2021 – A year in review

Corona, immigration, Minkgate, impeachment, the climate – here’s a summary of every significant news event in Denmark in Denmark last year:

JANUARY 2021:

In her New Year speech to the nation 12 months ago Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen warned that the Covid situation would get worse before it got better and pinpointed Easter Sunday (April 4th) as a turning point. Leading virus experts predicted life could start to return to normal in May after all key health workers, care home residents, the elderly and vulnerable citizens were vaccinated.
Danish lawmakers unanimously condemned pro-Trump demonstrators who stormed the U.S Congress – Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said she was shocked by the disturbing images shown live on TV while Foreign Minister Jeppe Kofod made a personal call to U.S. Ambassador Carla Sands with a direct message for President Trump: Accept defeat and ensure a peaceful transition of power to President-elect Joe Biden – Ms Sands slunk out of Denmark before her boss Donald Trump’s departure from the White House with a tweet highlighting her ‘achievements’.
Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen greeted Joe Biden as the USA’s 46th president by welcoming the United States back in the fight against climate change, ‘a battle we share.’
Ex-prime minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen quit the Liberal Party to become an independent MP, just days after deputy leader Inger Støjberg walked out following a power struggle with party leader Jacob Ellemann-Jensen who voted to impeach the former immigration minister.
Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said the government is striving for zero asylum seekers as the government renewed the push for offshore asylum centres.
Economists said there was no cause for concern about a DKK115bn rise in national debt, even though the National Bank’s annual Government Borrowing and Debt Report, showed government debt had risen to DKK536bn (around $80bn) at the end of 2020, equal to 23% of GDP .
Denmark officially assumed leadership of the maritime security mission in the Strait of Hormuz off the coast of Iran, a vital shipping route for world transport.

FEBRUARY:

Conservative leader Søren Pape Poulsen declined to rule himself out as a potential prime minister following a new opinion poll showing his party would win 15% of the vote in a general election.
Parliament appropriated an extra DKK1.5bn for drones in the Arctic, a radar station in the Faroe Islands, and more troops to Greenland – the funding included DKK750m for the use of ‘long-range drones’ in arctic surveillance.
The government urged foreign nationals to accept a ‘repatriation bonus’ of up to DKK200,000 to return to their native country.
All opposition parties, led by the Liberals (Venstre), called for an independent investigation into how the government and authorities reached the fateful decision to cull Denmark’s entire mink herd on November 4th, 2020.
Denmark was one of six countries that received a warning from the EU Commission for imposing over-zealous border restrictions.
Foreign Minister Jeppe Kofod said it’s time for a re-set of Denmark’s China policy following a troubled year in the relationship between the two countries. Following threats of prosecution from Hong Kong, Conservative MP Katarina Ammitzbøll claimed she was ‘totally unaware’ that pro-democracy activist Ted Hui had misused an invitation from her to gain an exit visa and flee from the authorities in December 2020.
It was reported that former U.S. ambassador to Denmark, Carla Sands, repeatedly violated US law during her tenure in Copenhagen by using the embassy’s Twitter account to promote the Republican Party and raise funding for Donald Trump’s failed election campaign.
The Danish People’s Party (DPP) proposed that all citizenship applicants should be required to clearly state their religious beliefs.
A Foreign Ministry report for Jyllands-Posten revealed that Denmark is funding development aid projects in China with around DKK250m ($35m) – the Danish People’s Party’s development aid spokesman, Alex Ahrendtsen, said China can afford to fund its own projects and ‘shouldn’t be getting a single krone’.
It was reported that Denmark’s economy shrunk by 3.7% in 2020, not quite as much as originally feared but still the biggest setback since the 4.9% at the height of the financial crisis in 2009.
Fourteen people, including one in Germany, were arrested and charged with planning one or more terrorist attacks or attempting to participate in terrorism, possibly in this country or Germany.

MARCH:

