The Week That Was, December 11th – December 17th 2017        

Posted on 17. Dec, 2017 in: TWTW

Politics/Economy:

The government finally put together a majority for the 2018 budget but coalition partner, the Liberal Alliance (LA), threatened to vote against the bill on December 22nd unless a parallel agreement on tax reform, including cuts, is passed at the same time

The Danish People’s Party (DPP) exerted more pressure on the government by demanding a guarantee that welfare expenditure won’t be reduced over the next eight years.

New calculations showed the government’s ambition to increase the tax allowance for those who work will benefit high earners most – Liberal Alliance leader Anders Samuelsen promised ‘record-high’ tax relief before Christmas.

The Danish People’s Party (DPP) laid out new immigration demands in return for its support of tax reform but a new poll showed the party has sunk to its lowest level of support since February – following a disastrous showing at the municipal elections last month the latest Voxmeter poll for Ritzau showed only 16.9% of the electorate would vote for the populist party if an election was held right now.

The Social Democrats could spring a ‘Christmas surprise’ and defuse a potential crisis for the government by voting for the 2018 budget.

The government is determined to test the limitations of human rights conventions with its latest move to tighten immigration restrictions – Integration Minister Inger Støjberg said foreign criminals have no right to be in this country so the government is prepared to do whatever it takes to tighten deportation rules, even at the risk of breaching international conventions.

The rate of inflation remains low and even slowed slightly in November – the latest Statistics Denmark figures showed consumer prices rose by 1.3% in November compared to the same month last year, but less than October’s 1.5%.

EU/Foreign Affairs:

President Putin reaffirmed his country’s Arctic claim – Denmark has laid claim to the area surrounding the North Pole but Mr Putin stressed at his annual press conference, Thursday, that the Arctic is an inseparable part of Russia.

Although parliament has passed a law that would allow it to ban the Nord Stream 2 Russian pipeline from passing through Danish territorial waters on foreign policy grounds, U.S. officials believe it’s Germany that will be needed to ultimately stop the project.

Israel’s new ambassador to Denmark lashed out at Politiken for publishing an ‘anti-Semitic caricature.’

Italian construction company Solesi will challenge a Danish Labour Court ruling at the EU – CEO Paolo Augliera said he was ‘shocked’ by a DKK14m (€1.88m) award to Denmark’s biggest union, 3F, for underpaying workers rebuilding Frederica oil terminal. The union also called for stricter background checks on the Italian consortium that’s won the contract to build the new Storstrøm Bridge that will connect Zealand with Falster.

The customs authorities came under fire for failing to check imported goods – SKAT, the Danish Customs and Tax Administration, controlled no more than 0.2% of all goods imports last year, the lowest in the EU and ‘highly unsatisfactory’ according to the National Audit office.

A 66-year-old Iraqi man told Copenhagen High Court  how he was beaten and given electric shocks by the Iraqi police after being detained by Danish troops during Operation Green Desert.

The Danish Immigration Service (Udlændingestyrelsen) added Saudi cleric Abdullah bin Radi Almoaede Al-Shammary to its ‘blacklist’ of 10’ hate preachers barred from entering the country.

A Danish trade delegation, headed by the Danish Agriculture and Food Council (DAFC) was in Argentina last week to boost Danish food production technology in South America.

Social Affairs:

A new report by the Employment Ministry showed 32,500 benefits recipients haven’t worked for at least eight years, despite constant claims of an economic upswing and reports of companies that can’t fill vacant jobs.

It’s estimated that around 22,000 illegal aliens resided here last year compared to 17,500 in 2015, with the majority coming from Afghanistan, Syria, or Iraq.

Integration Minister Inger Støjberg called a school’s decision to cancel a Christmas church service for pupils as a sign of ‘misguided deference’ to the Muslim community.

A 22-year-old man born in Denmark was sentenced to five years in prison and stripped of his Danish citizenship for volunteering to fight for the Islamic State (ISIS) in Syria.

According to ECA International (ECA)’s latest global Cost of Living Index, Copenhagen is the 14th most expensive city in the world for overseas employers.

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

Business:

A.P. Moeller Maersk, Denmark’s biggest company, was named as one of 100 global companies that has the biggest CO2 emissions on a new ‘climate sinners’ list published ahead of the Paris Climate Summit, Tuesday.

Governor General of Denmark’s National Bank, Lars Rohde, vowed to maintain the Danish krone’s fixed link to the euro.

Over the past six months Danske Bank has attracted 11,500 clients to an investment service provided by a robot called June that targets retail clients and small businesses that normally wouldn’t have the resources to work out what to do with their surplus cash.

Scandinavian Airlines (SAS), which has repeatedly criticised cut-price flyer Ryanair for cutting labour costs, opened an operating unit base in Ireland – the partially state-owned company is planning two new bases in London and Malaga where it can hire employees on British and Spanish wages and labour conditions,

And That Was The Week That Was, December 11th – December 17th 2017: To read all the above articles in full see: http://seven59.dk/archive (subscription required).