The Week That Was, September 4th – 10th 2017   

Politics/Economy

The government is pushing to tighten immigration legislation even more and increase the demands on foreign nationals seeking Danish citizenship – in an interview with TV2 News, Prime Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen said ever-present integration problems are a threat to the Danish society model

Leading economists claimed the government’s move to increase the labour supply by offering tax cuts to low paid workers is both ‘ineffective and expensive’ – the Finance Ministry confirmed that most of the 21,200 people who would benefit from the proposed DKK5b in tax relief already have jobs. The government is facing defeat on its proposal to replace car registration duties of up to 180% by a flat rate 100% tax after Danish People’s Party (DPP) leader Kristian Thulesen Dahl said making expensive cars much cheaper is the equivalent of reducing the top rate of income tax which his party, the government’s guarantor of a parliamentary majority, has already rejected.

The opposition would regain power if an election was held right now but it would be a very close race – the latest Megafon poll for TV2 shows the centre-left bloc would win 52% of the vote but the three government coalition parties, plus the Danish People’s Party (DPP), continue to make gains and would win 48%, their best result this year.

New Tax Ministry figures showed the 10% of the population who earn the most pay around a third of the collective tax burden in this country.

Denmark has a new political party – the Feminist Initiative whose sister party has enjoyed success in Sweden, where it has 20,000 members and win 3.1% of the vote at the last general election.

The government is aiming to set up a rapid deployment force of 4,000 troops ready to be deployed around the world.

Industrial production fell a seasonally adjusted 0.8 percent month-over-month in July, but much slower than the 3.8 percent decrease in June.

EU/Foreign Affairs

Prime Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen said Turkey will not become a member of the EU in the foreseeable future, echoing German Chancellor Angela Merkel who’s seeking to call off the country’s accession talks.

Foreign Minister Anders Samuelsen said when everybody has finished crying about Brexit they’ll realise that the EU has emerged stronger.

The Danish Foreign Ministry summoned North Korea’s ambassador in Stockholm to a meeting following the country’s claim it successfully conducted a test of a hydrogen bomb, Sunday – Foreign Minister Anders Samuelsen said Denmark ‘strongly distances’ itself from the bomb test and called on North Korea to ‘desist its destabilising behavior and stop violating UN sanctions’.

The Foreign Ministry projected a 5.2% rise in exports in 2017 and 4.5% in 2018, DKK32bn and DKK29bn respectively.

Denmark was ranked no.1 on the 2017 Commitment to Development Index (CDI).

The government’s move to exert political control over the decision-making process surrounding the Nord Stream 2 pipeline is a direct result of political pressure from the US, top Russian officials claimed – a legal expert warned the government will have a hard time blocking the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline passing through Danish territorial waters because Denmark has already allowed Nord Stream 1 to use the exact same route.

The Danish People’s Party (DPP) wants to ban the Save the Children organisation from collecting money for a rescue ship in the Mediterranean that’s been accused of helping to smuggle migrants to Europe.

China and Denmark agreed to work together to build a wind farm off China’s shores.

The government is putting pressure on Morocco to accept convicted terrorist Said Mansour who’s been stripped of his Danish passport.

12 migrants have for the past month been trapped as stowaways on board a Danish ferry that sails between Turkey and Ukraine.

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Social Affairs:

New Labour Ministry figures showed thousands of newly arrived refugees and immigrants claiming family reunification have managed to get work within their first three years in Denmark – in June, 30% of refugees who arrived in 2014 had found a job compared to only 12% two years ago.

Wanted Danish terrorist Basil Hassan, suspected of attempting to assassinate Danish author and critic of Islam Lars Hedegaard in his Copenhagen home in 2013, has reportedly been killed in battle somewhere in or around Syria.

New police figures revealed more than 60% of gang members are living off social benefits and an additional 13% receive a student grant – ‘madness’ according to the Danish People’s Party’s(DPP).

83-year-old Prince Henrik, the husband of Queen Margrethe, was diagnosed with dementia.

Inventor Peter Madsen told Copenhagen Disrict Court how he disposed of the body of journalist Kim Wall in a state of ‘suicidal psychosis’ but denied cutting off the 30-year-old’s head, arms and legs.

288,000 insecticide-tainted Belgian eggs were sold by three Danish supermarkets in May and June, the The Danish Veterinary and Food Administration said

Business:

Berlingske reported how the authoritarian regime in Azerbaijan has for years funneled millions of dollars through the Danske Bank to lobby governments and opinion makers throughout Europe – Business Minister Brian Mikkelsen accused the Bank of ‘extreme negligence’.

Nordea, the Nordic region’s biggest bank, will move its headquarters to Helsinki, a blow to Denmark’s finance sector which is hoping to make Copenhagen a financial powerhouse following Great Britain’s EU exit.

Copenhagen University signed an agreement with Microsoft to develop the world’s first quantum computer.

Lego announced plans to cut 1,400 jobs – after enjoying years of success the Danish toy giant said it’s preparing to ‘reset the company’.

Novo Nordisk, Denmark’s most profitable company, agreed an out of court settlement of around DKK400m ($58.7m) to resolve a U.S. Justice Department probe of the company’s allegedly illegal marketing of its diabetes drugs.

Local Shanghai media reported how a Chinese company a toy company is selling ‘LEGO-like’ building bricks that will allow consumers to build their own version of a Chinese brothel.

The government announced plans to abolish the registration fee for merchant ships as part of its new measures to boost the economy.

Wind-energy giant has joined forces with Tesla to figure out how to combine wind turbines and batteries.

And That Was The Week That Was, September 4th – 10th 2017: To read all the above articles in full see: http://seven59.dk/archive (subscription required)