The Week That Was, May 5th – May 12th 2019

Politics/Economy:

Election 2019:

After months of speculation Prime Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen finally named the date for the general election – Constitution Day, June 5th.

As the election campaign got underway a new poll indicated opposition leader Mette Frederiksen will cruise to victory, backed by 95 seats, against 80 for the government and its centre-right allies. Ms Frederiksen is not only favourite to become Denmark’s next prime minister, she’s also seen as the ‘most trustworthy’ party leader by voters – in a snap poll 37% said they see the opposition leader as trustworthy, compared to 34% for the prime minister.

Prime Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen promised to give the welfare sector a DKK69bn boost if re-elected – he declined to say how precisely the extra money would be spent but said it’s obvious to everybody that the prospect of more elderly and children in the future will demand more spending.

Danish People’s Party (DPP) Kristian Thulesen Dahl warned that the next government, whether it’s ‘red’ or ‘blue’ will be met with a demand for permanent border control.

In a previously unknown YouTube video, head of the far-right right ‘Stram Kurs’ (Hard Line) party, Rasmus Paludan, appeared to call for the extermination of Muslims throughout the world – it was also reported that Paludan has previously been thrown out of the anti-migrant New Conservatives for making inflammatory and racist comments.

Both Prime Minster Lars Løkke Rasmussen and Conservative leader Søren Pape Poulsen said they would not form any government that relies on the support of ‘Stram Kurs’, which polls indicate could win 2.4% of the vote, more than the 2% needed to enter parliament – Defence Minister Claus Hjort Frederiksen warned that the far-right party has made Denmark vulnerable to the same kinds of risks that followed the Mohammed cartoon crisis thirteen years ago, when Danish embassies in Muslim nations came under attack and Danish exports were boycotted throughout the Arab world.

The New Conservatives’ lead candidate in Copenhagen, Jeppe Juhl, was detained by the police and charged with sharing a video of the brutal slaying of a Danish and Norwegian backpacker in Morocco on his anti-migrant website Newspeek

 EU/Foreign Affairs:

Professor Claes de Vreese of Copenhagen University said the June 5th general election has cast a long shadow over the EU vote 11 days earlier om May 26th and it will be difficult for EU candidates to match the massive hype surrounding the domestic election.

Prime Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen took a time-out from the election campaign to attend the one-day informal summit in the central Romanian city of Sibiu where EU leaders gathered to discuss “Europe’s place in the world”.

Denmark and eight European allies challenged the EU to adopt a more decisive role internationally – in a joint position paper, Denmark, Germany, the Czech Republic, Finland, France, Germany, Holland, Romania, Spain and Sverige called on the EU to become a ‘key player’ by ‘strengthening the interaction’ between countries to face global challenges.

The eight nations of the Arctic Council – Denmark, United States, Canada, Russia, Finland, Norway, Denmark, Sweden and Iceland –  convened in Finland to discuss policies governing the polar region. China, India, South Korea, Singapore, Italy and Japan enjoyed observer status.

Denmark is under-represented at the EU while similar-sized countries are better equipped to fight for their national interest, according to a study by Danish think-tank Europa.

Nord Stream 2 AG, the operating company for the new Russian pipeline that’s under construction and is fast approaching Denmark, criticised Danish lawmakers for their ‘misguided’ opposition to the project – Energinet informed the gas market that the alternative Baltic pipeline linking Norwegian natural gas fields to Denmark and Poland is on track for completion by October 2022.

Copenhagen is the most expensive European city for construction according to the latest International Construction Cost Comparison published by Arcadis.

Bankruptcies climbed to 966 in April from 441 a year earlier as the tax authorities continue to crack down on shell companies, as required by the EU.

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Social Affairs:

Even though only 620 refugees applied for asylum in Denmark during the first three months of the year, the lowest quarterly figure since 2008, it still isn’t low enough for the Danish People’s Party (DPP) who called for a total ban.

After banning foreign ‘hate preachers’ the government will in future blacklist people, companies, and even state-sponsored institutions that donate money to build mosques or fund specific faith-based organisations in this country.

The Danish People’s Party’s Søren Espersen said Denmark needs to place Greenland under administration for violating international child conventions, after a TV documentary revealed widespread sexual abuse of minors in the arctic country.

A new study by the Economic Council of the Labour Movement (AE) revealed that 27% of all household spending goes on state-funded programmes such as kindergartens, home care, doctors’ appointments, or even maintaining local parks and recreation areas, the second-highest figure amongst all OECD countries.

An estimated 100,000 car owners who owe the state money could have their licence plates removed over the next few weeks – the tax department warned of an immediate crackdown on motorists who have failed to pay a collective DKK750m (€10m) in green duties, registration tax, or road use duty

Business:

The Financial Supervisory Authority (FSA) accused financial institutions of failing to implement sufficient safeguards to ensure they aren’t used to launder money or finance terrorism.

Dairy giant Arla Foods revealed plans to introduce more sustainable packaging in Denmark, Sweden, Finland, the Netherlands, Germany and the UK.

The up-market Illum department store on Copenhagen’s trendy walking street is losing money at an alarming rate – since a major re-fit three years ago the store has posted an annual DKK100m ($15m) loss, over a million dollars per month.

Scandinavian Airlines’ (SAS) traffic figures for April were heavily impacted by the pilots’ strike – month on month figures were nearly 15% down.

Danish prosecutors charged 10 former Danske Bank managers, including former CEO Thomas Borgen, over their suspected involvement in the money laundering scandal.

A number of Danish businessmen are at the centre of an international DKK540m VAT fraud scam with links to various European countries, USA, and Dubai.

Global pharmaceutical company Novo Nordisk beat first-quarter operating profit forecasts on Friday, helped by higher sales of its biggest new drug hope, a treatment for type 2 diabetes.

And That Was The Week That Was, May 5th – May 12th 2019: To read all the above articles in full see: http://seven59.dk/archive (subscription required).