Former prime minister, Anders Fogh Rasmussen, was one of a number of leading European politicians banned from entering China in a tit-for-tat retaliation after the European Union imposed sanctions on four Chinese officials for human rights abuses in Xinjiang – China’s ambassador to Denmark, Feng Tie, was summoned to the Danish Foreign Ministry to explain Beijing’s ban.
Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen was forced to defend her controversial trip to Israel after returning home from Jerusalem with an agreement to set up a joint research and development fund alongside Israel and Austria – Dr. Manuel Hassassian, the Palestinian Authority’s diplomatic representative to Denmark, denounced the prime minister’s 1-day trip as ‘disgusting’, ‘unacceptable’ and ‘loathsome’.
The government announced plans to dispatch a frigate to the Gulf of Guinea to join the fight against piracy off the coast of West Africa – Foreign Minister Jeppe Kofod said as a ‘maritime heavyweight’ Denmark needs to lead the way in combatting the pirate problem.
The Finance Ministry estimated that corona restrictions on the business sector were costing the economy an estimated DKK10bn ($1.5bn) a month, or DKK13.5m ($2m) an hour.
Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen held crisis meetings with the government’s allies on the left about the risk of Danish children in Kurdish detention camps being kidnapped by the Islamic State (ISIS) – the Save the Children organisation lashed out at the Danish Refugee Authority’s move to strip 94 Syrian refugees of their residency permits.
The government, backed by a cross-party majority, put forward legislation aimed at ‘preventing extremist forces from sending donations to Denmark to ‘undermine democracy, fundamental freedoms and human rights’.
The Danish People’s Party suggested that Denmark’s annual foreign development aid should be slashed by more than 50%, from DKK17bn ($2.7b) this year to DKK7bn ($1.15bn), and the money should be given to struggling rural districts in this country instead – the party, struggling in the polls, also proposed that criminal immigrants who can’t be deported should be shipped to holding centres in disused naval bases on the deserted west coast of Greenland.
The government’s goal of a Danish seat on the UN Security Council (UNSC) in 2025/26 will require a ‘long, hard lobbying campaign’ Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said after confirming the appointment of ex-foreign minister Kristian Jensen as Denmark’s ‘roving ambassador’ to promote Denmark’s bid.
In its latest proposals to half the growth of a parallel society the government laid out plans to limit the number of non-western immigrants living in public housing estates to no more than 30% within ten years.
The government temporarily suspended the use of AstraZeneca’s corona vaccine after some people who received the jab later developed blood clots, including a 60-year old woman who died.
Clean energy giant Vestas came out on top of the Global Wind Energy Council (GWEC) Intelligence’s rankings for the world’s top five wind turbine manufacturers for the fifth year in a row.
Danske Bank acknowledged it will be years before it recovers from the money-laundering scandal.
The first of Denmark’s new fleet of JSF-35 fighter jets, part of the multi-billion purchase of 27 Lockheed Martin’s F-35 fighter jets to replace the air-force’s ageing fleet of F16s, was given its maiden test flight in the U.S.
A new study by right-leaning think-tank Cepos, based on business tax receipts in 2019, showed 10 of Denmark’s biggest companies pay a third of all corporate tax income in this country.

APRIL:

Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen confirmed Denmark’s collaboration with India on green solutions in an opening message to the Raisina Dialogue, India’s flagship conference on geopolitics and geo-economics.
Foreign Minister Jeppe Kofod gave Ukraine a show of support as Russia continued its military build-up along the country’s border – in a phone conversation with his Ukranian counterpart, Dmytro Kuleba, Mr Kofod underlined ‘Denmark’s unwavering support to Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.’
Opposition leader Jakob Ellemann-Jensen acknowledged he’s the leader of a party in deep crisis after a new poll showed the Liberals’ support has halved since the 2019 election and more than 200,000 voters have defected to the Conservatives – the Liberals (Venstre) came out in support of a private citizens’ motion calling for Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen to be impeached for issuing an illegal order to cull Denmark’s entire mink herd last November.
Danish People’s Party’s (DPP) deputy leader, Morten Messerschmidt, was formally charged with misappropriating EU funds in the so-called ‘Meld and Feld affair.’
Ex-prime minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen finally confirmed he’s starting a new political party -the centrist Moderates.
The left-wing Inuit Ataqatigiit (IA) party emerged as the victor in Greenland’s general election, winning 37% of the vote – 34-year-old Mute Bourup Egede became the youngest prime minister in Greenland’s history.
During a flying visit to Rwanda, Immigration Minister Mattias Tesfaye and Development Aid Minister Flemming Møller Mortensen signed two, non-binding ‘Memorandums of Understanding’ (MOUs) aimed at ‘closer cooperation on asylum and migration issues’.
The head of the Refugee Appeals Board (Flygtningenævnet) affirmed the government’s hard-line Syria policy by declaring that the policy of deporting refugees from the Damascus region is ‘completely legal’ after the Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor human rights organisation warned that Denmark’s designation of the war-torn country as safe was ‘dangerous, inhumane, and illegal.’
33 EU lawmakers fired off a direct letter to Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen condemning the Danish government’s controversial repatriation policy for Syrian refugees – CNN joined the international condemnation of Denmark’s move to deport Syrian refugees, claiming that the government’s ‘right wing’ lurch is actively putting Syrians in harm’s way. Claudia Roth, a leading member of the Greens party in Germany, said her party disagreed with the policy and also raised doubts about whether Denmark can be considered a safe country to send refugees back to.
A report showed the majority of Syrian refugees who came to Denmark during the massive refugee influx of 2015 have failed to find work – only 40% had a job at the end of 2020, significantly fewer than those from Iran, Afghanistan, or Eritrea.
Ukraine’s ambassador to Denmark accused Grundos, the largest pump manufacturer in the world, of breaching EU sanctions against Russia after seven of its industrial pumps, with an estimated value of around DKK600,000, were discovered at a newly opened water purifying plant in Simferopol, the capital of Ukraine’s Crimea peninsula which Russia occupied in 2014.
The government, backed by a cross-party majority, proposed wide-reaching restrictions on foreign nationals seeking citizenship – anyone who’s served a prison sentence will be automatically excluded and applicants will need to show that they have had no criminal convictions.
Three members of an Iranian separatist group were charged with promoting and financing terrorism in Iran in collaboration with Saudi Arabian intelligence.
It was reported that around 16,000 foreign students owe the Danish state nearly DKK1b (€133m) in unpaid loans.
A Jewish cemetery in northern Jutland was desecrated over the Easter weekend in an attack linked to the neo-Nazi Nordic Resistance Movement.
The U.S. and an American retirement fund sued Danske Bank for a loss of earnings after the bank’s share price plummeted following the money laundering scandal.
Parliament passed new legislation that doubles the tax on dividends paid out to companies registered in tax shelters.
Danish toy giant LEGO was again named the World’s Most Reputable Company.

