The Week That Was, April 23rd – April 28th 2019
Politics/Economy:
With less than two months to the deadline for a general election the latest Megafon poll for TV2 indicated a comfortable victory for the centre-left bloc of parties, with 97 seats, compared to the government and Danish People’s Party’s 78.
The Red/Green Alliance threatened to topple Ms Frederiksen if she becomes prime minister and repeats the same economic policy of the previous Social Democrat-led government which, according to the far-left party’s titular leader Pernille Skipper, led to increased financial inequality.
The right-wing nationalist ‘Stram Kurs’ (Firm Direction) party, led by notorious Islam critic Rasmus Paludan, has collected the 20,109 voter declarations needed to be placed on the ballot at the upcoming election – two former top Danish Intelligence (PET) operatives warned that Mr. Paludan’s public Koran-burning demonstrations have increased the risk of a terrorist attack on Denmark.
A member of the regional council in north Jutland, Erik Høgh-Sørensen, posted a Facebook message warning he was ‘considering’ becoming the first democratically elected politician to set fire to the Koran.
The consumer confidence index fell slightly to 3.7 points in April from 3.8 points in March.
EU/Foreign Affairs:
In a televised debate, Thursday, all candidates from the ten parties running for the EU Parliament agreed that climate change is the biggest campaign issue but disagreed about the solutions. The candidates were also divided on how to handle the migrant crisis along Europe’s southern border – the centre-left parties support a mandatory redistribution throughout the EU while the centre-right parties, plus the Social Democrats, are opposed.
The Danish People’s Party (DPP) is heading for a disastrous EU election – at 15.9% in a new poll they could lose two of their four seats at the May 26th EU parliamentary election.
The Red/Green Alliance joined forces with five prominent European left-wing parties to demand more EU focus on green issues.
The latest Statistics Denmark figures showed 6,525 highly-skilled workers from Poland, Lithuania, Romania, Bulgaria, Hungary and Latvia were employed in Denmark at the end of 2017, a 200% increase over the preceding decade.
12.196 EU nationals sent home a collective DKK218m in Danish child benefit last year – a cross-party parliamentary majority renewed the call to index-link the child benefit so it reflects average income in the recipient’s native country.
New figures showed Denmark’s total migration-related spending has decreased by DKK5bn (€660m), mainly due to more non-western immigrants finding work
The European Banking Authority (EBA) cleared the financial supervisory authorities in Denmark and Estonia of any wrongdoing in the Danske Bank money laundering scandal.
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Business:
The Danish retail sales index rose 0.5 percent in March from a year earlier – retail sales rose 0.7 percent in March from the previous month.
Danish Crown was one of a number of international food manufacturers that received blackmail letters containing a suspicious white powder and a demand for €300,000.
20 demonstrators arrested outside Denmark’s embassy in Washington DC last month while protesting against Danish global insulation company Rockwool will not face prosecution.
Scandinavia’s flagship airline, SAS, cancelled 673 flights throughout the region, Friday, after labour talks with pilots broke down.
Lego announced a new line of its iconic building bricks designed specifically for blind children and those with visual impairments.
Despite the money laundering scandal and massive losses, Danske Bank was named Digital Financial Institution of the Year in Denmark by Finanswatch.
And That Was The Week That Was, April 23rd – April 28th 2019: To read all the above articles in full see: http://seven59.dk/archive (subscription required).