The Week That Was, April 1st – April 7th 2019

Posted on 07. Apr, 2019 in: TWTW

Politics/Economy:

Analysts predicted that cross-party negotiations to form a new government after the election could be lengthy, chaotic, and even end in deadlock after Social Liberal leader Morten Østergaard warned he will actively resist opposition leader Mette Frederiksen candidacy for prime minister unless she adopts a softer immigration policy – Danish People’s Party (DPP) leader Kristian Thulesen Dahl said the Social Democrats will be so desperate to win the PM’s office they will renege on their immigration promises.

A new poll indicated 54.6% would vote for the opposition against 45.4% for the ‘red’ bloc alliance. Even though coalition partner, the Liberal Alliance (LA), is heading for a disastrous election with less than 4% of the vote, leader Anders Samuelsen said he’s happy the party joined the government in 2016, even though it’s suffered embarrassing defeats in tax battles with the Danish People’s Party (DPP) and has dropped in the polls ever since.

Political commentators pronounced Prime Minister Lars Løkke Ramussen as the winner of the election campaign’s first face to face TV debate with opposition leader Mette Frederiksen, Sunday evening.

Denmark lost 83,000 jobs in the industrial sector after the financial crisis hit in 2008 but new figures from Denmark’s biggest trade union, 3F, showed 23,000 have been recovered since 2013, mainly in the Copenhagen region.

The National Bank declined to intervene in the currency market in March despite a slight dip in the krone – foreign currency reserves remained unchanged at DKK454bn while government deposits were DKK117bn compared to DKK103bn in February.

The Danish Tax Agency estimated Denmark may need to spend up to DKK 2.4bn ($360 million) on legal advice in its attempt to recoup some of the more than $2bn in tax rebates that were scammed in the share dividend scandal.

EU/Foreign Affairs:

Ahead of his trip to Washington DC to celebrate the 70th anniversary of NATO, Foreign Minister Anders Samuelsen accused Russia of showing a ‘shocking contempt’ for international law by boarding Ukrainian naval vessels and harassing merchant ships in the Azov and Black Seas.

A new report by a U.S. think-tank claimed that three Danish ships operating in the Black Sea and Baltic region have suffered from Russian manipulation of GPS signals.

Danish F-16s were scrambled, Wednesday, to divert two Russian bombers that had strayed too close to Danish airspace – a Defence Command spokesman confirmed to TV2 that two Russian Tu-160 ‘Blackjack’ planes were ‘escorted’ away from the west coast.

Following talks with his Greece counterpart, Alexis Tsipras, in Athens, Thursday, Prime Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen said Denmark would continue to contribute to the European Border and Coast Guard Agency, also known as Frontex, until the end of 2020 – both leaders agreed that British political parties need to work together to find a solution to Brexit.

Labour Minister Troels Lund Poulsen welcomed the EU Parliament’s rejection of a wide package of changes to rules on the coordination of social security systems that would have  provided EU nationals with the right to unemployment benefits in this country after only one month in this country.

Danske Bank’s own pension fund, Danica Pension, will no longer invest in companies that export arms to Saudi Arabia, following a report by left-wing daily Information that 14 out of 17 Danish pension funds own shares to the value of DKK1.13bn ($170m) in companies that supply bombs, fighter jets, and spare parts to the Saudi military.

A mining geologist was granted a mineral exploration claim under Canadian law to Hans Island that’s been at the centre of an ‘amicable’ dispute between Denmark and Canada for years.

The Danish People’s Party’s (DPP) Peter Kofod dismissed the European People’s Party’s (EPP) candidate for president of the European Commission, Manfred Weber, as ‘arrogant’ and ‘panic stricken’ for his rejection of EU-sceptic right-wing parties.

Margrethe Vestager’s five-year term as Competition Commissioner comes to an end next month but 69% of respondents in a new Kantar Gallup poll said the Danish government, irrespective of political affiliation, should support her nomination for a new top job.

With an unemployment rate of 5% in February Denmark was 12th out of 28 EU countries.

Social Affairs:

A Muslim woman scheduled to give a lecture to pupils at a school in Aarhus was asked to leave after she refused to remove her face-covering niqab.

Rasmus Paludan, head of the nationalist ‘Stram Kurs’ (Firm Direction) party, was given a 14-day conditional prison sentence for racist comments against Bwalya Sørensen, a member of Black Lives Matter Denmark.

Students at a Copenhagen high school who threw coins at Minister Merete Riisager and called her a ‘whore’ last month won’t be punished but will be required to attend a 1-day course in democracy.

A 34-year-old Slovakian national who was last year sentenced to 30 days prison for assaulting the partner of Justice Minister Søren Pape Poulsen was granted permission to appeal to the Supreme Court.

To read all the above articles in full see:  http://seven59.dk/archive (subscription required)

Business:

A review of the investment policy of Denmark’s 17-biggest pension funds by left-wing daily Information showed four  have invested a collective DKK2.5bn (€325m) in companies involved in nuclear weapons – Danish pension funds have also invested billions of kroner in major international banks that defrauded European states in the so-called CumEx-Files tax evasion scheme.

The Financial Supervisory Authority (FSA) warned smaller banks to be on high alert for signs of money laundering as larger lenders tighten their surveillance systems.

Maersk heir Ane Maersk Mc-Kinney Uggla came under fire from shareholders concerned about a steady fall in share price since the shipping giant turned its back on the oil and gas industry to become a transport only business.

After being named as the world’s leading supplier of turbines, Monday, Vestas won two major orders in Brazil.

Danish transport company DSV ended a two-month takeover battle by agreeing to pay DKK35bn ($4.6bn) for Swiss logistics group Panalpina.

Pharmaceutical giant Novo Nordisk has stockpiled insulin in Great Britain so the company isn’t negatively surprised if the country leaves the EU without a deal.

26,323 new cars were sold in March, a single-month record as buyers tried to avoid a planned increase in registration duty on April 1st that never happened.

The tiny Danish town of Brande in the middle of Jutland is set to host western Europe’s tallest skyscraper in western Europe after the local council granted planning permission for the construction of the Bestseller Tower.

And That Was The Week That Was, April 1st – April 7th 2019 : To read all the above articles in full see: http://seven59.dk/archive (subscription required).