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

Politics/Economy

An image of Integration Minister Inger Støjberg posing with a large, birthday-like cake adorned with the Danish flag to mark the 50th time the government has tightened immigration legislation was dismissed as ’distasteful’ – the respected German newspaper Bild characterised Ms Støjberg as a ‘female Trump’ and compared her to France’s Marine Le Pen and Holland’s Geert Wilders.

The Conservatives’ Rasmus Jarlov urged the government to breach international conventions and stop the migrant influx – he said Denmark will never be the same country again after Muslim immigration.

A new opinion poll indicated a narrow victory for the opposition if an election was held today, with 52.1% of the vote against the government alliance’s 47.9% – a number of local mayors blamed Prime Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen for the Liberals’ failure to rise above 18% in the polls and questioned whether he’s the right man to lead the party forward.

More than 200 Danish nationals were named on a secret intelligence list by the Syrian regime, including leading Conservative politician Naser Khader – the Red/Greens’ Nikolaj Villumsen said the government needs to take the list very seriously.

Voters believe 19 of the government’s 22 ministers have become ‘less credible’ since the Liberal-led coalition was formed three months ago – Integration Minister Inger Støjberg is seen as the government’s ‘most credible’ minister. One of the ‘least credible’,Transport Minister Ole Birk Olesen, was given a reprimand after he formally apologised for misinforming parliament about the dire financial situation of national mail carrier, PostNord.

The government is preparing to fight back against aerospace giant Boeing in the legal dispute surrounding the government’s decision last year to buy Lockheed Martin’s new F-35 Lightning II combat jets in preference to Boeing’s own Super Hornets.

The Social Democrats proposed hiring 1,000 new tax collectors and setting up four new regional offices to combat tax evasion and collect outstanding debt.

The National Bank warned that although the Danish economy is on the upturn new reforms are needed to boost growth.

Denmark’s foreign trade surplus decreased at the start of the year, as exports fell faster than imports, while consumer price inflation accelerated further in February to the highest level in just over three years,

Foreign Affairs/EU

Prime Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen suggested his Turkish counterpart Binali Yildirim postpone a planned visit to Denmark this week due to “tensions” between Ankara and the Netherlands – analysts called it a ‘severe escalation’ from Denmark’s side and warned of a possible diplomatic crisis.

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg urged Denmark to live up to its promise to spend at least 2% of GDP on defence spending – he told parliament’s Foreign Policy Committee it’s time for action, not words.

At the end of a 3-day visit to three major Chinese cities, Foreign Minister Anders Samuelsen said Denmark and Europe need to up the pace to avoid being overtaken by fast-moving economies like China’s – during the trip he signed a ‘Memorandum of Understanding’ (MoU) with Alibaba, China’s biggest online commerce company, to increase exports from Denmark to China and promote Denmark as a tourist destination of choice for Chinese travellers.

The government was accused of manipulating foreign aid spending after it was revealed that DKK 400m earmarked to fund asylum seeker programmes in this country is still being held by the state.

Denmark contributed an extra DKK 300m (€40m) to help alleviate the acute food crisis that’s ravaging Africa’s Horn and Yemen.

The Social Democrats put forward four proposals to reduce the number of foreign EU students claiming generous Danish student (SU) grants.

Danish EU Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager continued her fight against secret cartels and other anti-competition business violations by launching a new tool to make it easier for whistleblowers to alert the Commission while maintaining their anonymity.

Canadian media reported that Canada is in talks with Denmark, Norway, and the U.S. on a billion-dollar satellite program that would significantly improve communications in the Arctic.

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

A new survey revealed Danish voters have taken a big step towards the right on immigration – an increasing number would limit Muslim immigration, ban religious headscarves, and place demands on immigrants to ‘embrace Danish values’.

A report by Statistics Denmark showed one-in five babies in this country is born to parents from an ethnic minority.

Copenhagen was again named amongst the world’s 10-most liveable cities on Mercer’s 19th annual Quality of Living survey – Vienna occupied first place for overall quality of living for the 8th year running.

Business

In a hard-hitting report published Tuesday, in the wake of the so-called Panama Papers, the Danish Financial Services Authority (FSA) said Danish banks haven’t done enough to crack down on money laundering.

The Ministry of Defence announced the Danish military’s new artillery system will be supplied by France’s Nexter Systems.

Denmark’s two wind energy test centres, at Østerild and Høvsøre in western Jutland, are to be extended to accommodate trials of new mega wind turbines – reportedly as ‘big as the Eiffel Tower’.

The agricultural sector continues to struggle – Danish farmers are carrying a collective debt of DKK 380bn (around €50bn), sending shockwaves through the financial sector.

Maersk Line moved a step closer to acquiring competitor Hamburg Süd after both parties signed a Sale and Purchase Agreement.

Apartment prices in the most attractive locations in Copenhagen are at a 10-year high – prices are now higher than in 2006 when the housing bubble burst.

Fast-expanding Copenhagen–based juice café, Joe & The juice, with 180 outlets around the world will open its fifth outlet in New York this summer.

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