The Week That Was, October 28th – November 3rd 2019:

Posted on 03. Nov, 2019 in: TWTW

Politics/Economy:

The government’s left-wing allies pushed for significant tax hikes to fund their demands for more welfare – the Red/Greens called for more taxes on shares and capital gains, the Socialist People’s Party (SPP) demanded an increase in inheritance tax, and the Social Liberals suggested a tax on bank transactions – and all agree on a flight tax duty to reduce CO2 emissions.

Danish writer Jonas Eika accused Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen of ‘state-funded racism and gaining power by continuing the previous government’s racist language and policies’ in his acceptance speech for the 2019 Nordic Council Literature Prize in Stockholm – the PM said later she totally disagreed but declined to get involved in a ‘war of words’.

Klaus Riskær Pedersen announced his party will be running again at the next general election after previously saying he was finished with politics – the controversial businessman said he felt a duty to run because of the current disarray on the right.

The American speculators who scammed the Danish state out of billions of kroner in the share dividend scandal were given a further ‘discount’ of DKK700m by the tax authorities in form of interest relief.

The government is considering various models to prevent foreign property investors such as Blackstone from buying up units and imposing excessive rent increases.

Foreign Affairs/EU:

Denmark’s decision to finally grant permission for the Russian Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline to pass through its exclusive economic zone was met with mixed reactions – while Russian President Vladimir Putin welcomed the decision as ‘good for Europe’ Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky said Denmark’s decision is a ‘geopolitical issue that strengthens Russia and weakens Europe.’ The European Commission said its position on Nord Stream 2 had not changed and the pipeline should be dealt with in line with European regulations while Climate Minister Dan Jørgensen admitted that the government’s fundamental position is that the EU doesn’t need more gas from Russia. U.S. ambassador to Denmark, Carla Sands, warned that Nord Stream 2 is a political, not an economic, pipeline that will provide Russia with power over Europe’s future.

The Danish Energy Agency also gave final approval for the Baltic Pipe, designed to bring Norwegian gas via Danish territorial waters to Poland,

The first seven of the Danish Air Force’s new fleet of twenty seven F-35 Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) jets, Denmark’s biggest ever military purchase, will be cheaper than originally thought after US supplier Lockheed Martin lowered the cost by 12.8 percent to $77.9m.

Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen welcomed the EU’s decision to grant a 3-month ‘flextension’ to the UK in the long-running Brexit saga.

During talks in Stockholm the PM and her Swedish counterpart, Stefan Löfven, agreed to strengthen cross-border police cooperation between the two countries.

The Danish People’s Party (DPP) suggested Denmark should quit the Council of Europe, which would mean the country would no longer be bound by the European Human Rights Convention or be forced to abide by rulings from the Court of Human Rights.

Albania’s prime minister criticised Denmark for opposing beginning EU membership discussions with his country

The latest figures from Eurostat showed Danes pay the 3rd-highest rate of taxes and social contributions in the EU, behind France and Belgium, but the Danish state’s overall income as a percentage of GDP is the highest in Europe.

Danish cheese producers celebrated after the EU granted the internationally popular Havarti cheese ‘protected geographical indication (GI)’.

Denmark signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the United Arab Emirates (UAE) ‘to promote further cooperation in clean energy, the environment, and sustainable resources’.

Social Affairs:

The unemployment rate fell slightly to 104,300 in September from 104,700 in August.

Over the past decade the number of Danes who, on paper, have become dollar millionaires, has risen by nearly 400%, from 52,000 to 237,000 today.

The police received reports of 449 hate crimes last year but believe many more went unreported – the majority of cases involved race or religion.

A 33-year-old Muslim male was sentenced to 10 days in jail after being found guilty of making death threats against Queen Margrethe and anti-Islamist Rasmus Paludan, leader of the Stam Kurs party.

Left-wing daily Information revealed how a business network of Syrian foreign fighters, jihadists, and others found guilty of terrorism built up a debt in excess of DKK800m in unpaid VAT (Moms) and tax.

Furniture giant IKEA was accused of bowing down to Muslims after unveiling its ‘Winterfest’ range of yuletide decorations, Thursday, which carefully excluded any reference to Christmas.

Business:

Shipping giant A.P. Møller-Mærsk retained its top spot on Berlingske’s annual review of Denmark’s 1,000 biggest companies, followed by global pharmaceutical company Novo Nordisk, transport firm DSV, dairy cooperative Arla Foods, and wind energy giant Vestas.

Partially state-owned Orsted, one of the major successes of Denmark’s green economy, announced plans to reduce its annual overheads by DKK500-600m annually between 2020 and 2022.

Leading bank and mortgage provider Nykredit is getting dragged deeper and deeper into the ‘Operation Greed’ VAT and money laundering scandal – a witness in the ongoing court case concerning VAT fraud of DKK290m and money laundering of DKK530m testified how he set up between 10-15 business accounts at the bank  between 2014-15 on behalf of shady international kingpins.

Shares in Jyske Bank dipped after Denmark’s 3rd-biggest bank downwardly adjusted its full-year profit outlook after posting a fall in third-quarter results.

Lego formally opened the first phase of its new, state of the art headquarters in Billund – CEO Niels Christiansen said it will help the company compete with the likes of Apple or Nike for digital, analytic and creative professionals.

Global brewer Carlsberg revised up its annual growth outlook, saying it now expects operating profit to rise by around 10% against a previous high single-digit estimate.

Norwegian billionaire Petter Stordalen bought Thomas Cook Northern Europe, which includes Spies in Denmark, formerly the country’s biggest charter operator – he’s also currently building Copenhagen’s latest 5-star hotel Villa Copenhagen, located next to the central station.

And That Was the Week That Was, October 28th – November 3rd 2019: To read all the above articles in full see: http://seven59.dk/archive (subscription required).