The Week That Was, November 5th – December 11th 2022:
Politics/Economy:
The Conservatives and Socialist People’s Party pulled out of government negotiations that have now lasted nearly six weeks, breaking the previous record from 1975 when it took Social Democrat leader at the time, Anker Jørgensen, 35 days to put together a workable coalition – political analysts said a Soc Dem/Liberal coalition is now the most likely conclusion, backed by a majority from the centre-right. Although the two parties are regarded as political ‘arch enemies’ a review of parliamentary records shows they agreed on 82% of all votes during the last elective period. Parties on the right turned against Liberal leader Jacob Ellemann-Jensen after he admitted he’s close to joining a government with the Social Democrats – local Liberal mayors urged their party leader not to back down on his demand for an independent inquiry into the Minkgate affair in return for a government role.
The economic upturn since the end of the corona crisis is coming to an abrupt end – according to a Confederation of Danish Industry (DI) report, the economy has ‘hit a wall and there will be negative growth and rising unemployment next year.
Banking lobby, Finance Denmark, predicted that thousands of homeowners will struggle to pay their monthly bills in 2023 due to a combination of high inflation, rising energy costs, and fast-rising interest rates.
Several Ministry of Defence websites suffered a cyber-attack, Thursday – the Defence Intelligence Service and the Centre for Cybersecurity were also affected.
Around 1,100 postal votes weren’t counted in the recent parliamentary elections, despite being submitted before the deadline.
The judge in the high-profile espionage trial will this week be asked to ease the national security restrictions placed on suspended ‘spy boss’ Lars Findsen’s defence team, which make it extremely difficult for them to discuss the case with potential witnesses or conduct their own investigations.
Foreign Affairs/EU:
Ukraine’s embassy in Copenhagen received a ’bloody package’ containing pigs’ and cows’ eyes – the country’s foreign missions throughout Europe have been targeted with similar packages over the past week.
A large majority of the electorate believes Denmark should accept more Ukrainian refugees even though local authorities are having trouble housing those that are already here.
Construction of Denmark’s two planned energy islands, one in the North Sea and one on the island of Bornholm in the Baltic Sea, is being speeded up in response to the Ukraine war so Denmark and Europe can become free of Russian fossil fuels as fast as possible – together they will be able to power at least 5 million European homes with the potential to expand to 10 million in the future.
Russia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs again accused Denmark and Sweden of excluding the Russian authorities from the investigation into the explosions that damaged the Nord Stream 1 and 2 gas pipelines in September.
When Prince Joachim, the Queen’s second son, starts his new job within the military-industrial complex in Washington DC next year after stepping down as defence attache at the Danish embassy in Paris, he’ll need parliamentary approval to take his DKK350,000 per month royal annuity with him.
Social Affairs:
A complaint filed in August by a group of Danes, who as children were adopted between the 1960s and the 1990s, has led to a formal inquiry by South Korea’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission, which said it will investigate the cases of dozens of adoptees who were sent to Denmark, Norway, the Netherlands, Germany, Belgium, and the United States from the 1960s to the early 1990s.
Energy prices and Ukraine have been high on the list when Danes searched Google this year but it’s the World Cup and Tour de France that took the top two spots – Russian president, Vladimir Putin, has been the 2nd-most searched person in Denmark.
The number of long-term unemployed is at the lowest level since 1996 – new labour market figures showed there were only 11,519 people deemed ‘long-term jobless’ in October, the lowest for 26 years.
The housing market slump worsened in November as the average price for a house or apartment fell by 4.1% compared to the same month last year, and 2.6% on the previous month.
Ahead of potentially divisive labour market collective bargaining negotiations, insiders warned that strike action is likely,
Business:
Partially state-owned green energy company Ørsted joined forces with Danish renewable energy developer, Skovgaard Energy, to develop a Power-to-X (green hydrogen) facility in Denmark, which could become one of the largest in Europe.
Construction of the Denmark-UK high-voltage ‘Viking Link’ passed a key milestone this week when the final land cable in the UK was installed – the high voltage electricity interconnector will be the longest in the world when completed.
Top Copenhagen eatery Noma is relocating to Kyoto in Japan next spring for a 10-week residency that will coincide with sakura, or cherry blossom, season.
And that was The Week That Was, November 5th – December 11th 2022: To read all the above articles in full see: http://seven59.dk/archive (subscription required).