The Week That Was, April 17th – 23rd 2017   

Politics/Economy:

New figures from the Economic Council of the Labour Movement (AE) showed 44,141 people were stuck under the poverty level in 2015 compared to 18,650 14 years ago – Minister for Economic Affairs and the Interior Simon Emil Ammitzbøll dismissed the figures as ‘out of touch with reality’ and an ‘insult to those who are really poverty stricken throughout the world’. The Red/Greens’ titular leader Pernille Skipper said left-wing parties should accept some responsibility for the increase in poverty instead of trying to shift the blame onto the government.

Prime Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen praised his British counterpart Therese May’s ‘political opportunism’ after she surprisingly called a snap June 8th election – he said an election now, instead of 2020 as scheduled, would allow the new British government to devote its full attention to the next two years of intense Brexit negotiations instead of worrying about the prospect of re-election.

An explosive report by the Finance Ministry published earlier this month proclaimed non-western immigrants and their descendants cost the Danish state DKK 33bn (€4.4bn) in 2014, while Danes made a positive contribution of DKK56bn – however, a fact-check showed ethnic Danes are a loss-maker too.

The consumer confidence index climbed to 7.4 from 6.2 in March, a sign, according to economists that consumers are ‘happy’ but not over optimistic  – the producer price index climbed 4.3 percent year-over-year in March, following a 4.1 percent stable rate of rise in February.

The government put together a cross-party majority to help boost electric car sales, which have stagnated since low registration duties were rolled back two years ago.

Foreign Affairs/EU:

Leading Danish politicians said Sunday’s referendum in Turkey, in which voters gave sweeping new powers to President Erdogan, signals the end of the country’s EU ambitions – Foreign Minister Anders Samuelsen tweeted that by amending its constitution Turkey has moved farther away from the EU, while Prime Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen said its ‘strange’ to see democracy employed to limit democratic rights. Danish-Turks were the most enthusiastic supporters in the Nordic region of President Erdogan in Sunday’s referendum – 60.63% of Turks in this country supported the president’s move to amend the constitution and 39.37% voted against.

During an interview with Arabic news network Al-Jazeera, Turkey’s President Ergodan accused Danish MP Nikolaj Willumsen, an official election observer of the Turkish referendum, of supporting terrorism.

Prime Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen held talks with Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte and Irish Prime Minister Enda Kenny to coordinate strategy on Brexit. The government  warned it will challenge British plans to ‘take back control’ of its waters after leaving the EU – Foreign Minister Anders Samuelsen said Danish fishermen have a historical right to access to the seas around Britain dating back to the 1400s.

Defence Minister Claus Hjort Frederiksen called for an increase in military conscription to help tackle the growing number of conflicts throughout the world – in a TV interview the minister declined to name a figure but said defence forces need far more men and women than the current 4,200 who are currently conscripted.

Although Denmark’s development aid spending is now at its lowest level for 33 years the ruling Liberals (V) warned they will continue to push for further reductions – at 0.75% of GDP in 2016, down from 0.85% the previous year, foreign aid was cut by billions of kroner last year.

Danish EU Commissioner for Competition Margrethe Vestager was named by Time magazine as one the world’s 100 most influential people.

Rikke Karlsson, the whistleblower who last year revealed the Danish People’s Party’s misuse of EU funding, admitted to misappropriating EU subsidies herself.

A Danish court upheld an extradition order against South Korean woman Chung Yoo-ra, wanted for questioning in relation to the scandal that brought down president Park Geun-hye.

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Social Affairs:

New figures showed Denmark has one of the lowest long-term unemployment rates in the EU – during the final quarter (Q4) of 2016, just under 24% of all jobless had been without work for more than a year, second only to Sweden.

The Foreign Ministry and ‘Happy Copenhagen’ organisation announced bids for both the World Pride culture festival and the Euro Games, 2021, two major events for the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender/Transsexual and Intersexed (LGBTI) community.

Four international studies concluded that religious freedom has declined in Denmark.

The 17-year-old Danish girl charged with planning bomb attacks against two schools claimed they were ‘empty threats’ on the first day of her trial at Holbaek District Court, Wednesday.

The Danish People’s Party (DPP) proposed banning public workers from wearing religious headwear such as Muslim scarves and Jewish skullcaps.

Business:

Danish toy giant Lego came under fire in Australia after adults without kids were banned from entering the newly opened LEGOLAND Discovery Centre in Melbourne.

Maersk Oil is rumoured to be close to signing a deal to develop the South Pars Oil Layer in Iran – in an interview with the Mehr news agency, Iran’s oil minister, Bijan Zanganeh, voiced optimism that final agreements will be reached in the near future.

Partially state-owned Dong Energy won bids to build three offshore wind projects in the German North Sea.

Shares in Danish custom jewellery giant Pandora slumped after investment advisor Carnegie slashed its price target to 850 kroner from 1,200 kroner.

And The Week That Was,  April 17th – 23rd 2017 – To read all the above articles in full see: http://seven59.dk/archive (subscription required)