The Week That Was, June 20th – June 25th 2016
Politics/Economy
Prime Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen vowed to resist calls for a ‘Danexit’ referendum, following the ‘Brexit’ vote in the UK – the Danish People’s Party and Red/Green Alliance joined forces to demand that Danes be given a British-style in/out option. Head of the far-left Red/Greens, Pernille Skipper, suggested a referendum on Constitution Day next year, June 5th, which would ‘provide enough time to investigate the alternative cooperation possibilities with the European Union.’
Ahead of the Brexit referendum the so-called ‘wise men’ of the Economic Council predicted the Danish economy would suffer from lower growth and higher unemployment if Britain pulled out of the EU – former NATO secretary general and Danish prime minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen warned that a British exit from the EU would be ‘bad for everybody’ and ‘only Russia would be celebrating’.
Danish People’s Party (DPP) leader Kristian Thulesen Dahl said he’s ready to form a government after the next election, but without the help of allies on the right, the Conservatives and Liberal Alliance – he said it’s ‘widely known’ that the three parties differ on a number of issues and his party isn’t prepared to make political concessions just for the sake of power.
Tabloid daily Ekstra Bladet claimed former Social Democrat leader Mogens Lykketoft is facing a revolt from within his own party when he returns to Denmark this summer after serving a year as President of the United Nations General Assembly – a number of party MPs have allegedly urged the speaker of the house to quit parliament and relinquish his seat.
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Foreign Affairs/EU
Danish People’s Party MEP Anders Vistisen blamed German Chancellor Angela Merkel for the refugee crisis, after a new report by the EU border agency, Frontex, suggested refugees were encouraged to take the risk of reaching Europe by ‘over-accommodating’ EU countries – the DPP also called for the withdrawal of all education aid to Afghanistan following reports of the Taliban’s influence on schools.
When Danish fighter jets return to bombing raids against the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria they will be permitted to accept civilian casualties as part of operations – Defence Minister Peter Christiansen said the Danish public will be kept ‘fully informed’ if, and when, civilians are killed in a Danish bombing sortie.
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Social Affairs
The number of people claiming social benefits shrank by 12,500 during the year’s first quarter – however, there are still nearly 750,000 welfare claimants. A new Employment Ministry report showed 10,000 have been jobless and living off welfare handouts for at least 10 years and in some cases even longer.
The World Wealth Report 2016 reported there are now 8,000 more dollar millionaires in Denmark than a year ago.
Tabloid daily BT reported that asylum seekers at an Ikast refugee centre are so dissatisfied with the meals served that they dig through garbage containers outside local supermarkets to find discarded food.
In a landmark ruling, Wednesday, Glostrup District Court found 24-year-old pizzeria owner Hamza Cakan, who holds both dual Danish and Turkish citizenships, guilty of allowing himself to be recruited in 2013 by IS in order to commit terrorist acts in Syria – Justice Minister Søren Pind said he will employ ‘Al Capone’ tactics to fight criminality amongst radicalised Islamists, a method previously employed to jail criminal bikers and gang members.
The Danish People’s Party (DPP) called for a ban on children speaking Arabic in schools, following a new report showing how Arab schoolkids often use their native language to harass and intimidate teachers and fellow pupils who don’t understand what’s being said.
Danes are split down the middle on the issue of legalised cannabis – in a new Megafon survey for TV2,43% of respondents said yes, 43% no, with the remainder undecided.
Business
Business & Growth Minister Troels Lund Poulsen and Tax Minister Karsten Lauritzen launched a number of measures aimed at cracking down on money laundering and tax evasion, in response to the news that Nordea, Scandinavia’s biggest financial institution, had been reported to the police by the Danish Financial Supervisory Authority (DFSA).
Consumer confidence improved in June after a sharp decline in the previous month – the consumer confidence index rose to 4.4 from 3.2 in May. In April, the score was 5.5.
26 current and former public sector employees were arrested on suspicion of receiving kickbacks – Atea, the leading supplier of IT infrastructure and system integration to local government and municipalities in the Nordic and Baltic regions, hit back at allegations that it offered bribes in return for orders.
Danish pork exports recorded a slight decline for the first quarter of 2016, down 6 per cent compared to the same period a year earlier.
Denmark’s biggest telecom company, TDC, signed a deal to sell its Swedish subsidiary TDC Sverige AB to Tele2 for a reported DKK2.3bn (€300m).
Søren Skou replaced Niels Smedegaard Andersen as CEO of A.P. Moeller-Maersk.
A top-level Danish delegation was in Paris, Monday, to present Denmark’s official bid to host a Tour de France Grand Départ, possibly in 2019.