The Week That Was, February 13th – February 19th 2017  

Politics/Economy

Danish People’s Party (DPP) leader Kristian Thulesen Dahl said he would refuse to back Mette Frederiksen’s candidacy for prime minister at the next election even though surveys show a majority of his own voters feel politically closer to the Social Democrats than the ruling Liberals.

The government acknowledged the rather ‘awkward’ wording of a motion passed by parliament that appeared to suggest immigrants and their descendants who have become Danish citizens aren’t really Danes – in the subsequent debate the DPP called on immigrants to celebrate Christian festivals and learn about Christianity.

Political analysts said the possibility of a Social Democrat/Danish People’s Party (DPP) alliance signals a ‘new reality’ in Danish politics, after the respective leaders of the two parties declined to rule out joining together in a future coalition.

A cross-party majority suggested top-level parliamentary committee meetings and hearings should be held at town halls throughout the country.

Denmark’s exports and imports increased in November, mainly led by higher demand for machinery – exports grew 3.5 percent and imports rose 1.6 percent from a year ago. The trade surplus was an unadjusted DKK 3.3 billion and a seasonally adjusted DKK 6.9 billion.

Private sector workers enjoyed their biggest wage hike for nine years in 2016 – new figures showed the average wage earner took home an extra DKK500 every month, a real wage increase of 1.9%.

Denmark was ranked number 1 on the World Bank’s RISE (Regulatory Indicators for Sustainable Energy) report.

Foreign Affairs/EU

Defence Minister Claus Hjorth Frederiksen said new US Defence Secretary James Mattis’s warning that the USA may moderate support for NATO if member countries fail to increase spending wasn’t a threat, just confirmation there’s a new administration in Washington that’s ready to ‘back words with action’ – NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg warned that Denmark cannot shirk its commitment to spending 2% of GDP on defence.

The Social Democrats said the Danish military should have the capability of defending the country against missiles fired from Russia or the Russian enclave of Kalingrad.

Foreign Minister Anders Samuelsen said President Trump has fueled the feeling that virtually everything has been ‘flipped upside down’ and Denmark, alongside other European nations, is ‘trying to figure out its role in the game being played right now’ – the Danish People’s Party’s foreign affairs spokesman, Søren Espersen, said Danes need to accept that the USA is the best possible guarantee for Denmark’s safety and security, following a poll showing a majority of the electorate feel more insecure about Donald Trump than terrorism, climate change, and their own economic situation.

Prime Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen warned that even though Europol negotiations are ‘progressing smoothly’ through the EU system, Danes could be asked to decide the final outcome in yet another referendum – the European Parliament accepted the Europeal deal offered to Denmark but the PM warned there’s still a long way to go before the agreement is finalised.

The EU Commission is relatively optimistic about the immediate future for the Danish economy – ‘economic growth is expected to increase in the coming years supported by robust private consumption and expanding investment’.

The Faroe Islands could be heading for independence after announcing a referendum on a new constitution, possibly the first step towards separation from the Danish commonwealth.

Denmark contributed DKK 25 million (approximately US$ 3.6 million) to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA).

Copenhagen, Helsinki, and Antwerp were awarded a collective €5.6 EU grant to develop new data innovations to solve the challenges facing big cities.

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Social Affairs

Integration Minister Inger Støjberg vowed to get thousands of refugees into the labour market after new figures showing over half of the new arrivals are now classified as ‘able to work’, compared to just 3% two years ago.

The number of people working in the public sector has fallen by 6,000 since Prime Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen came to power in 2015 and could drop by a further 11,000 by 2025 according to a new study by the Economic Council of the Labour Movement (AE).

A 16-year-old Danish girl is facing four years in prison after being charged with planning bomb attacks against two schools in Denmark.

The nationalistic ‘Danes Party’ distributed flyers to non-Danish residents of the immigrant-dominated district of Brøndby Strand urging them to return home.

Business

The five parties on the right currently negotiating a new North Sea deal with Maersk (APM) have collectively received around DKK4m in campaign funding from the oil and shipping giant, provoking accusations of a conflict of interest.

German wind energy giant Siemens announced the closure of a factory making blades for wind turbines in Engesvang, costing 430 jobs.

Danish ‘superstar’ architect Bjarke Ingels won a competition to design the San Pellegrino Flagship Factory’s new headquarters and bottling plants in the Alps of northern Italy.

Norwegian Air posted a net profit of nearly DKK1bn ($136m) for 2016 and is now bigger than SAS, which has dominated the airways in Scandinavia for more than 60 years.

Mobile phone operator Three refused to pay a multi-million ransom to hackers after personal details of around 3,600 Danish customers were stolen by cyber criminals.

New car sales rose significantly last month, a sign that the economy could be improving – 19,500 new vehicles were registered in January, 19% up on the same month in 2016.

Ride sharing service Uber could be facing extinction in this country after the government put forward a motion strengthening existing taxi legislation.

Questions were asked as to why the government sold the National Serum Institute to the Aljomaih Group, which is owned by a Saudi family dynasty with alleged extremist links.

And That Was the Week That Was,  February 13th – February 19th 2017 – to read all the above articles in full see: http://seven59.dk/archive (subscription required)