MAY:

Experts warned that the government’s hardline immigration policy could seriously damage Denmark’s reputation abroad, after Immigration Minister Mattias Tesfaye said Denmark is ‘in dialogue’ with 5 to 10 countries as potential hosts of an offshore asylum centre where asylum seekers can be processed – human rights organisation Amnesty International denounced the move but Jimmie Åkesson, head of the far-right Sweden Democrats, vowed to fight for ‘Danish-like’ immigration policy. The Nordic wing of the UNHCR appealed to the Danish parliament to reject the government’s efforts to set up offshore processing centres for asylum seekers outside the EU.
In an embarrassing turnaround, the government was forced to drop plans to build a holding centre for criminal immigrants on the remote island of Langeland – Integration Minister Mattias Tesfaye acknowledged it would be impossible to put together a majority for the controversial project.
The Copenhagen Democracy Summit 2021 held in May was dismissed as a ‘political farce’ by the Chinese authorities – before the virtual summit, hosted by former prime minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen, got underway the Chinese Embassy in Copenhagen criticised Foreign Minister Jeppe Kofod for agreeing to appear alongside Taiwan’s President Tsai Ing-wen and Hong Kong separatist Nathan Law.
Four Nordic newspapers, including Denmark’s Politiken, joined together in an open letter to the Chinese government condemning the closure of Hong Kong pro-democracy newspaper Apple Daily.
The government said Denmark will continue to spend 0.7% of Gross National Income annually on foreign development aid over the next few years but with greater focus on the climate, nature, and the environment.
The last remaining Danish troops in Afghanistan arrived home after two decades as part of a NATO-led mission, during which time 44 Danes lost their life.
The European Commission approved €400m of Danish state aid that, according to Denmark’s commissioner in charge of competition, Margrethe Vestager, ‘will contribute to substantial reductions in greenhouse emissions and supporting the objectives of the Green Deal.’
The 4-year trial of medicinal cannabis was extended to 2026 – the initial scheme launched in 2018 was due to expire at the end of this year but was given a 4-year extension by the Health Ministry.
The government joined the opposition to push through a new bill aimed at reducing the number of EU students claiming a generous student grant (SU) in this country by limiting the number of university and college courses in English
An Aalborg court sentenced 36-year-old Aleksey Nikoforov to three months in prison, with deportation to follow, for passing on information about Danish energy technology to a Russian intelligence service.
Minister for Food and Agriculture Rasmus Prehn was forced to apologise for the ’noise and stink’ as the authorities started to exhume millions of dead minks.

JUNE:

