The Week That Was, March 20th – March 26th 2017    

Politics/Economy

Ahead of a meeting with President Trump in Washington this week, Prime Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen acknowledged that the current US government ‘works in a different way than what we have seen previously’.

The opposition is still on course to regain power at the next election – the latest Epinion poll for DR News gave the ‘red’ centre-left alliance 51.6% of the vote. Socialist People’s Party leader Pia Olsen Dyhr said the country has recovered from its ‘government trauma’ and would be open to forming a new coalition with the Social Democrats after the next election.

Prime Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen said he would support moves to tighten financial legislation following reports that Denmark’s two biggest banks, Danske and Nordea, were involved in a vast money-laundering operation run by Russian criminals – a new book claimed Mr Rasmussen’s negative approval rating cost the Liberal Party anywhere between 50,000-180,000 votes at the last general election.

The Danish People’s Party said foreign fighters who leave Denmark to fight for the Islamic State (IS) while claiming social benefits in this country should be severely sanctioned when they return home.

Parliament’s Ombudsman ruled the government acted illegally by separating ‘child brides’, some as young as 14 years of age, from their male spouses at refugee and asylum centres.

Denmark’s consumer confidence strengthened for the third straight month in March to the strongest level in just over one-and-a-half years, although new figures also showed retail sales edged down 0.1 percent month-over-month in February, reversing a 0.2 percent increase in January.

For the first time in 183 years Denmark has zero foreign currency debt after the state paid off its last remaining loan in foreign currency, Monday.

The government dropped plans to lower the minimum age of criminal responsibility to 12.

Foreign Affairs/EU

Passing on information about residents of this country to the Turkish government is a criminal offence no matter what the reason is, a top legal expert said after the Turkish Embassy claimed that a hotline to Ankara only allows people to provide tips about terrorist-related offences – the Foreign Ministry had asked the embassy to explain reports of anti-Ergodan voters being reported for treason. After President Ergodan’s attack on Denmark’s EU allies Holland and Germany, the DPP’s foreign affairs spokesman, Søren Espersen, said it’s time to make it clear once and for all that Turkey isn’t welcome in the EU.

At the Washington DC summit of ‘foreign ministers of the Global Coalition working to defeat the Islamic State (ISIS)’, Foreign Minister Mr Samuelsen assured the U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson that Denmark remains ‘determined’ to wipe out the Islamist terrorist movement and urged him to ‘just call’ whenever he needs  help to intensify the fight against the Islamic State (ISIS) – Defence Minister Claus Hjort Frederiksen vowed to increase spending during an unannounced visit to the Al Asad base in Iraq.

The government has, in secrecy, been negotiating with Morocco about the repatriation of convicted terrorist Said Mansour, the so-called ‘Bookseller from Bronshøj’ – Jyllands-Posten reported that Foreign Minister Anders Samuelsen discussed the matter with his Moroccan counterpart on the sidelines of a UN meeting in Geneva on the 27th of February.

The government failed to live up to its foreign aid commitment last year – the parties on the right agreed to spend 0.71% of Gross National income (GNP) but actually only allocated 0.67%, leading to a shortfall of DKK800m

The government successfully negotiated a final draft agreement for a Europol agreement that now needs to be approved by EU Parliament and the Council of Ministers before the May 1st deadline.

The Danish Food & Veterinary Administration (DFVA) assured concerned consumers they can safely buy meat imported from Brazil.

Denmark placed an injunction on all Danish companies that prohibits them from selling teak imported from Myanmar on European markets.

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Social Affairs

The government’s ‘emergency brake’ bill could lead to unaccompanied minor asylum seekers being rejected at the border even before they set foot in Denmark.

A new social study showed more than 3,000 immigrants have been stuck on welfare for over a decade – and out of 900 people who’ve been claiming social benefits for 20 years, 400 are from ‘non-western’ countries.

The police have spent millions of kroner protecting anti-Islam demonstrators – figures for 2015 showed 2,821 officers, costing more than 22,000 overtime hours, were called in to patrol demonstrations organised by the ‘For Freedom’ group, formerly Pegida, which often involved no more than 100 demonstrators.

Danes can no longer boast they are the world’s happiest people – Norway assumed first place on the World Happiness Report 2017, produced by the Sustainable Development Solutions Network (SDSN).

Two elderly people died in a new outbreak of Salmonella after eating a frozen dinner manufactured by Tulip Food Company for Coop Denmark and sold in supermarkets throughout the country.

Business:

A.P. Moller-Maersk is to get DKK3.5bn from the state to renovate the Tyra oil and gas field in the North Sea – the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) initiated legal action against Maersk Line and other major shipping lines suspected of operating an illegal cartel.

Novo Nordisk, Denmark’s most profitable country, is looking at a multi-billion windfall in the USA where sales of its anti-obesity pill, Saxenda, have risen by 245% since 2015.

Scandinavian Airlines (SAS) was one of eleven carriers hit with a €776m fine by the EU Competition Commission, led by Danish commissioner Margrethe Vestager, for taking part in an air cargo cartel more than a decade ago.

National mail service Postnord announced plans to slash a further 4,000 jobs over the next 2-3 years as a result of falling business and increasing digitisation.

Síx Danes made Forbes’ list of the world’s richest people – Kjeld Kirk Kristiansen, 3rd generation of the LEGO family,was the highest ranked at no.35 with a fortune of DKK146bn ($21.5bn).

Danish architect companies PLH Arkitekter and COWI were successful in a joint bid to redesign Riga Central Railway Station in Latvia.

And That Was The Week That Was, March 20th – March 26th 2017: To read all the above articles in full see: http://seven59.dk/archive (subscription required)