The Week That Was, September 24th – 30th 2018

Politics/Economy:

The ruling Liberals kick-started the election campaign with full-page newspaper adverts proclaiming themselves as the ‘party of welfare’ after adding DKK75bn to social spending, but were challenged by coalition partner, the Liberal Alliance (LA) who said they only did it by exceeding democratically-passed budgets in the OOs that led to the economy overheating.

Prime Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen said President Trump’s speech to the UN General Assembly, Tuesday was ‘disappointing’ and showed a lack of leadership.”

The Socialist People’s Party (SPP) called on all opposition parties to ’bury the hatchet’ and come together ahead of the next election.

Conservative leader Søren Pape Poulsen admitted he has no strategy to resist the right-wing splinter party, the New Conservatives, siphoning off voters at the next election.

An Estonian newspaper identified the Danske Bank employee who in 2013 warned Danish authorities that billions in dirty money were flowing through the company’s accounts, some of it from Russia – Politiken also reported how Denmark’s biggest bank used Mossack Fonseca, the controversial Panamanian law firm at the centre of the “Panama Papers” scandal, to help Danish customers avoid paying tax. Business Minister Rasmus Jarlov promised to give ‘extra resources’ to the Financial Services Authority’s (FSA) probe of the money laundering scandal but warned that a full-scale investigation into ‘every little detail’ would cost ‘billions’ – a new Voxmeter poll showed only 46% of voters have confidence in Danske Bank, much lower than peers Jyske Bank and Nordea.

The national tax department (SKAT) was hit by a new type of fraud – DR News revealed that car dealers have artificially inflated the value of exported vehicles to illegally claim back taxes and duties.

EU/Foreign Affairs:

Denmark’s ambassador to Iran, Danny Annan, and envoys from the Netherlands and UK were summoned to appear before Teheran’s cleric regime after terrorists with alleged links to all three countries carried out an attack on an army parade near the Iraqi border – Iran’s ambassador to Denmark, Mr Morteza Moradian, called for an ‘unknown number’ of Iranian exiles in this country to be handed over to face prosecution. Foreign Minister Anders Samuelsen condemned the attack and warned there would be ‘serious repercussions’ if it’s proved the perpetrators are linked to Denmark.

Business Minister Rasmus Jarlov (C) hyped the benefits of the EU’s single market in a speech to a policy dialogue debate in Brussels, Thursday – he said Danish membership of the EU is ‘decisive’ for both growth and jobs in this country and the single market is the ‘cornerstone’ of EU cooperation. A new poll showed only 28% of the electorate would vote to pull out of the union if a referendum was held today, compared to 37% ahead of the 2016 Brexit vote in the UK.

European Commissioner for Justice Vĕra Jourová called on the European Banking Authority (EBA) to investigate why Denmark and Estonia’s financial supervisory authorities failed to pick up on Danske Bank’s massive money laundering scandal — and if their actions broke EU laws.

Despite an EU warning the government is determined to go ahead and build a 70-km fence along the border with Germany to keep out wild boar, carriers of the deadly African swine fever.

The High Court affirmed a lower court ruling that a 50-year-old Danish citizen should be extradited to Rwanda to face charges of murdering hundreds of ethnic Tutsis during the 1994 genocide.

Crown Prince Frederik met with Chinese Vice President Wang Qishan in Beijing during a 3-day trade and cultural exchange visit – the heir to the throne also formally opened the City of Copenhagen’s exhibition at Beijing Design Week, focussing on Danish lifestyle, health, food, design and ‘green themes’.

According to news analysis think-tank, Mandag Morgen, former Social Liberal leader Margrethe Vestager is ‘desperately seeking’ a new, top EU job when her time as EU Commissioner comes to an end next year, possibly President of the European Commission or President of the European Council.

Social Affairs:

Two 29-year-old men with alleged links to terrorism were arrested, Wednesday, suspected of being members of an Islamist network that ships drones and other supplies to Islamic State from Denmark for use in combat – one was a close friend of terrorist Basil Hassan who attempted to assassinate Danish author and critic of Islam Lars Hedegaard in Copenhagen in 2013.

Police heightened security throughout Copenhagen following a spate of gang-related shootings – a 27-year-old man was shot, Tuesday, just days after two innocent bystanders suffered bullet wounds. A new police report showed gang-related crime cost 4 people their lives in Denmark last year while another 65 were seriously injured.

446 hate crimes were reported to the police last year compared to 274 in 2016,

The female police officer who hugged a Muslim woman wearing a niqab at a Copenhagen demonstration last month is being investigated by the Independent Police Complaints Commission, following a complaint by the ruling Liberals’ immigration spokesman, Marcus Knuth, who said ‘the police’s job is to enact the law, not to embrace people who are against it.’

The former leader of the nationalist, anti-immigrant Danes Party was given a 30-day suspended prison sentence for handing out ‘anti-refugee spray’ – Daniel Stokholm said he was only trying to highlight a ‘real problem in society where many Danes feel threatened by migrants and refugees’.

More and more refugees and migrants have accepted the government’s offer of a cash bonus to return home – New Danish Refugee Council figures showed 300 people accepted the repatriation grant in 2016-17, twice as many as the two previous years.

Five foreign sex workers – three women from Thailand and two from Brazil – are facing deportation following a police raid on massage parlours in Aarhus and Randers

‘Submarine Slayer’ Peter Madsen lost his High Court appeal against a lifetime sentence for murdering Swedish journalist Kim Wall, Wednesday.

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Business:

Ex-US President Barack Obama lavished praise on Denmark during a talk to business leaders, local dignitaries and students at the Kolding Business Forum, Friday.

Leading Danish banks have underperformed their European peers in recent months, a development that analysts attribute to the Danske Bank money laundering scandal.

The retail sales index rose 3.5 percent in August from a year earlier.

Maersk Drilling won a deep-water drilling contract from Aker Energy to deploy its ultra-deepwater drillship Maersk Viking offshore Ghana.

Consultancy company COWI won three tenders for preparatory works as part of the implementation of the Baltic Pipe project, although the Danish government has yet to green light the project.

French oil giant Total has agreed to purchase Chevron’s 12% interest in the partially state-owned Danish Underground Consortium (DUC).

And That Was The Week That Was, September 24th – 30th 2018: To read all the above articles in full see: http://seven59.dk/archive (subscription required).