Parliament passed the controversial bill that will allow asylum seekers to be processed in offshore centres outside of the EU but the new legislation was immediately met with a barrage of criticism from aid and human rights organisations here and abroad – the European Union’s executive commission said any move to outsource asylum claims is not compatible with the laws of the 27-nation bloc.
During a visit to Denmark, Austria’s Ministry of the Interior Karl Nehammer said his country would like to copy Denmark’s plan for an offshore processing centre for asylum seekers in Africa but can’t due to EU legislation. Norwegian Refugee Council Secretary-General Jan Egeland said Denmark’s refugee policy sends a ‘shocking’ signal to the rest of the world.
The number of refugees seeking asylum in this country HIT an all-time low but Immigration Minister Mattias Tesfaye warned the situation could change very quickly – he also dismissed a Danish People’s Party proposal to lock-up criminal immigrants awaiting deportation, saying it can’t be done because detaining failed asylum seekers on tolerated stay permits would be a violation of Denmark’s international obligations.
The government agreed to accept 200 UN quota refugees from Rwanda, even though parliament appropriated DKK40m ($6.5m) in the 2020 budget to cover the expenses for 500.
Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen and South Korea’s President Moon Jae-in held a virtual summit in which they agreed to elevate their two countries’ ties to a “comprehensive green strategic partnership” as part of efforts to further deepen cooperation on the climate and environment.
An investigative report by state-run broadcaster DR, in collaboration with European media in Germany (Süddeutsche Zeitung), Sweden (SVT), Norway (NDR) and France (Le Monde) revealed how Danish Military Intelligence (FE) helped the US spy on European politicians from 2012 to 2014 – French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Angela Merkel demanded answers
Defence Minister Trine Bramsen said It was a deliberate provocation when two Russian fighter jets violated Denmark’s airspace – Russia’s ambassador to Denmark, Vladimir Barbin, was summoned to the Foreign Ministry for a ‘serious talk’.
It was revealed that, since 2018, Denmark has been part of Operation Gallant Phoenix, a U.S. led covert operation, based in Jordan, originally aimed at tracking the flow of foreign terrorist fighters in and out of Iraq and Syria.
The government agreed to give Greenland and the Faroe Islands a more prominent role in future Arctic Council meetings.
The ruling Social Democrat party admitted it’s struggling with internal problems of sexism and inappropriate behaviour – Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen apologised to seven women.
Denmark will continue to spend 0.7% of Gross National Income annually on foreign development aid over the next few years but with greater focus on the climate, nature, and the environment.
A cross-party majority reached agreement to strengthen Denmark’s ability to resist cyber-attacks by appropriating DKK500m from the current defence bill.
The government agreed to send 358,000 discarded Astra Zeneca vaccines, that were heading for the trash can, to Kenya and 59,300 to the German state of Schleswig-Holstein, which borders Denmark in the south.
A Copenhagen monument to a Ukrainian national poet was vandalised with pro-Russia slogans before Denmark’s EURO 2020 match with Russia, Monday.
Former prime minister and Conservative leader Poul Schlüter, the ‘architect’ of Denmark’s EU opt-out policy, died at the age of 92.

JULY:

In July’s biggest political story, parties on the left urged the government to evacuate all Afghanistan nationals who’ve been employed by Denmark in the war-torn country after TV2 reported how local employees at the Danish embassy in Kabul claimed they’d been ’left the lurch’ by diplomats who ignored their concerns about the threat of the Taleban – the government had offered local staff at Denmark’s embassy a ’golden handshake’ of DKK100,000 but no guarantee of residency or asylum in this country.
Foreign Minister Jeppe Kofod broke off his vacation to respond to the growing criticism of the government’s unwillingness to provide shelter for Afghanistan nationals who worked for Denmark.
More than 1,000 people signed an open letter to the government and parliament equating Denmark’s hardline immigration policy with the country’s rejection of Jews during World War 2 (WW2).
A Danish Navy frogman who was discharged with immediate effect after he allegedly tried to assemble a network of influential people, including several high-ranking officers, to carry out an armed revolution in this country, sued the Defence Ministry for unfair dismissal.
The U.S. sent a further DKK65m ($10m) to Nuuk on top of the DKK75m given by the Trump Administration in 2020 aimed at ‘education, sustainable tourism, and mining operations’ – the new funding was welcomed by the new Greenland government but criticised in this country by the Socialist People’s Party (SPP) who accused the U.S. of ‘fuelling division in the Danish commonwealth.’
In an interview with Berlingske, Russian opposition leader Aleksej Navalany’s chief of staff compared Vladimir Putin to a ‘three-year-old child who’s always testing the boundaries.’
Denmark lost a 5-year legal battle with a Syrian refugee who claimed his human rights were violated by Denmark’s strict family reunification rules – the Danish People’s Party (DPP) urged the government to explore the possibility of opting out of the European Human Rights Convention following the controversial ruling.
A Palestinian woman was charged with cheating the Danish tax authorities out of an estimated DKK12m ($1.75m) while working as a volunteer for Médecins Sans Frontières/Doctors Without Borders on the Greek island of Lesbos.
Illustrator Kurt Westergaard, who in 2005 drew the controversial cartoon of the Prophet Mohammed with a bomb in his turban that sparked off anti-Denmark riots throughout the Muslim world, died at the age 86.
It was revealed that the state continues to subsidise Muslim free schools with millions of kroner every year despite the ruling Social Democrats’ promise four years ago to stop all funding.
The Indian authorities launched an investigation into the local accounts of brewing giant Carlsberg following bribery allegations and other revelations.
New figures showed a booming labour market with a record 2.85m people in full-time employment – 7,000 new jobs were created in July, mostly in the private sector.

