The Week That Was, March 19th – March 25th 2018
Politics/Economy:
The opposition’s comfortable lead in the polls throughout winter has evaporated – a new poll indicated a virtual dead heat between the two opposing parliamentary factions if an election was held today.
Experts questioned why Local Government Denmark (Kommunernes Landsforening/KL) spent DKK730,000(nearly €100,000) of taxpayer money on a report that praised the controversial methods used by political consulting firm Cambridge Analytica (CA), accused of obtaining private Facebook data to influence the 2016 US election.
Prime Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen used the forum of parliamentary question time, Tuesday, to criticise President Trump’s imposition of tariffs on steel and aluminum – the PM dismissed the move as protectionist and urged the EU to stand together and deliver a firm response.
Prime Minister Lars Løkke Rasmusen took credit for the record-high employment rate – he said new figures showing there are now 2.72m workers in the labour market are a direct result of the ‘tough decisions’ he made during his previous term in office ten years ago when the financial crisis exploded.
In response to accusations that he’s mixed paid work for his charitable Løkke Foundation with official duties as prime minister, Mr Løkke Rasmussen again denied he can be ‘bought’ but admitted that people can gain access to him through the ruling Liberals’ ‘Business Club’.
Opposition parties accused Finance Minister Kristian Jensen of concealing key information about the state of the economy – the Social Democrats said the Minister has repeatedly refused to answer questions about how much room to manoeuvre is left after the government’s recent agreements, such as tax relief and November’s business stimulus package.
The government announced a 70 kilometre fence along the border with Germany to keep out wild pigs that could carry the deadly African swine fever – the Danish People’s Party (DPP) said it’s ‘paradoxical’ that the EU will allow a fence to stop pigs entering Denmark but won’t allow any permanent control of refugees, asylum seekers and other illegal immigrants.
The Supreme Court acquitted the Danish People’s Party (DPP) of defaming 684 people by linking them to a potential terrorist in a 2013 newspaper advert.
Consumer confidence remained high in March at 8.5, the same reading as in February.
EU/Foreign Affairs:
Prime Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen urged his EU colleagues to show solidarity and stand together with the UK in the nerve gas dispute with Russia – ahead of a Brussels summit this week he said the EU should ‘fight fire with fire’.
Foreign Minister Anders Samuelsen declined to congratulate Russia’s President Putin on his election victory, Sunday – Danish MPs said President Putin’s landslide victory will only encourage him to continue his aggressive policies.
The EU Commission projected the Danish labour market will expand by an additional 300.000 workers by 2030, exceeding the employment rate of any other EU country.
Prime Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen said he will make access to North Sea waters a ‘high priority’ during the next phase of Brexit talks.
Denmark’s EU Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager launched a probe into whether limits placed by German power operator TenneT on cross border electricity capacity with Denmark breaches EU antitrust rules – later in the week she fined eight producers of capacitors €254 million for participating in a cartel.
Turkish insiders said Sunday’s fire-bomb attack on Turkey’s embassy in Copenhagen reflects the deep divisions in the 60,000-strong Turkish community in Denmark following the 2016 coup attempt against President Recep Tayip Erdogan.
New figures from the European Patent Office (EPO) showed Denmark is an impressive third on the 2017 global rankings for patent applications relative to a country’s population.
Former NATO secretary general, and Danish prime minister, Anders Fogh Rasmussen said Europe’s political elite are responsible for the migrant influx that’s transformed EU politics over the past few years.
Integration Minister Inger Støjberg publicly supported her Norwegian colleague Sylvi Listhaug, who was forced to step down as justice minister after an uproar about a Facebook post claiming the opposition Labour Party was more interested in protecting the rights of terrorists than the Norwegian people – Ms Lishaug, like Ms Støjberg, is a strong advocate of strict immigration laws.
Social Affairs:
Employment Minister Troels Lund Poulsen said it’s ‘unacceptable’ to see thousands of foreigners living off social benefits, following a new report showing half of all long-term welfare recipients who have received up to DKK300,000 annually in various benefits for more than 10 years are non-western immigrants – despite this, fewer people are receiving public entitlements in this country – 718,200 people claimed some form of public support in the final quarter of 2017, the lowest figure since 2007.
Copenhagen was again ranked high on Mercer’s annual ranking of the quality of living for expatriate employees on assignment in locations around the world – the Danish capital came in 9th on the 2018 list topped by Vienna.
53-year-old Danish-Moroccan, Omar Maarouf, who was sentenced to death in Casabalanca in 2003 after being found guilty of planning a bomb attack in the city that led to 33 deaths, has surprisingly been released and is now residing in Copenhagen and living off social benefits.
The Danish People’s Party (DPP) proposed a ban on child sex-dolls to prevent future child abuse but Justice Minister Søren Pape Poulsen called for more information.
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Business:
Following a review of the leaked Panama Papers the Danish tax authorities said European Union-based banks have helped companies and individuals in Denmark to place money in tax havens.
Chinese-owned dairy company Mille Food in Hundested started exporting mass quantities of Danish-produced infant milk formula to China – the company expects to produce around 5,000 tons of infant milk formula this year, rising to 25,000-30,000 tons ‘within a few years’.
Emergency services group Falck has decided to outsource transportation of non-acute patients to external providers and lay off 570 employees.
The Maersk-owned Australian shipping company Svitzer was ‘hacked’ for 11 months – more than 60,000 e-mails containing sensitive information about half of the company’s 1,000 employees were forwarded without their knowledge.
And That Was The Week That Was, March 19th – March 25th 2018: To read all the above articles in full see: http://seven59.dk/archive (subscription required).