The Week That Was, November 27th –December 3rd 2017
Politics/Economy
Prime Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen said the government is determined to serve its full term in office and there will be no general election before he’s constitutionally required to call one.
Danish People’s Party leader Kristian Thulesen Dahl said the government could seal a budget deal very quickly if it wasn’t trying to push through tax reform at the same time, but according to Finance Minister Kristian Jensen the failure to present a budget for 2018 is a result of an ‘ambitious agenda’ – he warned that parliament could be convened over the Christmas period to pass the legislation needed. The Danish People’s Party has demanded the deportation of more immigrant criminals as their price for supporting the 2018 budget.
Integration Minister Inger Støjberg promised a foreign aid ‘bonus’ to countries willing to accept failed asylum seekers and criminal foreign nationals, but at the same time warned there will be cutbacks for those who don’t.
The Danish economy shrank at the fastest rate since 2011 in the year’s third quarter – the latest Statistics Denmark figures showed Gross Domestic Product (GDP) fell 0.6 percent in Q3 from the previous three-month period – despite the downturn the OECD (Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development) projected GDP growth will return to a pace of 2% in 2018 and 2019 after reaching 2.2% in 2017.
The jobless queue shortened slightly in October but not enough to have any impact on the overall unemployment rate, which remained unchanged at 4.3% of the labour force.
The IEA (International Energy Agency) praised Denmark’s green ambitions but said more needs to be done.
Forty candidates of Turkish origin were voted on to their local council in the previous week’s municipal elections.
EU/Foreign Affairs:
Foreign Minister Anders Samuelsen (LA) now has the authority to block Russia’s Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline after a unanimous parliament passed a law, Thursday, which can stop the project passing through Danish territorial waters on grounds of security or foreign policy.
43-year-old Russian dissident Alexander Panesj, a lawyer for opposition leader Aleksej Navalnyj, an outspoken critic of corruption and President Putin, was arrested and remanded in custody by Copenhagen District Court until December 19th – Russia has demanded his extradition.
Prime Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen presented Indonesia’s President Joko Widodo with an untraditional gift on the first day of his official visit, Tuesday – a de-luxe box set of heavily metal band Metallica’s ‘Master of Puppets’ album, signed by Danish drummer Lars Ulrich. During his trip the PM promised to help the country rehabilitate ‘foreign fighters’ returning from the battlefield in Iraq and Syria. In Singapore the PM predicted driverless cars will be part of Danish life within the foreseeable future, but at the same time expressed concerns about the job losses they will create.
Anders Samuelsen arrived in New Delhi for the first official visit by a Danish foreign minister to India since 2010 – diplomatic relations between the two countries have been strained for a number of years due to the legal stand-off over Danish arms dealer Niels Holck.
The government’s move to amend immigration legislation so it will be easier for Denmark to keep rejecting UN quota refugees was criticised by the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR). Convicted foreign criminals awaiting deportation will in future be detained in a purpose-built ‘transit centre’ until they can be sent back to their native country.
The UN launched an official investigation into whether the Danish Warship Lauge Koch was built by North Korean forced labour, in violation of a UN weapons embargo.
The government donated DKK 2.5 million to the Danish Refugee Council to develop a new innovative model, in collaboration with IBM, that will be able to track, and potentially also predict, refugee and migrant flows
Social Affairs:
The Conservatives’ Naser Khader said the Danish authorities have no idea who’s supplying the money to promote religious ideology in this country and urged Denmark to copy the USA’s sanctions programme, which prevents certain people and organisations from transferring money that could finance Muslim mosques, institutions and schools.
The 17-year-old ‘Kundby girl’ who offered to fight for the Islamic State, converted to Islam, and intended to blow up a historic Jewish school, was sentenced to eight years in prison by the High Court, which upheld an earlier district court ruling but increased the sentencing.
The government earmarked DKK 100m to encourage Danes to become multi-lingual – Minister for Research Søren Pind said the business sector is desperate for people competent in other languages than English, such as engineers who can speak German or French.
A new survey showed Denmark has the best work/life balance in Europe.
DR News reported how a Danish-Pakistani businessman had a debt of DKK 114.5m wiped out by the Commercial High Court at the same time as he was under investigation for being part of a criminal ring that defrauded banks and the Danish state out of nearly DKK 500m.
Notorious gang leader Danny Abdalla was sentenced to indefinite custody with deportation to follow by Holstebro District Court, Thursday after being found guilty of 36 charges of crime, including the rape of his ex-girlfriend and sexually violating two other women.
Danish prisons continue to use solitary confinement to punish inmates despite international and political criticism.
Divers found an arm in the sea off the coast of Copenhagen, Wednesday, which police believe is linked to the ‘Submarine Slayer’ case.
Copenhagen Police seized nearly 12 kilos of cannabis and 3,478 ‘joints’ during a crackdown on both pushers and buyers in the ‘free state’ of Christiania.
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Business:
Vestas is part of a group of companies planning to build a giant hybrid solar and wind energy farm in the western part of Australia and export the electricity production to Indonesia via subsea electrical cables.
Global biotechnology company Novozymes set up an online network for individuals and companies to collaborate on solutions to major scientific problems.
The U.S. inspired Black Friday held last week generated the biggest-ever one-day retail sales in this country – despite this, retail trade turnover dropped a seasonally and price-adjusted 1.1 percent month-over-month in October, in contrast to a 0.7 percent rise in September.
The State Prosecutor’s Office for Serious Economic and International Crime (Søik), popularly known as the fraud squad, received 11,500 tip offs about money laundering during the first six months of this year.
Danish Crown’s pork sales to China, its biggest market have fallen following a surplus of local supply.
And That Was The Week That Was, November 27th –December 3rd 2017: To read all the above articles in full see: http://seven59.dk/archive (subscription required)