AUGUST:

Experts warned that the government’s hope of setting up offshore processing centres for asylum seekers had become even more unrealistic after the plan was criticised and condemned by the African Union, which dismissed Denmark’s efforts to relocate asylum seekers to countries outside the European Union, possibly Ethiopia, Rwanda, or Tunisia, as ‘xenophobic and completely unacceptable.’
Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen was forced to carry out a ‘mini’ cabinet reshuffle after Joy Mogensen stepped down as minister for culture and ecclesiastical affairs – she was replaced by education and research minister, Ane Halsboe-Jørgensen, who in turn was replaced by the Social Democrats’ policy spokesman, Jesper Petersen.
Foreign Minister Jeppe Kofod denounced previously deported Afghan nationals for exploiting the chaotic situation in Kabul to try and slip back into Denmark, after a 23-year-old former gang member was apprehended at Copenhagen Airport – Defence Minister Trine Bramsen came under fire from both sides of the aisle after a review of her schedule for Friday August 13th showed she was enjoying lunch at a fine restaurant near Copenhagen as Taleban militia were entering Kabul.
Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen made a personal call to her Pakistan counterpart, Imran Kahn, thanking him for aiding Denmark’s evacuation effort in Afghanistan.
Danish People’s Party’s (DPP) deputy leader Morten Messerschmidt was sentenced to six months’ conditional imprisonment after being found guilty of defrauding EU funds and forgery – he immediately appealed the verdict.
The Socialist People’s Party (SPP) called on Prime Minister Mette Rasmussen to offer an apology to the descendants of Danish communists who were interned in this country in 1941, some of whom were later sent to the Stutthof concentration camp in Poland.
The Danish head of a World Health Organisation (WHO) group of experts that travelled to China in January to investigate the origins of the Covid claimed that Chinese colleagues on the task force tried to influence their findings.
A heatwave in Greenland caused the ice to melt in record amounts – the Polar Portal monitoring website reported how the arctic island had shed more than 100bn tons of ice since the start of June.
Deceased Mohammed illustrator Kurt Westergaard was buried in a secret location to prevent vandalism and reprisals from extremist Muslims.
A.P. Møller Maersk ordered eight container vessels that can be fuelled by green methanol as the world’s biggest shipping line moved to speed up its transition to green operations.
Inflation hit 1.8% in August, the highest level since December 2012 – according to the Nordic region’s biggest bank, Nordea, the increase reflected a more permanent upward shift in Danish inflation.

SEPTEMBER:

548 days after Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen announced a national lockdown, all remaining coronavirus restrictions were lifted on September 9th, although the government’s own five-expert ‘corona group’ declined to rule out the possibility of a fourth, and even fifth, wave of the virus. Three weeks after all corona restrictions were lifted the daily infection rate had fallen by more than 40%, defying health experts who had predicted a surge in cases and hospitalisations.
The National Serum Institute purchased 2.5m influenza doses, 900,000 more than last year to deal with a possible wave of the flu virus that was virtually non-existent last winter due to corona.
Denmark sold half a million of Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine doses to New Zealand – Morocco received a shipment of 115,000 vaccines from Denmark through the international COVAX programme. Denmark also donated a further three million vaccine doses, primarily to Africa and smaller island states ’vulnerable to climate change’.
Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen distanced herself from EU leaders who criticised the security pact between the United States, Australia, and the UK – the PM described US President Joe Biden as a ‘loyal defender’ of European-US ties, even though Germany and the European Commission sided with France and warned of lost trust with the U.S.
The Prime Minister presented a wide range of reform proposals aimed at getting more than 10,000 unemployed into jobs – the far-reaching plan was immediately denounced by the government’s parliamentary ally, the far-left Red/Greens, who said forcing people to work against their will is ‘state-sanctioned social dumping’ but was praised by right-wing parties in Germany and Sweden.
The Conservatives called on Defence Minister Trine Bramsen to resign after tabloid daily BT revealed there was no official ministerial schedule when she commissioned a naval vessel to take her to the tiny island of Aero on August 15th, just as the Taleban was entering Kabul.
Climate Minister Dan Jørgensen met with his Indian counterpart, Bhupender Yadav, in New Delhi to discuss bilateral cooperation in the areas of environment and climate change.
Former prime minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen’s new Moderates Party (Moderatene) successfully collected the 20,182 voter declarations needed to get on the ballot at the next general election – Mr Rasmussen acknowledged that the party doesn’t yet have a political programme or candidates other than himself.
Denmark’s Executive Vice President of the European Commission Margrethe Vestager said the long-term prospect of a European Defence Union could renew the discussion about Denmark’s defence opt-out.
Denmark suffered a new setback at the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) – two months after the court ruled in favour of Dr. Mosalam Albaroud, a Syrian refugee who claimed his human rights were violated by strict Danish family reunification rules, Denmark lost a new, high-profile case surrounding the expulsion of criminal immigrants.
Danish People’s Party MEP Peter Kofod urged his party to fight for a Danish ‘Brexit’ –he said after two years in Brussels he’s lost all confidence in the EU.
During a visit to Copenhagen, Greece’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Notis Mitarachi was praised for his country’s efforts to protect the EU’s external border, even though it’s been criticised by human rights organisations – Immigration Minister Mattias Tesaye said Greece deserves a ‘pat on the back’ and stressed that border security is now an ‘integral part’ of Danish and European policy.
The government’s proposal to raise the top rate of tax on stocks and shares from 42% to 45% to finance unemployment benefits reform was denounced by some of Denmark’s leading entrepreneurs – Jeppe Rindom, founder and CEO of the fast-rising Pleo company said the punitive tax would be ‘poisonous’ for emerging businesses.
Controversial Syrian-born MP Naser Khader denied he’s a sexual aggressor – the Syrian-born politician said he’s extremely disappointed’ by the Conservatives who excluded him following an independent, lawyer-led investigation into allegations of sexual abuse.
TV2 reported how terrorist group al-Qaeda issued a video in July entitled ‘An Unforgivable Crime’ targeting ‘enemies of Islam’ and specifically Denmark.
The Socialist People’s Party (SPP) joined the call for the controversial Mohammed cartoons to become part of the school curriculum.
Politiken reported how Danish Intelligence (PET) breached the privacy rights of thousands of people in this country by failing to wipe out sensitive information, as required by the law.
Clean energy lobbying organisation Wind Denmark warned that Denmark risks falling short of its 2030 climate targets unless it builds far more wind and solar farms and overcomes bureaucracy and local resistance to turbines – at a UN Summit in New York, Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said Denmark will earmark DKK3.8bn ($550m) annually in climate aid from 2023.
Denmark’s ambitious target of a 70% reduction in greenhouse gasses by 2030 was dismissed as ’unrealistic’ by energy expert Joachim Peter Tilsted, a doctoral student at the division for Environmental and Energy System Studies at Lund University in southern Sweden, who said greenhouse gasses would need to be reduced by 78% to live up to the 2015 Paris Agreement.
Denmark agreed to give the Palestinian Self-Governing Authority a DKK450m ($72m) grant over the next five years.
Animal rights activists expressed outrage after 1,500 dolphins were slaughtered in the Faroe Islands, part of the traditional ‘grindadráp’, an annual hunt held every year from June to November.
Denmark and the Philippines kicked off celebrations to mark the 75th anniversary of diplomatic relations this year.
Denmark’s trade surplus increased to DKK 12.8bn from DKK 12.2bn in August – exports and imports increased by 4.6 percent each.
The number of wage earners in the labour market rose to 2.882m in September, the highest number ever recorded.

