The Week That Was, May 1st – 7th 2017
Politics/Economy
As the left-wing celebrated May 1st with rallies and demonstrations throughout the country, a new study showed a majority of unskilled employees voted for a right-leaning party at the 2015 general election – 53% of workers voted for a party in the ‘blue bloc’, with the populist Danish People’s Party (DPP) attracting the most.
A new Finance Ministry study of the labour market proficiency of 22 countries showed Denmark has fallen to 13th – Finance Minister Kristian Jensen said Danes don’t work enough to finance the welfare everybody wants. New figures also showed that despite a raft of labour market reforms and work incentives around 120,000 people between the age of 24 and 29 were claiming some form of benefit last year, excluding student grants, compared to just over 92,000 in 2007.
Danes have become increasingly pro-free trade – in a new survey by The Danish Agriculture and Food Council, 76% of respondents ‘agreed’ Denmark should export more goods and services, while 72% ‘disagreed’ that imports should be restricted.
In a May 1st Labour Day speech, th Social democrats’ party whip Henrik Sass Larsen urged the government to copy Australia’s much-criticised immigration policy.
Parliament called a ‘time out’ on negotiations surrounding two new immigration measures aimed at removing the 26-year citizenship requirement and making it easier for highly-paid Danes living abroad to bring their foreign spouse to Denmark.
A cross-party majority reached agreement on a new property/land tax deal, ending months of speculation concerning an extremely sensitive issue for homeowners.
The January-April public accounts showed a surplus of DKK 27.4 bn ($4.03 bn), DKK 18.4 billion better than the government’s initial forecast, which coulencourage the government to reduce its 2017 borrowing requirement.
EU/Foreign Affairs
The EU has become more popular in this country since Great Britain voted to leave last year – a new European parliament report showed the number of Danish voters with a positive view of the EU has risen by 9% over the past year, to 71%.
The long-negotiated Europol compromise was finally confirmed less than 48 hours before today’s May 1st deadline – after signing the ‘Europol light’ deal Prime Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen said he was pleased that Denmark will still be allowed to share information vital to counter-terrorism and crime fighting. The PM spent much of his time at last weekend’s Brussels summit lobbying for the Danish fishing industry and Danish jobs when the UK has finally pulled out. Denmark is amongst the front runners to host the European Medicines Agency (EMA), which could be forced to relocate from London when Great Britain leaves the EU.
On the final day of his 3-day visit to China Mr Løkke Rasmussen said he had witnessed ‘remarkable developments’ since his last visit seven years ago and would be leaving ‘inspired’ and as a good friend – during the trip trade officials signed various agreements, including a ‘sausage deal’ that Danish industry leaders estimated could be worth up to DKK 250m in export revenues every year. Minister for Environment and Food, Esben Lunde Larsen, also signed a five-year cooperation agreement aimed at encouraging the Chinese authorities to recognise Danish control and inspection of organic food – the red eco-label.
Denmark has been given command of one of NATO’s two standing naval forces from January 1st 2018 – the ‘Maritime Group One’ (SNMG1) in the North Atlantic – Defence Minister Claus Hjort Frederiksen said the increased Russian presence along the borders of the Baltic countries and Poland and Moscow’s upgrade of the country’s missile systems in Kaliningrad has forced NATO to increase focus on the Baltic region, as well as the northern part of the Atlantic Ocean.
Denmark endorsed the Safe School Declaration on protecting schools during conflicts, an ‘important initiative’ in allowing children and young people to get an education during times of war, Foreign Minister Anders Samuelsen said.
The Russian authorities questioned the government’s move to amend legislation to stop the controversial Nord Stream 2 pipeline passing through Danish territorial waters – Igor Neverov, head of the Russian Foreign Ministry’s Second European Department, said that there were neither legal nor economic reasons why Denmark should refuse to let the pipeline pass south of Bornholm.
The Danish People’s Party urged the government to ignore the EU and maintain border control after the EU Commission recommended that Denmark, in line with Austria, Germany, Sweden, and Norway start to phase out control over the next six months. Sweden announced it would stop ID checks on people entering the country from Denmark, imposed at the height of the refugee crisis last year but which have caused delays to commuters who travel on a daily basis. The Social Democrats confirmed their new, hard-line immigration policy by urging the government to extend control of the German border.
The United Nations (UN) has expressed its gratitude for Denmark’s DKK75m ($10.7m) grant to the World Food Programme (WFP) aimed at combatting famine in South Sudan and providing nourishment to starving people in Horn of Africa countries hit by drought.
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Social Affairs
As the first in the world, Denmark banned named ‘hate preachers’ from entering the country – the Integration Ministry has published a list of six prominent imams, which ‘sends a very strong message that travelling preachers who seek to undermine our democracy and our fundamental values of freedom and human rights are not welcome in Denmark. ‘
A new demographics study projected that by 2060 one-fifth of the population will be an immigrant or descendant of an immigrant – ‘a frightening prospect’ according to the Danish People’s Party. A separate report by the Integration Ministry revealed that in January this year there were 161,111, more immigrants and their descendants than five years ago, including 93,737 from non-Western countries.
102,074 people, who collectively owe the Danish Tax Authority (SKAT) around DKK8bn, reside outside Denmark where it’s hard to get hold of them.
Danish schoolkids performed better than expected on the 2017 PISA (Programme for International Student Assessment) rankings – Denmark came in 6th in both science and reading but climbed to no.2 in mathematics, just behind Holland.
The small island of Mors in Jutland became the latest local municipality to say no to land-based wind turbines -despite Denmark’s reputation as a world leader in wind energy Mayor Hans Ejner Bertelsen said the disadvantages outweigh the advantages.
Business:
Carlsberg reported a 5 percent rise in first quarter (Q1) sales, despite setbacks in Russia, its biggest market, and Eastern Europe.
DONG Energy settled a dispute with Technip and Daewoo over a cancelled offshore platform order in the North Sea.
Novo Nordisk, Denmark’s biggest company by market capitalisation, enjoyed a stock market boost after it beat operating profit forecasts for the first quarter and upwardly adjusted its full-year target.
Danish Crown, Denmark’s biggest food exporter, offered a financial incentive to encourage farmers to slaughter more pigs in this country instead of sending them abroad.
Coloplast, the Danish maker of medical products, has paid out DKK3.9b ($600m) so far to settle lawsuits in the U.S. claiming the company injured women with its vaginal-mesh implants – Novo Nordisk also agreed to settle a U.S. lawsuit claiming it paid kickbacks to doctors to prescribe its medicines.
Maersk Line, the world’s biggest container shipping company, paid €3.7 billion (S$5.6 billion) to acquire its smaller German rival, Hamburg Sud.
Danske Bank, the Nordic region’s best-performing bank, reported net income of DKK 5.53 billion kroner ($808 million) in the first-quarter of 2017 as profit jumped 12 percent.
And a new study by the Confederation of Danish Industry (DI) showed Danish exports create 775,000 jobs today, the highest level since the financial crisis.