The Week That Was, September 6th – 12th 2021:

Posted on 12. Sep, 2021 in: TWTW

Coronavirus/ What happened last week:

548 days after Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen announced a national lockdown, all remaining coronavirus restrictions were lifted, Thursday. Covid infections stabilised at around 500 a day but dropped to 434, Sunday, the second-lowest daily figure for more than two months.

The ‘R’ rate, which reflects the average number of infections one person with the corona virus causes, fell to 0.7, the lowest since June.

Around 4.3m (73.3%) are fully vaccinated – although the national vaccination rollout has slowed the Danish health Authority (DHA) is confident that at least 90% of the population will have been given at least one shot of a vaccine by October 1st – to speed up the process over the next few weeks the DHA has signed a deal with leading supermarket chains, Føtex and Bilka, which will offer walk-up inoculations at some key locations.

A total of 13,000 nursing home residents will be offered a third ‘booster’ vaccine dose during September as a new vaccination rollout for the elderly and infirm got underway.

The government dropped plans to allow foreign companies to produce Covid-19 vaccines in this country and will instead focus all efforts on a vaccine already under development by Danish company Bavarian Nordic.

Politics/Economy:

Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen presented a wide range of reform proposals aimed at getting more than 10,000 unemployed into jobs – the far-reaching plan was immediately denounced by the government’s parliamentary ally, the far-left Red/Greens, who said forcing people to work against their will is ‘state-sanctioned social dumping’ but was praised by right-wing parties in Germany and Sweden.

The Conservatives called on Defence Minister Trine Bramsen to resign after tabloid daily BT revealed there was no official ministerial schedule when she commissioned a naval vessel to take her to the tiny island of Aero on August 15th, just as the Taleban was entering Kabul.

The government appointed a group of external experts to assist the official evaluation of Denmark’s chaotic exit from Afghanistan.

A week after the evacuation deadline from Afghanistan, Foreign Minister Jeppe Kofod confirmed that 20 people on the ‘Danish list’ have been helped across a land border into a neighboring country, including interpreters, local employees of the Danish embassy, and family members.

Ex-prime minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen’s new Moderates Party (Moderatene) is very close to getting on the ballot at the next general election – the party has collected more than two-thirds of the 20.182 voter declarations needed to stand for parliament.

In his first interview since being kicked out of the Conservatives, controversial MP Naser Khader denied he’s a sexual aggressor – the Syrian-born politician said he’s ‘extremely disappointed’ by his former party who excluded him last month following an independent, lawyer-led investigation into allegations of sexual abuse.

The Ministry for Fisheries warned of tighter control of foreign fishermen after it was revealed that many trawlers fishing off northern Jutland, particularly those from the Netherlands, close down their AIS (Automatic Identification System) so they can fish closer to the Danish coast.

Copenhagen is on course to become the world’s first CO2-neutral capital by 2025 after all parties at City Hall reached agreement on a 2022 budget that includes a long list of green initiatives.

Foreign Affairs/EU:

On the first day of a 5-day visit to India, Climate Minister Dan Jørgensen met with his Indian counterpart Bhupender Yadav in New Delhi to discuss bilateral cooperation in the areas of environment and climate change.

Denmark agreed to send 15 kilometres of barbed wire fencing to help Lithuania build a fence along the Belarus border to stop Iraqis, Afghans and other non-EU migrants entering.

Berkingske reported how Denmark has paid Great Britain to provide shelter for 23 Afghanistan interpreters who assisted Danish forces – officially they were hired by the UK, which means that, in reality, Denmark has no legal responsibility to help them.

Denmark and the Philippines kicked off celebrations to mark the 75th anniversary of diplomatic relations this year

Social Affairs:

Politiken reported how Danish Intelligence (PET) has breached the privacy rights of thousands of people in this country by failing to wipe out sensitive information, as required by the law.

The High Court dismissed an appeal from an immigrant family who are being evicted from their apartment because their son took part in a violent demonstration against leader of the anti-Muslim ‘Stram Kurs’ (Hard Line) party, Rasmus Paludan, two years ago.

Business:

The government’s proposal to raise the top rate of tax on stocks and shares from 42% to 45% to finance unemployment benefits reform was denounced by some of Denmark’s leading entrepreneurs – Jeppe Rindom, founder and CEO of the fast-rising Pleo company said the punitive tax would be ‘poisonous’ for emerging businesses.

Industrial production grew by 3.4% in July after a 4.6% dip the previous month – production of pharmaceuticals increased the most, by 11.5%, while production of machines grew by 9.4%.

A record-low number of businesses filed for bankruptcy in August – 120 companies went bust, 15.3% down on July and the biggest 1-month decline for 22 years.

Danish private pension funds have invested DKK72bn ($10.8bn) over the past year in green conversion but the target is DKK350 bn over the next decade to fight climate change, part of Denmark’s ambition to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 70% in 2030.

World-renowned Danish architect Bjarke Ingels has been commissioned to design what’s been described as the most sustainable city in the world – Telosa, which according to Ingels’ Copenhagen-based architecture studio BIG would be built on an unoccupied 150,000-acre site in the western United States for billionaire entrepreneur Marc Lore.

And that was The Week That Was, September 6th – 12th 2021: To read all the above articles in full see: http://seven59.dk/archive (subscription required).