OCTOBER:

Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen was grilled by journalists demanding to know why she and her senior staff members deleted text messages last year regarding the government’s decision to cull all of the country’s mink – commentators said the Prime Minister is in danger of becoming embroiled in a full-blown political scandal.
Minister for Foreign Affairs of Denmark Jeppe Kofod travelled to Islamabad to thank the Pakistan government and its employees at the airport who assisted Denmark’s evacuation operation when the Taleban seized power in Kabul in August – at the same time he acknowledged the need for a ‘serious discussion’ with the Pakistani government to try to steer Afghanistan’s future in a positive direction.
On arrival at the EU-Western Balkans Summit 2021 in Brdo, Slovenia, Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen told reporters she saw no need to set a deadline about expanding the EU to include Serbia, Kosovo, Albania, Montenegro, North Macedonia, and Bosnia-Herzegovina.
The Chinese embassy in Copenhagen denied ripping down municipal election campaign posters depicting the Tibetan flag that were placed outside its gates.
Three Danish mothers and 14 children evacuated from the al-Roj detention camp in Syria arrived in Denmark and were immediately arrested and charged with aiding terrorist activities.
The Danish People’s Party put forward a new bill aimed at deporting at least 70% of a ‘certain group of immigrants’ before 2030 if they have committed crime, failed to learn sufficient Danish, or been unemployed for an extended period of time.
Head of the ‘Free Greens’ party Sikandur Siddique and his parents were verbally abused by a Danish racist wearing a white t-shirt with the slogan ‘Fuck Islam’ as they left the official opening of parliament.
Climate Minister Dan Jørgensen presented the government’s 24-point climate programme and said no sectors will be exempt from contributing to Denmark’s efforts to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 70% within nine years – experts dismissed the plan as ‘visionary’ and ‘full of ideas’ but with no concrete measures.
The ‘Minkgate Commission’ got underway as parliament began hearings on whether the prime minister knew she was issuing an illegal order in 2020 when deciding to cull the country’s entire mink population to prevent Covid-19 mutations.
Greenland’s controversial foreign minister, Pele Broberg, was demoted for suggesting that only ethnic Inuit people and their descendents could be eligible to vote in a future referendum about full autonomy from Denmark –Prime Minister Mute B. Egede arrived in Copenhagen to finalise a deal agreed that will formally give his country a larger say in Arctic affairs and also allow it pursue an independent foreign policy.
The EU Parliament expressed concern about increased Russian and Chinese activities in the Arctic region – Denmark, Greenland, and the Faroe Islands signed an agreement laying out the ground rules for the Foreign, Security and Defence Policy Contact Committee.
Russia’s Ambassador to Denmark, Vladimir Barbin, confirmed his country’s desire for closer relations with the Arctic nation in areas such as fishing.
Denmark, alongside France, Belgium, Finland, Germany, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Spain and Sweden, issued a joint declaration urging Israel to drop its plan to build 3,000 new homes in the occupied West Bank – Denmark was one of 37 countries that boycotted the Durban IV conference at the United Nations due to its history of antisemitism and anti-Israel bias.
Oil supply company Dan-Bunkering went on trial for allegedly selling 172,000 tons of fuel jet to Syria through a Russian intermediary between 2015 and 2017 that was used in air strikes, in violation of EU sanctions.
Denmark and Turkey set an ambitious €5bn goal in bilateral trade and green energy projects – Ambassador to Turkey, Danny Annan, said the focus will be on green energy, energy efficiency technologies, pharmaceutical sectors, textile, district heating, cooling and wastewater management.
Amnesty International criticised Denmark’s human rights record in its latest submission to the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) – Amnesty wrote that while Denmark has accepted recommendations to ensure refugees and asylum seekers are afforded due protection and support, in reality, the country has been going in the opposite direction.
The National Bank cut its leading interest rate, already negative, even more due to the krone’s strength against the euro – the benchmark deposit rate was cut to minus 0.6% from minus 0.5%. Inflation rose by 3% in October, the highest for a decade.

