The Week That Was, October 12th – October 18th 2020:
Coronavirus/ What happened last week:
Parties on the left called for a permanent ban on mink breeding in Denmark after the National Serum Institute warned that the mass outbreak of corona on farms in Jutland could lead to mutations that make vaccines currently under development less effective – nearly 7% of 1,136 mink farms in Denmark are infected.
The number of daily registered infections dropped to below 300, Tuesday, but was back at nearly 500 two days later.
Despite the corona pandemic Denmark is experiencing its lowest annual death rate for five years – new National Serum Institute figures for the first 30 weeks of 2020 showed the death rate is the lowest since 2015 due to social distancing, hand cleansing, and social restrictions
Politics/Economy:
A ‘smoking gun’ text message revealed that new Social Liberal (Radikale) leader Sofie Carsten Nielsen, despite her denials, was aware of sexual harassment allegations made against her predecessor, Morten Østergaard, three years ago.
In response to the wave of sexual harassment cases over the past month, Gender Equality Minister Mogens Jensen said the government is working on new, anti-sexism measures but urged public and private sector leaders to act immediately.
The government managed to put together an agreement with the Red/Greens, Socialist People’s Party (SPP) and Danish People’s Party on early retirement for ’worn out’ workers who’ve been in the labour market for more than 40 years – one of the Social Democrats’ key campaign issues last year.
New Statistics Denmark figures showed the Danish taxman collected a total of DKK1,089bn, or 46.6% of GDP, in tax revenue last year – despite the increase Denmark comes in 2nd on a list of countries with the highest tax rate, after France.
Denmark has already lost DKK12.7bn in the share-dividend scandal and is now facing a DKK10bn ($1.5bn) invoice from British lawyers pursuing the lost millions in London.
Foreign Affairs/EU:
North Korea’s embassy in Stockholm dismissed a controversial new documentary, ‘The Mole’ as ‘fake news, from start to finish’ – in a letter to tabloid daily Ekstra Bladet, Hai Chol Ri, an advisor to Ambassador for the Nordic region Ri Won Guk, said the documentary is fabricated ‘to put North Korea in a bad light’.
After seeing the documentary, Foreign Minister Jeppe Kofod fired off a letter urging the UN Sanctions Committee to take the content very seriously ‘as it raises a number of deeply problematic questions and concerns.’
Denmark, alongside Estonia, Finland, Sweden, France, Ireland, Latvia, Luxembourg, Holland, Spain, and Portugal, signed a joint statement proposing a reduction target of at least 55% in greenhouse gas emissions by 2030, as put forward by EU commission President Ursula von der Leyen in July, compared with the current goal of 40%.
The EU is still struggling to reach a post-Brexit fishing agreement with the UK, a key issue for Denmark – the British government has demanded far more control of fishing rights but Denmark wants the EU to fight for the current agreement to continue unchanged.
The Liberals’(V) Michael Aastrup Jensen accused the Russian intelligence agency of orchestrating last week’s Foreign Policy Committee hoax when a woman claiming to be Belarusian opposition leader Svetlana Tikhanovskaja gatecrashed a top-level virtual meeting.
Jeppe Kofod’s ‘one night stand’ with a 15-year-old girl 12 years ago continues to cast a shadow over his role as foreign minister – Professor in international diplomacy, Martin Marcussen of Copenhagen University, said the government, with the Foreign Ministry leading the way, has launched a ‘values based’ foreign policy, in line with countries such as Canada and Sweden, which could lead to ‘awkward’ situations.
Defence Minister Trine Bramsen said France had ‘reacted positively’ to a Danish offer to assume leadership of the maritime security mission in the Strait of Hormuz.
Foreign Minister Jeppe Kofod said Denmark will, as much as possible, abide by new EU guidelines aimed at facilitating free movement across Europe but will continue to do what’s best for Danes.
Social Affairs:
The Islamic Hizb ut-Tahrir organization, outlawed in Germany, Russia, China, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and most Arab countries, has been actively trying to recruit new members at colleges and business schools with a coordinated smear campaign against Integration Minister Mattias Tesfaye.
The vandalism of a Jewish cemetery in Denmark last year was allegedly ordered by a Swedish neo-Nazi leader, Simon Lindberg, who called for a pan-Nordic action on the anniversary of Kristallnacht in Germany.
Furloughed public sector workers in Gentofte, north of Copenhagen, have been banned from smoking when they work at home.
Business:
A.P. Moller-Maersk (APM), Denmark’s biggest company and the world’s biggest container shipping line, announced plans to cut 2,000 jobs worldwide despite recovering faster than expected from the corona pandemic.
Housing prices set a new record in September, rising 0.8% compared to the previous month, despite the corona crisis.
Clean energy giant Vestas has presented a new model that it hopes will dramatically increase energy production in India.
A ’highly-placed’ manager at Carlsberg claimed he was only joking when he sent an e-mail to employees asking them to remain silent about the brewing giant’s ’shady’ tax avoidance methods in Malaysia.