often helped by sympathetic, left-wing case workers.

Danish terrorist Basil Hassan, who fled Denmark after a failed assassination attempt on Danish author and critic of Islam Lars Hedegaard in 2013, was linked to the bombing of a Russian passenger plane in Egypt in 2015.

Business:

Helle Thorning-Schmidt, Denmark’s first-ever prime minister, was appointed to the board of directors at industrial supplies company Carsoe.

The government appointed Jais Valeur, CEO of food giant Danish Crown, to head a new climate partnership with the business community.

Maersk, the world’s biggest container line, announced plans to install a battery on board one of its vessels in December and trial it to reduce carbon emissions.

Wind energy giant Vestas beat earnings estimates for the third quarter as sales soared 30% and orders hit a record.

International pharmaceutical company Lundbeck raised its outlook for full-year sales and profit on Tuesday following better-than-expected third quarter sales of key drugs.

Danske Bank was forced to downwardly adjust its year-end profit expectation as it continues to feel the repercussions of the money laundering scandal.

China’s state-owned agriculture conglomerate COFCO agreed to buy $100 million worth of pork from Danish Crown by 2020, to help plug a domestic pork shortage following a widespread pig disease.

Shares in global costume jewellery Pandoro fell more than 16% after it warned of a steeper-than-expected fall in sales this year – the company sold 280,000 pieces of jewelry per day in 2018 but sales have nosedived over the past year.

Brewing giant Carlsberg’s revenue rose by 5.3%, to DKK 18.5bn ($2.8bn) in the third quarter on the back of strong sales in Asia and Western Europe.

Silicon Valley Bank, a unit of SVB Financial Group, has budgeted a minimum of $200 million to lend to Danish technology companies.

Postal service PostNord and SwipBox announced the roll-out of a further 2,000 parcel lockers across Denmark following a successful trail of the ‘Næreboks (Nearbox) system.

And That Was the Week That Was, November 4th – November 10th 2019: To read all the above articles in full see: http://seven59.dk/archive (subscription required).