The Week That Was, October 17th – October 23rd 2016

Politics/Economy

The Danish People’s Party (DPP) was dogged all week by accusations of misusing EU funding – the party allegedly spent DKK 200,000 granted by the EU-sceptic Movement for a Europe of Liberties and Democracy (MELD) to finance two annual summer conferences for MPs, in violation of EU rules. MEP Morten Messerschmidt, former chairman of MELD, rejected accusations he willfully misused EU subsidies, but the party agreed to refund the money.

By the end of the week DPP leader Kristian Thulesen Dahl had become personally entangled in the growing scandal – despite trying to place all the blame for the misuse of EU money onto Mr Messerschmidt, it emerged he was himself warned about the possible misappropriation of subsidies over a year ago. Defence Minister Peter Christiansen also became embroiled in the scandal after it was revealed he and his partner enjoyed an all-expenses-paid trip to Strasbourg paid for by MELD.

A new poll showed Social Democrat leader Mette Frederiksen is a more popular choice for prime minister than Lars Løkke Rasmussen and Kristian Thulesen Dahl combined – a majority of 30.9% would prefer to see the opposition leader in the prime minister’s office, compared with 18% for the current incumbent and 11.6% for the Danish People’s Party leader.

Foreign Affairs/EU

On his arrival at the EU summit, Thursday, Prime Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen said he would ‘look positively’ at any concrete proposal to impose tougher sanctions on Russia.

The Red/Greens summoned the prime minister to a parliamentary consultation to explain the possible cover-up of a letter from the UN criticising the government’s controversial jewellery law – Secretary General Ban ki-Moon sent the letter to the Ministry of State two weeks before the law was passed last February, urging the PM to drop the legislation, but it was never made available to MPs before they voted on the bill.

The government announced a DKK 333m ($50m) regional stabilisation support package for Iraq and Syria that will, amongst other things, help to pave the way for more refugees to return home. Danish F-16 fighter jets were heavily involved in the battle to regain control of Mosul in Iraq – Danish Defence Command reported the planes had ‘carried out surveillance, intelligence gathering, and attacked mortar positions, barges, buildings occupied by the Islamic State, and communication masts’.

After a meeting with his Romanian counterpart, Raluca Alexandra Pruna, Justice Minister Søren Pind said there had been a positive reaction to the government’s proposal to rent prison-space in Romania.

Italy’s Ambassador to Denmark, HE Stefano Queirolo Palmas, warned that EU countries’ efforts to reject refugees and migrants won’t ease the migration crisis – in an interview with Berlingske he said the lack of solidarity and a cohesive reaction from the EU will only encourage more refugees to take the risk of reaching Europe.

In an interview with TV2 News, US Ambassador to Denmark Rufus Gifford dismissed Donald Trump’s warning of a ‘rigged election’ as ’irresponsible’.

New figures from the EU’s statistics agency, Eurostat, showed that in contrast to Sweden, Norway, and Finland, the number of people in this country classified as ‘extremely poor’ continues to rise – from 2% in 2008 to 3.7% last year.

Denmark topped the 2016 World Energy Council (WEC) Energy Index, followed by Switzerland and Sweden, and also achieved the highest score for energy security.

Education Minister Ulla Tørnæs criticised Danish higher education institutions that campaign to recruit students in Eastern Europe – the government has already put a cap of 5,500 on the number of students from other EU countries but the latest figures show there were 5,621 foreign nationals receiving SU in March.

Prime Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen will travel to South Korea later this month to hold talks with President Park Geun-hye, the first official Danish visit for 25 years.

The EU appointed Niels Thygesen, a professor of International Economics at the University of Copenhagen, as head of the European Fiscal Board.

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Social Affairs

A new study by left-wing think-tank Cevea claimed the cap on social benefits imposed at the start of the month will force the jobless to move to deprived areas of the country where there’s cheaper accommodation, but even higher unemployment and social problems – a new survey showed a 13% increase in social housing occupants who have failed to pay their rent after welfare cuts were imposed on October 1st.

A majority of the electorate believe the government has failed to match the green ambitions of the general public – in a new Epinion poll on behalf of four environmental organisations, 82% of respondents said green conversion is necessary to ensure future generations a good life, while 69% expressed concern about the effects of climate change.

40 public sector employees in the Zeeland region have now been suspended on suspicion of receiving kickbacks from Atea, the leading supplier of IT infrastructure and system integration to local government and municipalities in the Nordic region.

A man was taken into custody, Tuesday, suspected of a spate of bomb hoaxes that forced the evacuation of two local airports and two shopping malls.

Business

The Confederation of Danish Industry (DI) warned that Danish exporters are facing a DKK2bn ($300m) shortfall if the EU’s proposed trade agreement with Canada (CETA) breaks down.

Retail sales increased slightly in September after falling in the previous two months but remain sluggish – the latest figures from Statistics Denmark showed sales rose 0.3 percent month-over-month in September, reversing a 0.1 percent drop in August. Retail purchases with the Danish national debit card, Dankort, usually an indicator of consumer confidence, rose 5 percent in September from a year earlier to DKK 29.8bn ($4.49 billion),

Container terminal operator APM Terminals signed a deal with COSCO Shipping Ports and Qingdao Port International Development to operate the existing Vado Reefer Terminal and the new deep-water container terminal under construction in Vado, Italy, opening in 2018.

Minister for the Environment Esben Lunde Larsen demanded a full report from Maersk as to why some of its decommissioned ships are being dismantled for scrap at notorious scrapyards on India and Bangladesh beaches.

And That Was The Week That Was, October 17th – October 23rd 2016: To read all the above articles in full see: http://seven59.dk/archive (subscription required)