NOVEMBER:

The Conservatives were the big winner in local elections, seeing a rise in support in 92 of the 98 municipalities – the Social Democrats suffered setbacks in most major cities and slipped to 28.5% of the overall vote, from 32.5% in 2017. Kristian Thulesen Dahl tendered his resignation as Danish People’s Party leader following the populist party’s disastrous showing. There was a ‘red swing’ in Copenhagen where nearly 25% of the electorate voted for the Red/Green Alliance.
Faced with a ‘3rd wave’ of the pandemic, the government, reintroduced restrictions requiring anyone going to the cinema, a restaurant, the zoo, or football match to show their corona passport. The government donated a further 3.7 million vaccine doses to UNICEF’s COVAX scheme, bringing Denmark’s total donation to 10 million.
The Chinese embassy in Copenhagen lashed out at NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg for playing up the so-called ‘China threat’ during a short stopover in Copenhagen.
The ministries of Justice and State agreed to assist the police’s efforts to recreate deleted text messages from the prime minister and her advisors for the Mink Commission’s probe into the government’s decision to cull all of the country’s mink last year – the PM admitted to deleting all relevant text messages regarding the order after 30 days on the advice of her head of department at the Ministry of State, Barbara Bertelsen.
Ex-food minister Mogens Jensen denied it was his ministry that recommended the cull of every single mink in Denmark last year – in testimony to the Mink Committee he said it must have been either the justice or health ministry that suggested the mass cull at the decisive November 3rd meeting last year ‘but couldn’t remember which one.’
On her final day at the COP26 Climate Summit in Glasgow, Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said Danish and British pension funds would invest $130 billion by 2030 to fight climate change – Greenland’s government took a first step toward joining the Paris Agreement on climate but declined to commit to specific targets for reducing emissions. Denmark topped the Climate Change Performance Index (CCPI) published by NGOs at Cop 26. France, Sweden, Ireland and Greenland joined the Beyond Oil and Gas Alliance (BOGA), an alliance of countries led by Denmark and Costa Rica committed to ending future oil and gas production within their borders. Africa’s top climate negotiator accused Development Aid Minister Flemming Møller Mortensen of lying and being part of ‘one of the biggest breaches of promise in history.’
The crew of a Danish frigate killed four pirates in waters south of Nigeria, one day before Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen was scheduled to inspect the ship as part of her official visit to Ghana – four other alleged pirates who survived the shootout in the Gulf of Guinea were charged with attempted murder, ‘in absentia’, at Copenhagen District Court.
Foreign Minister Jeppe Kofod said Denmark will put ‘extra pressure’ on Fifa over human rights concerns in the build-up to the 2022 Qatar World Cup, where the Danish team will wear shirts critical of the host nation.
A group of residents from Mjølnerparken, the much-maligned social housing estate on the fringe of Nørrebrø in Copenhagen, sued the Housing Ministry for approving a plan to sell off half of the apartments in the area, part of the previous government’s plan to rid Denmark of ghettos by 2030.
A new status report by the Repatriation Agency (Hjemrejsestyrelsen) showed 28 Syrian nationals and family members denied asylum in Denmark reappeared in other countries over the summer period.
A special FBI agent flew in from Washington DC to provide testimony in the Odense trial of two Danish companies accused of breaching US sanctions on Syria – an Odense court heard how a $2.6m money transfer from Russian shipper Sovfracht to a Cypriot company set the alarm bells ringing in the U.S. capital.
Danish sculptor Jens Galschiøt asked the Hong Kong authorities for immunity so he can safely bring home his controversial 8-metre high ‘Pillar of Shame’ statue that’s been exhibited at Hong Kong University for more than two decades in remembrance of the victims of the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson repeated Great Britain’s opposition to the controversial Nord Stream 2 pipeline that passes through Denmark’s territorial waters in the Baltic Sea.
Denmark accused the UK of violating the post-Brexit fisheries deal over plans to ban destructive bottom trawling in a North Sea conservation zone.
The economy continued to grow in the 3rd quarter (Q3) but less than projected – at the start of November the agency estimated 2% GDP growth for Q3 but the latest figures indicateD no more than 0.9%.
Inflation rose to a 13-year high in November – the consumer price index rose 3.4 percent year-on-year, the biggest increase since October 2008 when inflation was 3.7 percent.

