The Week That Was, March 27th – April 2nd 2017
Politics/Economy
After an hour-long meeting with President Trump at the White House, Thursday, Prime Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen said he has more confidence in the new administration today than directly after the U.S. election – the two leaders discussed green conversion, efforts to combat the Islamic State, and the importance of allies such as the USA and Denmark remaining in Syria and securing the peace after the war is over.
Integration Minister Inger Støjberg said citizens have a duty to inform the authorities if they see or hear anything suspicious, such as employees of pizza take-outs ‘acting strange’ or failing to understand Danish – she also said Denmark has been too soft on immigrants over the past 30 years and is now paying the price.
A new Nordea survey showed Denmark continues to lag behind Norway and Sweden in terms of economic growth due to the after effects of the property bubble that hit the Danish housing market in 2008. Denmark’s biggest bank, Danske, upwardly adjusted its growth projection for the Danish economy to 1.7% for 2017, slightly up on its previous forecast of 1.5%.
Although the public sector deficit fell to DKK18.6bn last year (€2.5bn) from DKK33.6bn (€4.5bn) in 2015, leading economists warned the government not to lose sight of its plan to gradually tighten fiscal policy.
Foreign Affairs/EU
Prime Minster Lars Løkke Rasmussen described Great Britain’s exit from the EU as ‘sad’ after his British counterpart, Therese May, officially activated Article 50 – at a ‘brainstorming session’ with Danish business leaders, trade representatives, union leaders, and politicians, to discuss the repercussions for Denmark he called Brexit a ‘tragic divorce’ that may yet end in a ‘happy outcome’. Great Britain’s pending exit from the EU will lead to a shortfall in funding and could threaten Denmark’s annual €130m rebate but Finance Minister Kristian Jensen vowed the government ‘won’t pay a krone more’.
On the first day of the ‘Arctic – Territory of Dialogue’ forum in Arkhangelsk, Foreign Minister Anders Samuelsen warned against militarisation of the ‘far north’ and urged Russia to ‘avoid any move that could be perceived as conflict or confrontation’. Russian Minister of Natural Resources and Environment Sergei Donskoi said Russia has no plans to change or amend its bid to win the rights to a vast area of the Arctic Ocean, including the North Pole, despite counter claims from Denmark and other countries.
Ex-NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said it would be ‘madness’ to allow the Russian-owned Nord Stream 2 to pass through Danish territorial waters – a majority of the electorate believes the government should reject Russia’s request to extend the gas pipeline.
Parliament gave the government the go-ahead to dispatch 200 troops to Estonia as part of a NATO-led operation to defend the Baltic states for the first time since the Cold War.
The Conservatives’ foreign affairs spokesman Naser Khader said Turkey should be thrown out of NATO if President Ergodan fails to respect democracy.
Over 120 experts in anti-laundering and counter-terrorism from 68 countries gathered in Copenhagen for a two-day meeting of the financial working group of the Counter ISIL Finance Group (CIFG).
Justice Minister Søren Pape Poulsen said Denmark could soon be renting prison space in Romania and Lithuania to house criminals sentenced in this country.
The EU approved Danish subsidies for a proposed offshore windfarm in the Danish section of the Baltic Sea, seen as a ‘showcase’ for Denmark’s prowess in wind energy.
Finance Minister Kristian Jensen said the government is preparing to relax its strict ban on foreigners buying holiday homes – Denmark won the right to block foreign house purchases when it negotiated membership of the European Union in 1972.
HM Queen Margrethe mentioned both terrorism and Tintin when she hosted a gala state dinner for Belgium’s King Philippe and Queen Mathilde.
Danish EU Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager struck again by blocking the proposed merger between Deutsche Börse AG and London Stock Exchange Group.
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Social Affairs
Two men were ordered held in pre-trial custody until April 21 on suspicion of violating Denmark’s terror laws by planning to travel to Syria to join the Islamic State group.
The police appealed to the public to help nab illegal immigrants, after a new Rockwool Foundation study revealed a record number were charged last year but there are still thousands living here ‘under the radar’- a police raid on migrants living in a Copenhagen park revealed that over half were in possession of residency papers from Italy.
Business:
Controversial car-sharing service Uber pulled the plug on its Danish operations in response to new taxi legislation that bans drivers from using their privately owned cars for ride sharing.
Brewing giant Carlsberg employed around 41,000 people last year, primarily in Western Europe, Eastern Europe and Asia, but generated approximately 447,000 jobs in ancillary industries and DKK 105bn in economic value through jobs, growth and government revenues for local communities and national governments.
Finance Minister Brian Mikkelsen issued an open invitation to the Nordic region’s largest retail bank, Nordea, to relocate its headquarters to Copenhagen from Stockholm after the Swedish government threatened to raise the fee that banks pay to an obligatory EU fund.
Jewellery giant Pandora announced plans to invest DKK1.8bn ($260m) in two new factories in Thailand despite the continuing political turbulence in the country – CEO Anders Colding Friis said other countries had been under consideration but Thailand provides ‘so many’ advantages for the company.
Retail purchases with the Danish national debit card, Dankort, fell 0.6 percent in February from a year earlier to DKK 25.3bn.
Vestas signed a deal to supply turbines for the Bearkat 1 wind farm in Texas and a conditional agreement for the Borssele III & IV offshore projects in the Netherlands – the company also boosted its investment in India with a state-of-the-art wind turbine blade manufacturing unit in Gujrat that will create hundreds of local jobs.
Kirkbi, the family-owned holding company behind LEGO, posted an after-tax income of DKK13.3bn ($2bn) for 2016, including DKK9.4bn ($1.5bn) from its 75% stake in the toy giant.
Scandinavian Airlines (SAS) sold off two of its lucrative landing spots at London’s Heathrow Airport in a move that will boost its Q2 accounts by DKK517m ($75m).
Airbnb has outstripped hotels as the biggest vacation room renter in Denmark – the number of overnight stays with the online market rental marketplace rose to 3 million last year.
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