­­­The Week That Was, November 28th  – December 4th 2022:

Politics/Economy:

Despite moving closer to the Social Democrats and a potential centrist coalition, Liberal leader Jacob Ellemann-Jensen declined to say whether his confidence in caretaker prime minister Mette Frederiksen has been restored following the minkgate scandal. The far-right Nye Borgerlige (New Right) warned they will never again support Mr Ellemann-Jensen as a candidate for prime minister if he joins a coalition government led by Mette Frederiksen. Moderates leader Lars Løkke Rasmussen said influencing future policy is more important to his party than being part of government.

The Red/Greens’ division with the Social Democrats became deeper after the far-left party accused its former parliamentary ally of ’betraying’ vulnerable families by refusing to vote for their own pre-election promise to extend temporary child support.

The Conservatives’ Executive Committee gave party leader Søren Pape Poulsen a unanimous show of support despite the party’s disastrous result at the November 1st election.

Defence Ministry documents obtained by Politiken under the Freedom of Information Act showed suspended ‘spy boss’ Lars Findsen, head of the Military Intelligence Agency (FE) until being arrested last December on suspicion of leaking highly classified information in the espionage scandal, was given a DKK50,000 (nearly $7,000) bonus in 2020 for performing his job in a ’reasonable and conscientious manner’ – the Social Democrats and Liberals dismissed political calls for an investigation into whether the allegations against Mr Findsen were politically motivated and at the same time refused to issue any guarantee they will set up an inquiry if they form a government coalition.

Public service broadcaster DR was accused of a cover-up after failing to report earlier this year that Minister for Food, Agriculture and Fisheries Rasmus Prehn had repeatedly charged restaurant bills to his ministerial expense account, just as political negotiations about a new media bill and DR’s future budget were at a decisive phase

Denmark was again named the OECD’s highest-tax country – the organisation’s latest annual Revenue Statistics report showed Denmark ranked 1st out of 38 OECD countries in 2021 with a tax-to GDP ratio of 46.9%, compared with the average of 34.1%.

Foreign Affairs/EU:

Faroe Islands lawmakers defended their decision to renew a fishing quota deal with Russia for one year despite Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine. In response to condemnation from both Denmark and the EU, Anna Falkenberg, MP for the Faroese Sambandsflokkurin Party, said ‘it was a difficult decision but ultimately the right one.’

The Danish Road Directorate is going ahead with plans to buy at least 175 surveillance cameras from Chinese company Hikvision despite warnings from both Danish intelligence agencies and human rights organisations.

Austria urged the EU to copy Denmark’s, and the UK’s, plan to set up processing centres outside the EU for asylum seekers.

The Scottish government was criticised for spending thousands of pounds on the inauguration of a ’Nordic office’ at the British Embassy in Copenhagen.

Prince Joachim, the Queen’s second son, announced he’ll be moving to a top job within the military-industrial complex in Washington DC when he steps down as defence attache at the Danish embassy in Paris next summer.

Social Affairs:

The Housing Ministry’s annual report of Denmark’s most deprived residential areas – previously referred to as the ‘ghetto list – showed a drop this year, from 20 to 17.

A mother was stripped of her Danish citizenship and sentenced to three years in prison after being found guilty of abusing and illegally detaining her teenage daughter, who was illegally held captive in Pakistan for a number of years and coerced to accept a forced marriage.

The suspected Nigerian pirate captured by a Danish frigate in the Gulf of Guinea last November was found guilty of endangering Danish sailors’ lives, Monday, but Copenhagen District Court ruled the 1-legged man, who goes by the name of ‘Lucky’, shouldn’t be jailed because his role during the confrontation at sea was unclear.

Copenhagen Police have arrested a growing number of minors in the ‘free state’ of Christiania for selling drugs – a new report showed that between September 1st and November 21st, seventeen youths under the age of 18 were charged for selling hashish, some as young as 15.

Denmark was ranked 2nd in the EU on the European Institute for Gender Equality’s (EIGE) latest index even though the gender wage gap in this country has widened – new figures showed that for every 100 kroner earned by men, the average woman only earns 87.7.

Denmark was named the world’s seventh most popular tourist destination on international travel magazine Condé Nast Traveler annual rankings – Portugal is number one, followed by Japan, Thailand, Singapore, India, and Greece.

Danske Bank predicted that rampant inflation will continue next year and could cost the average family with children an extra DKK23,000 ($3,100).

The National Bank warned that lenders could face rising credit losses as homeowners are forced to tackle a ’toxic combination’ of higher interest rates, rampant inflation, and falling property prices.

Business:

813 companies filed for bankruptcy in November, the highest figure since 2019.

After posting a pre-tax loss of $161m for the fourth quarter, struggling Scandinavian airline (SAS) warned that its problems are far from over, despite a recent increase in passenger figures.

Hamburg Regional Court ruled that Sanjay Shah, the hedge-fund founder wanted by Denmark for allegedly masterminding a DKK12.7bn fraud scheme, can also be tried in Germany – however, a criminal case directly linked to the share dividend scandal was thrown out before it got to trial, after judges in the southwestern German city of Koblenz ruled that the charges against seven bankers, who worked at North Channel Bank, can’t proceed for legal reasons.

Oil giant Shell is buying out Danish biogas producer Nature Energy for nearly $2 billion.

Jyske Bank, the third largest lender in Denmark, was reported to the police by the banking sector’s watchdog for a possible breach of anti-money laundering legislation.

And ­­­that was The Week That Was, November 28th  – December 4th 2022: To read all the above articles in full see: http://seven59.dk/archive (subscription required).