DECEMBER:

Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen announced new restrictions as the Omicron variant continued to spread at an alarming rate – all public venues such as cinemas, theatres and museums were closed until January 17th.
Former immigration minister Inger Støjberg was sentenced to 60 days in prison by the Court of Impeachment after being found guilty of illegally ordering the separation of under-age couples seeking asylum – she was subsequently excluded from parliament.
During a six-hour grilling by the Mink Commission, Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen claimed she didn’t bear the final legal responsibility for the government’s decision to cull all of Denmark’s 17 million minks last year.
For the first time since the 2019 general election the ’blue’ opposition parties edged in front of the ‘red’ parliamentary alliance in an opinion poll – the latest Gallup survey for Berlingske showed a virtual dead heat between the opposing blocs, with 49.8% for the centre-left parties and 49.9% for the centre-right.
The government presented its draft budget for 2022, described by Finance Minister Nikolaj Wammen as ‘fiscally tighter’ than previously announced in order to cool a booming economy.
Minister of Defence Trine Bramsen said the Danish military is heading for an ‘imbalance’ in operating costs of DKK500m in both 2022 and 2023 – expenditure over the next two years is a billion kroner over budget.
Denmark will contribute DKK 150m (almost $23m) to the United Nations Peacebuilding Fund for 2021-2023, a 50 per cent increase.
Defence Minister Trine Bramsen and her British counterpart, Ben Wallace, signed a joint declaration of intent expressing concern about ‘an aggressive pattern of Russian military build-ups near Ukraine’s border’ – former prime minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen told TV2 he’s seen U.S. intelligence reports that the Kremlin is planning a multi-front offensive as soon as early 2022, involving up to 175,000 troops. Foreign Minister Jeppe Kofod warned of ‘serious repercussions’ if Russia invades Ukraine – speaking on the sidelines of an EU foreign ministers meeting he said NATO is prepared to ‘come down hard’ on any aggression.
As part of a cross-party agreement to increase Denmark’s prison capacity by 1,000 the government signed an agreement to rent 300 cells in Kosovo.
Parliament passed legislation to end all Denmark’s gas and oil exploration in the North Sea by 2050, a move that will cost the Danish state an estimated DKK13bn ($2bn) in lost revenue.
Denmark was one of only two countries that voted against an EU Council directive on adequate minimum wages in the EU
Four current and former employees from the Danish Intelligence Agency (PET) and Defence Intelligence (FE) were arrested on suspicion of leaking highly classified information, potentially damaging to national security.
Parties on both sides of the aisle urged the government not to send any diplomatic representation or officials to the 2022 Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games in Beijing.
The government’s list of marginalised, under-privileged social housing districts, previously defined as ‘ghettos’, was shortened to 12 in the annual December review.
A parliamentary majority called for a review of Denmark’s controversial 3-year residency requirement for family reunification, so-called ‘chain migration’.
Danish oil supply company Dan-Bunkering and its parent company Bunker Holding, were fined more than $5 million for delivering jet fuel to the Russian air force in Syria, in violation of an EU embargo.
Australian company Greenland Minerals ceased all operations in Greenland where the home-rule government recently outlawed uranium mining.
Trade organisations expressed confidence that the appointment of ‘climate friendly’ Olaf Scholz as Germany’s new chancellor will lead to increased business for ‘green’ Danish exporters.
Construction started on the German side of the world’s longest road and rail tunnel that will connect Germany and Denmark – the €7 billion Fehmarn Belt Fixed Link project under the Baltic Sea is set to be completed by 2029 and will slash train journey times between Hamburg Copenhagen to under three hours.
Inflation hit 4.1%, the highest for 10 years.

And that was the news in 2021 – on to 2022!