The Week That Was, January 8th – January 14th 2018      

Posted on 14. Jan, 2018 in: TWTW

Politics/Economy:

 Prime Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen backed down in the tax vs. immigration battle with the Danish People’s Party (DPP) – he said the government will scale back its tax-cut plan to get it through parliament rather than link it to legislation tightening immigration and residency laws, as demanded by the DPP. Leading political commentator Hans Engell said the government had ‘raised the white flag’.

The Social Democrats urged the prime minister to resign and call a general election following the collapse of the government’s tax reform negotiations with the Danish People’s Party (DPP) – Liberal Alliance (LA) leader Anders Samuelsen offered an unreserved apology for the breakdown and the role played by his party but rejected calls from party insiders to step down. A new poll showed the junior coalition partner has sunk to its lowest level of support since 2010 and Social Democrat leader Mette Frederiksen would become prime minister with a clear majority if a general election was held right now.

The Danish People’s Party (DPP) proposed cuts in the so called integration benefit to make Denmark as unattractive as possible to refugees – union bosses warned Prime Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen not to bow down to the DPP by amending the Integration Training Courses scheme (IGUs in Danish), a cornerstone of the government’s policy to get refugees into the labour market as quickly as possible.

New figures from Germany’s Ministry of the Interior showed the number of failed asylum seekers illegally entering Germany from Denmark has risen considerably.

A new report by The Danish Chamber of Commerce warned that although the Danish economy is recovering it will be outstripped by other countries over the next few years.

Housing prices dropped by 1.1% on a national basis in October – Danske Bank economist Las Olesen stressed that it was a ‘one off’ and wouldn’t encourage the bank to amend its projection that prices would continue to rise this year,

EU/Foreign Affairs

200 Danish soldiers arrived in Estonia as part of a NATO mission to protect the security of the Alliance’s Eastern flank against Russian aggression – it was also announced that Denmark and Italy will join forces to keep the skies of the Baltic safe as part of NATO’s Air Policing mission in the region.

Denmark and Greenland signed an agreement regarding the clean-up of U.S. military installations that were left to rust in the arctic after the Cold War.

The Europa think-tank warned that Denmark could miss out on the possibility of confiscating around DKK2.5bn in connection with the share dividend scam because of the county’s justice opt-out.

Denmark was ranked joint third on the 2018 Henley Passport Index, a global ranking of countries according to how many other countries a holder can travel to visa-free – 175 for Danes.

Charlotta Pisinger, specialist at the Centre for Clincial Reserach and Prevention at Frederiksberg Hospital, urged lawmakers to act following a report showing a packet of cigarettes costs less in Denmark than any other European country with the exception of Luxembourg.

Danish police cordoned off roads around the U.S. Embassy on Dag Hammarskjold Alle, Wednesday, after a ‘suspicious object’ was discovered.

Social Affairs:

Controversial Immigration Minister Inger Støjberg came under fire after it was revealed she took over a year to react to an EU ruling on deportation for seriously ill refugees – she later acknowledged that the forced deportation of 7 refugees seeking humanitarian residency was a mistake.

The number of people out of work declined to 114,500 in November from 116,700 in the preceding month but the overall unemployment rate remained unchanged.

Denmark’s reputation as a pioneering ‘green’ nation was reinforced by new figures showing wind turbines delivered power equivalent to 43.6 percent of domestic electricity consumption in 2017

Canadian preacher Mazin Abdul-Adhim was added to the government’s ‘blacklist’ of preachers barred from entering the country – the 12th so far.

A new global ‘good governance’ survey ranked Denmark as the best-run country in the world.

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

Business:

Despite economists’ claim of an upswing and a shortage of labour, 1,380 businesses filed for bankruptcy in December, a 94% increase on the same month last year

Novo Nordisk, the world’s biggest maker of insulin, had a DKK25bn ($2.6 bn) bid for Belgian biotech group Ablynx rejected.

Shares in Vestas rose sharply after the wind energy giant upgraded expectations for its 2017 cash flow.

Following a visit to Denmark, Wednesday, Formula One boss Chase Carey backed a business consortium’s plans to hold the first Danish Grand Prix in 2020.

And That Was The Week That Was, January 8th – January 14th 2018: To read all the above articles in full see: http://seven59.dk/archive (subscription required)