The Week That Was, May 7th – May 13th 2018

Politics/Economy:

Hard-line Integration Minister Inger Støjberg said there’s no need to follow Germany and impose a cap on family reunification for refugees who’ve only been granted subsidiary protection.

Greenland Prime Minister Kim Kielsen put together a government coalition containing his Siumut party and three others Partii Naleraq, Atassut and Nunatta Qitornai, but with a very narrow one-seat majority – Prime Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen expressed concern about the new Greenland government’s move to replace Danish with English as the main foreign language in Greenland schools.

Although the ‘red’ bloc has led in the polls throughout winter, Alternative leader Uffe Elbæk said he couldn’t guarantee support for Mette Frederiksen’s candidacy as prime minister because of disagreement with the Social Democrats’ strict immigration and integration policy.

The Danish People’s Party (DPP) will support the Conservatives’ proposal to cut inheritance tax but only in return for more immigration restrictions.

Prime Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen said Crown Prince Henrik needs to be kept on a ’tight rein’ in his role as a member of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) – the future King was strongly criticised in 2016 when he defied a parliamentary majority and declined to vote for a resolution to exclude Russia from the Rio games.

EU/Foreign Affairs:

Foreign Minister Anders Samuelsen said Denmark will continue to support the Iran nuclear deal even though the USA has pulled out – a top executive at the Confederation of Danish Industry (DI) warned Danish exports will suffer as a result of President Trump’s decision.

Prime Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen said Denmark won’t go it alone and boycott the upcoming World Cup in Russia as it’s a decision that needs to be made collectively at EU level.

Denmark officially handed over the lead of the Baltic Air Policing mission to the Portuguese Air Force – during the traditional ceremony at the Šiauliai Airbase in Lithuania a detachment of the Portuguese Air Force was handed over the symbolic key to the Baltic Airspace from the outgoing detachment of the Royal Danish Air Force.

Prime Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen will meet the leaders of Austria and Slovakia this week ahead of the EU-Western Balkans Summit in Sofia, Bulgaria, on May 17th.

The Danish People’s Party (DPP) called for Turkey to be kicked out of NATO – controversial MEP Morten Messerschmidt said Turkey under President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has become the ‘unruly boy in the class’ and doesn’t live up to the NATO ‘ethos’.

US defence firm Cubic Global Defense is hoping to set up a training and command centre in Denmark for all North European F-35s from Great Britain, Holland, Norway and Poland that take part in NATO missions over the North Sea.

France’s President Emmanuel Macron accepted an invitation from HM Queen Margrethe to visit Denmark on the 28-29th of August, the first official French state visit since President Mitterrand in 1982.

A Greek court cleared two Danes, Salam Aldeen and Mohammed El-Abbassi, of trying to help illegal migrants enter Greece through the island of Lesbos while taking part in Aegean rescue missions.

The government committed DKK 600m ($100m) to wind energy development in Africa.

Social Affairs:

A Finance Ministry projection for the next 82 years showed non-western immigrants and their descendants will cost the state a net loss of DKK33bn (€4.5bn) annually until 2100 due to their low rate of unemployment – at the same time the state will need an extra DKK1.5bn (€200m) to fund a ‘welfare gap’ in 2021.

While Danish companies continue to complain about a lack of manpower a new Statistics Denmark report showed 40% of the 5,500 east Europeans who came to Denmark to work in 2010 have returned home.

Public expenditure has hit an all-time high – spending on health, education, the environment and police has risen by DKK136bn (€18bn) since the year 2000 and now stands at a record DKK1,100bn (€148bn).

The Alternatives’ proposal to allow people to grow recreational drugs such as pot and marijuana at home for personal use was dismissed as ‘misguided’ by the Liberals.

The Liberal Alliance (LA) demanded a stop to the ‘ridiculous rule’ that allows graduates to claim unemployment insurance – twice as much as a student grant – for two-years after leaving university.

Foreign nationals who’ve been given speeding tickets won’t be denied the chance to become ‘Danes’ under the government’s new citizenship reform bill – the ruling Liberals offered assurances that people with minor traffic violations won’t be excluded after Integration Minister Inger Støjberg said anyone convicted of crime in the future would be permanently excluded from Danish citizenship, even for misdemeanours. At the same time Ms Støjberg dismissed a proposal that would disbar anybody who employs an illegal immigrant from owning a business as ‘too severe’.

Prosecutors surprisingly announced that ‘Submarine Slayer’ Peter Madsen will appeal the life sentence a court imposed on him but will not challenge the verdict delivered on April 25 that found him guilty of sexually assaulting and killing journalist Kim Wall, and desecrating her body.

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Business:

SAS will in future refer to Taiwan as China but denied bowing to demands from Beijing, even though the company was one of 36 airlines contacted by the Chinese government last month with a demand that they only refer to Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Macau as part of China on their website and other marketing material.

Medical-equipment maker Ambu, the best performer in the Stoxx Europe 600 index over the past five years, added to its remarkable share run with the biggest intra-day jump since 2000, rising 18 percent at one point on Monday, catapulting the company into the top 20 of Denmark’s most valuable companies with a market value of around DKK 44bn ($7 bn).

Wind energy giant Vestas reported revenue, earnings, and free cash flow all decreased in the first quarter of 2018 compared to the same quarter a year earlier.

Controversial ride-sharing company Uber is hoping to return to Denmark after being forced to shut down last year by a new taxi law that officially outlawed carpooling services.

And That Was The Week That Was, May 7th – May 13th 2018: To read all the above articles in full see: http://seven59.dk/archive (subscription required).