The Week That Was, June 29th – July 5th 2020:

Coronavirus/ What happened last week:

The Danish health authorities were tricked into buying 7.5 million fake or faulty corona protection masks from China – DR News reported the masks were of ‘Chinese standard’ and didn’t live up to European requirements but as they were desperately needed at the time the Danish Safety Technology Authority and National Serum Institute quickly approved the $19.5m deal.

A team of Copenhagen University researchers concluded it was ‘most probably’ Danes who passed on the corona virus to Sweden, Iceland, and Latvia after picking it up themselves at the Ischgl ski resort in Austria.

Between 20 and 50 people in this country tested positive for covid-19 every single day in June, which according to experts shows that the virus has been contained yet remains active.

Development Minister Rasmus Prehn warned the aftershock of the corona crisis will mean less funding for foreign development aid in next year’s budget.

Despite the economic downturn caused by the corona crisis there have been fewer bankruptcies than during the preceding 7-year upswing.

The Danish Veterinary and Food Administration (DVFA) discovered the coronavirus at a third mink farm close to Hjørring in north Jutland.

Politics/ Economy:

New National Bank figures revealed the public has saved up billions during the corona crisis – money in current accounts rose by DKK12bn in May, to DKK999bn, an average of DKK215,000 for every person over 18 in Denmark.

A new report by the Public Debt Authority (Gældstyrlseen) showed around one million people in this country owe a collective DKK100bn to the state – an average of DKK100,000 each.

Former prime minister Lars Løkke Rasmusen was summoned to appear before the ’Child Brides Commission’ after ex-justice minister, Søren Pind, testified that he had personally informed Mr Løkke Rasmussen about his own concerns regarding the separation of married couples housed at refugee centres.

8.030 people filed for unemployment benefits on Wednesday, bringing the unemployment rate to an 8-year high of 185,913 – 54,076 people have lost their jobs during the corona crisis.

Foreign Affairs/EU:

Following the new travel advisory for countries outside the EU, Wednesday, the Foreign Ministry named 6 countries whose nationals can now freely enter Denmark – Australia, Canada, Japan, New Zealand, South Korea and Thailand.

Ex-prime minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen said Denmark and its allies in the so-called ’Frugal 4’ need to demand labour market reforms from southern European countries in return for their support of the EU long-term budget and €750bn recovery fund.

The government’s left-wing allies urged the Foreign Minister to summon China’s ambassador to a meeting concerning the new security law passed in Hong Kong that has led to hundreds of arrests of pro-democracy demonstrators.

The Technical University of Denmark (DTU) defended its policy of working alongside China’s National University of Defence Technology (NUDT) which is controlled by China’s top military body, the Central Military Commission.

A new poll found that EU citizens’ perception of the U.S. has seriously deteriorated since the outbreak of the corona virus – negative attitudes of the US were most marked in Denmark (71%) Portugal (70%), France (68%), Germany (65%) and Spain (64%).

German Chancellor Angela Merkel said the controversial Nord Stream 2 pipeline under construction in Danish territorial waters should be ‘completed as planned’ and US sanctions ‘do not correspond’ to Germany’s interpretation of international law – the US initially implemented sanctions in December with only 160 km of the pipeline left to lay in Danish waters out of the total 2,460 km.

Following reports last week that Danish Jehovah’s Witness Dennis Christensen, imprisoned in Russia since 2017, had been granted early release by a court it was revealed that Russian prosecutors have appealed the ruling, claiming he violated prison rules.

Social Affairs:

U.S. media continued to highlight the Danish authorities’ unwillingness to accept racism exists in this country, following last week’s killing of a 28-year-old Danish-Tanzanian male on the island of Bornholm that was widely ignored by the Danish press.

New Finance Ministry figures showed non-western immigrants and their descendants cost the Danish state DKK33bn (5bn) in 2017, DKK4bn less than the previous year, while ‘ethnic’ Danes made a positive contribution 0f DKK 58bn ($8.5bn).

Immigration & Integration Minister Mattias Tesfaye ordered the immigration authorities to speed up the processing of hundreds of Syrian asylum seekers from the Damascus region.

Two ‘tent towns’ built in 2015 to provide shelter for hundreds of asylum seekers and migrants are to be torn down without every housing a single refugee, at a cost of DKK65m (nearly $10m) to taxpayers.

A new poll showed 3 out of 4 voters believe Danish mosques shouldn’t be allowed to issue the weekly call to prayer over loudspeakers.

The High Court stopped TV2 from showing alarming undercover footage of the conditions for dementia patients at an Aarhus care home for the elderly that revealed degrading treatment of the elderly by staff, derogatory language, and poor hygiene.

Nearly 3,500 criminal court cases in which DNA evidence has played a decisive role are to be reviewed after a person was convicted of burglary but a later analysis showed he was probably innocent.

Business:

23,600 struggling businesses have so far borrowed DKK6.8bn ($1bn) in interest-free loans from the government’s corona aid scheme.

The Danish government came to the rescue of struggling Scandinavian airline SAS again – one day after announcing the lay-off of more than 1,500 Danish workers the airline secured a $1.3bn bailout, Tuesday, provided by the Danish and Swedish government, alongside the Knut and Alice Wallenberg Foundation in Sweden, its three biggest shareholders.

Denmark’s biggest company, A.P. Møller – Mærsk, teamed up with industry partners, including the American Bureau of Shipping (ABS), Cargill, MAN Energy Solutions, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI), NYK Lines and Siemens Energy, to launch the Mærsk Mc-Kinney Møller Center for Zero Carbon Shipping, a research and development institute to promote decarbonisation in the shipping industry.

Novo Nordisk announced that the Japanese Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare has followed the US, the EU, Switzerland and Canada by approving Rybelsus, a tablet for the treatment of adults with type 2 diabetes.

Toy giant Lego said it was pausing social media advertising for at least a month, joining a long list of companies that say Facebook is not doing enough to stop hate speech on its platforms.

Transport giant DSV announced plans to invest DKK2bn ($300m) to build Europe’s largest logistics centre in Horsens, Jutland.

Global Danish cleaning giant ISS said it was adapting to the ‘new reality’ by slashing 300 jobs and pulling out of the government’s wage compensation scheme.

A new study claimed that 1 gigawatt of wind energy produced at an offshore wind farm will secure 14,600 full-time equivalent jobs at Danish companies.

ATP, Denmark’s largest pension and social security provider, invested an undisclosed amount in the latest €1 billion ‘green’ (climate awareness) bond issued by the European Investment Bank – ATP has so far invested around DKK26bn ($4bn) in green bonds to date.

And That Was the Week That Was, June 29th – July 5th 2020 – To read all the above articles in full see: http://seven59.dk/archive (subscription required).