The Week That Was, April 30th – May 5th 2018

Politics/Economy:

Prime Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen was forced to shuffle his cabinet following Education Minister Søren Pind’s surprising decision to quit politics and Esben Lund’s resignation as Environment and Food Minister – Jakob Uffe Ellemann-Jensen is the new Minister for Environment & Foodstuffs, Eva Kjer Hansen, a minister in two previous governments, took over as Minister for Fisheries, Equality and Nordic Cooperation, while businessman Tommy Ahlers was appointed Education & Research Minister.

The Danish People’s Party (DPP) has become Denmark’s biggest workers’ party – a new voter study published on May 1st, International Workers Day, showed 25.5% of manual workers would vote DPP if an election was held today, three percentage points more than Denmark’s traditional labour party, the Social Democrats.

Social Democrat leader Mette Frederiksen warned the next election campaign will be green after presenting wide-ranging climate and energy proposals.

Employment Minister Troels Lund Poulsen (V) defended the government’s cap on social benefits, despite new figures indicating no more than 600 claimants have found a job since the new rules were imposed in 2016.

A new report by The Economic Council of the Labour Movement (ECLM) projected 68,000 jobs will be created over the next year as a result of the economic upswing.

Despite constant claims of a labour shortage the seasonally adjusted jobless rate edged up to 4.1 percent in March from 4.0 percent in February, as the number of people out of work rose to 111,800. The youth unemployment rate, which applies to 16 to 24 age group, remained stable at 2.4 percent – the Social Democrats proposed that young people who chose to learn a trade such as plumber or electrician should be rewarded with a DKK50,000 cash bonus when they qualify.

The business-friendly Liberal Alliance (LA) received half a million kroner from a private donor but declined to name the person – national chairman Leif Mikkelsen called it a ‘private issue’.

EU/Foreign Affairs:

The EU Commission predicted ‘stable growth’ for the Danish economy in its Spring 2018 Economic Forecast but with wages rising faster than previously expected.

Finance Minister Kristian Jensen said the EU’s latest proposal for a long-term budget is far too excessive and will be ‘strongly resisted’. Bjarke Møller, head of the Copenhagen-based Think Tank Europe, said although the budget proposes a 1.11% increase it also prioritises top Danish issues, such as more funding for border control, education, and research.

Foreign Minister Anders Samuelsen again urged Russia to desist its aggressive behaviour and suggested the possibility of further sanctions.

Development Aid Minister Ulla Tørnæs and Integration Minister Inger Støjberg’s secret visit to Afghanistan to discuss repatriation for refugees was cut short by a terrorist attack – the two ministers were scheduled to hold meetings with various Danish aid organisations, Monday, but shortly after they landed in Kabul two bombs rocked the capital, killing at least 25 people.

A new Copenhagen University study, ‘Denmark on the Global Sidelines’, revealed that Denmark is losing influence throughout the world due to cuts in diplomatic missions abroad and has fallen from 11th fifty years ago to 46th today.

Denmark’s foreign exchange reserves rose slightly to DKK467.5bn in April from DKK 466.9bn at the end of March.

A controversial Russian floating nuclear power plant passed through Danish territorial waters – the DKK3bn ($480m) Akademik Lomonosov, dubbed a ‘nuclear Titanic’ by Greenpeace, was towed through the Great Belt on its way to Murmansk.

A Danish national vacationing in Malaysia was given a one-week jail sentence for spreading fake news – Salah Salem Saleh Sulaiman admitted making and posting a YouTube video accusing emergency services of responding slowly after a Palestinian Hamas member was gunned down in Kuala Lumpur.

Social Affairs:

The threat of a major sector strike was averted at the last minute when negotiators reached agreement om a collective wage deal for around 180,000 state employees.

Social housing administrators were given the green light by the Supreme Court to evict families with criminal members.

An activist group is suing Justice Minister Søren Pape Poulsen for illegal public surveillance of the public’s digital content and communications data.

Danish internet surfers visited 2,000 leading pirate sites 596 million times in 2017, according to a new study by Rights Alliance, an anti-piracy group.

A 66-year-old man was charged with shooting and killing one of first wolves to settle in Denmark in two centuries.

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

Business:

The Danish Financial Supervisory Authority severely criticised Danske Bank for its failure to implement anti-money laundering controls at its Estonian branch – Business Minister Brian Mikkelsen accused Danske Bank management of a ‘dereliction of duty’.

Trade organisations for the medicinal, energy, hotel, leisure, and shipping industries joined together in a campaign to attract more skilled workers to Denmark.

China’s Xiaomi, one of the world’s biggest smartphone makers, signed a deal with provider ’3’ to sell its phones in Denmark.

Despite significant losses last year Maersk Tankers is moving forward with the order of six Long Range (LR2) tankers from the Dalian Shipyard in China.

Carlsberg continued to lose market share in Russia during the first quarter of the year but strong growth in China helped to dilute the setback, allowing the brewing giant to stick to its annual profit forecast.

Partially state-owned energy company Ørsted (formerky DONG) won two major offshore wind power auctions in Germany and agreed to make a final investment in the second phase of the Formosa 1 offshore wind farm in Taiwan.

And That Was The Week That Was, April 30th – May 5th 2018: To read all the above articles in full see: http://seven59.dk/archive (subscription required).