The Week That Was, May 28th – June 3rd 2018

Politics/Economy:

Parliament passed the government’s controversial burka ban Thursday, making it illegal to wear a full-face veil in public.

Children living in vulnerable social housing districts will be forced to attend kindergarten and pre-school for 25 hours per week from the age of one under a new, compulsory scheme announced by the government, Monday, part of its long-term anti-ghetto plan –

Danish People’s Party leader Kristian Thulesen Dahl said he would continue to support Lars Løkke Rasmussen as Prime Minister but called for more cooperation with the Social Democrats – at the same time he warned the ruling Liberals’ that their increasingly pro-EU tone is threatening the centre-right alliance’s chance of re-election.

The Social Democrats and DPP joined forces to deny the government a majority for its energy bill.

A new poll showed that Prime Minister is still lagging behind opposition leader Mette Frederiksen in the popularity stakes.

Immigration Minister Inger Støjberg accused Denmark’s biggest union, 3F, of ‘politicising’ and hypocrisy after it was revealed the union’s own magazine warned eight years ago that Muslim bus drivers experience problems with dehydration during the Ramadan fasting period – the same claim she made last week amidst a storm of criticism.

Employment Minister Troels Lund Poulsen said the government is ready to declare 20,000 long-term benefits claimants ‘fit for work’ as part of a 20-point plan to fill the growing labour shortage – the Liberal Alliance (LA) called for more sanctions against the work-shy, following a new study showing thousands of benefits recipients in reality never actually look for a job.

Mr Lund Poulsen also welcomed the ‘positive news’ that the welfare rolls have been reduced by 22,700 since the government capped social benefits two years ago.

Bloomberg News reported how Denmark’s strict immigration rules contrast sharply with the constant reports of a labour shortage.

The economy is expected to grow by 1.9 percent this year and 1.7 percent in 2019 according to the government’s latest Economic Review, published Monday – the government also lowered its expectations for the budget deficit this year and next year slightly.

EU/Foreign Affairs:

Prime Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen called for an ‘appropriate response’ from the EU after US President Donald Trump Thursday introduced import taxes on steel and aluminium from the EU, Canada and Mexico – the PM said he was ‘deeply disappointed’ with the US move. While Business Minister Brian Mikkelsen called for ‘tit for tat’ retaliations with restrictions on imports of Levi’s or bourbon. The Confederation of Danish Industry warned that Danish exports of DKK 200 million will be hit by the new US tariffs.

EU Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager and former climate & energy minister Lykke Friis could both run for MEP in next year’s EU election,

New labour market figures showed that Denmark has become an increasingly attractive destination for southern Europeans seeking work – over the past five years the number of migrant workers from Spain, Portugal, Italy, Greece and France has nearly doubled, from 12,854 to 24,784, a record-high.

EU sources reported that Polish and Danish gas operators have signed an agreement on the co-financing of the Baltic Pipe gas pipeline, an alternative to the Nord Stream II pipeline.

Controversial Danish People’s Party (DPP) MEP Morten Messerschmidt will be  running for the Danish parliament at the next general election despite still being under investigation for the fraudulent use of EU funds.

The European Parliament said it’s time to scrap Danish border controls that are a breach of the Schengen free travel area agreement.

Social Affairs:

A new Pew Research Center survey of 15 countries in Western Europe, which explores  respondents’ views on immigration, national identity, pluralism, and religion, characterised Denmark as a ‘hardliner’.

Following the government’s move to ‘Danishize’ children who live in in vulnerable, social housing districts designated as ghettoes, news bureau Reuters reported how some immigrant residents feel stigmatised and excluded from mainstream society.

29 year-old Danish foreign fighter Jacob El-Ali, who in 2015 posed with decapitated bodies in the Syrian city of Raqqa, now claims he was brainwashed by the Islamic State and wants to return to Denmark to face charges.

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Business:

The Estonian and Danish financial watchdog authorities are in disagreement about who has the responsibility for investigating the Danske Bsnk money laundering scandal and how Denmark’s biggest bank should be punished – the head of the Estonian financial supervisory authority said Danske is a Danish bank and it should be Danish authorities that decide what the possible consequences should be.

Lars Møller, former director of the maritime fuel company OW Bunker was sentenced to 18 months in prison – formerly one of the world’s largest bunker fuel suppliers, OW Bunker was forced to file for bankruptcy in late 2014 after it was revealed that internal fraud had cost the company around USD 125 million.

The Copenhagen Metro system could be extending under the Öresund strait to Malmø, providing a 23-minute link between the two cities.

Danish dairy group Arla announced plans to slas around 350 jobs as part of a three-year cost-cutting programme.

And That Was The Week That Was, May 28th – June 3rd 2018: To read all the above articles in full see: http://seven59.dk/archive (subscription required).