The Week That Was, September 20th – 26th 2021:
Coronavirus/ What happened last week:
The virus continues to recede – three weeks after all corona restrictions were lifted the daily infection rate has fallen by more than 40%, defying health experts who had predicted a surge in cases and hospitalisations. The number of daily corona cases hovered around the 400 mark while the positivity rate of those tested fell to 0.8%.
The so-called ‘R’ rate, which reflects the average number of infections one person with the corona virus causes, fell to 0.7 – more than 42,000 of the most vulnerable citizens have now received a 3rd ‘booster’ shot, including nearly half of all care home residents.
Morocco received a shipment of 115,000 vaccines from Denmark through the international COVAX programme.
Denmark is donating a further three million vaccine doses, primarily to Africa and smaller island states ’vulnerable to climate change – Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said ‘vaccines are our superweapon against the pandemic so we need to provide global access because no one is safe until everyone is safe.’
Politics/Economy:
The PM was summoned to appear before the specially-convened Mink Commission on December 9th to provide answers about how the government and authorities reached the fateful decision to cull Denmark’s entire mink herd on November 4th last year.
Former prime minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen’s new Moderates party would enter parliament with a bang if an election was held today – the latest YouGov poll for tabloid daily BT showed the new centrist party would win 4.5% of the vote and 8 seats.
Danish People’s Party (DPP) founder Pia Kjærsgaard declined to rule out the possibility of making a comeback as party leader if the DPP’s downslide continues at the upcoming municipal elections in November.
Danish People’s Party MEP Peter Kofod urged his party to fight for a Danish ‘Brexit’ – Mr Kofod, seen as a potential DPP leader in the future, said after two years as an MEP in Brussels he’s lost all confidence in the EU.
Popular Conservative leader Søren Pape Poulsen positioned himself as potential prime minister candidate in a resounding speech to the party’s annual convention.
The government again resisted calls to intervene in the booming housing market – Business Minister Simon Kollerup said the market appears to be stabilising and, with interest rates rising, there is no basis for intervention as recommended by the Systematuic Risk Council – National Bank Governor Lars Rohde said the government isn’t required to abide by the Council’s recommendation but now has the responsibility if the housing bubble bursts.
The labour market is booming with a record 2.85m people in full-time employment – 7,000 new jobs were created in July, mostly in the private sector, the sixth month in a row that the job figures has risen.
Consumer confidence improved in September as the final corona restrictions were removed – the latest figures showed the consumer confidence index rose to 8.2 in September from 4.4 in August.
The average taxpayer in this country paid DKK 93.183 kr ($15,000) in tax last year despite the corona crisis, an increase 5.1% on the previous year.
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 and the latest report from the UN Climate Panel should be a wake-up call: “We have to do more to combat the climate crisis and especially the wealthier countries who need to deliver more.”
Ministers from Costa Rica and Denmark announced that they are leading the work to create an ambitious Beyond Oil and Gas Alliance (BOGA) to promote a phased transition away from the unstainable supply of oil and gas.
Foreign Affairs/EU:
Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen distanced herself from EU leaders who criticised the security pact between the United States, Australia, and the UK – the PM told Politiken that US President Joe Biden is a ‘loyal defender’ of European-US ties, even though Germany and the European Commission have sided with France and warned of lost trust with the U.S.
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’ for its efforts to reduce the migrant influx.
In interviews with Berlingske and Jyllands Posten Mr Tesfaye stressed that border security is now an ‘integral part’ of Danish and European policy.
On the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York Foreign Minister Jeppe Kofod and Development Minister Flemming Møller Mortensen again raised the issue of an offshore processing centre for asylum seekers in Rwanda with the country’s foreign minister, Vincent Biruta.
DanWatch and TV 2, in collaboration with the international research centre Lighthouse Reports, claimed that Denmark’s biggest IT company, Systematic, has defied a 3-year government embargo by selling a military software system to the United Arab Emirates through a British subsidiary that could be used for grave human rights violations in Yemen – despite allegations of human rights violations against the United Arab Emirates the Danish military sent five high-ranked soldiers to the Gulf state in 2016 on a training mission.
Denmark agreed to give the Palestinian Self-Governing Authority a DKK450m ($72m) grant over the next five years.
Denmark, Norway and Sweden signed a ‘letter of intent’ that will lead to more joint military exercises and surveillance, a response to ‘heightened external threats.’
Social Affairs:
Politiken reported how the Danish Intelligence Agency (PET) has over the past three years illegally maintained files on 59 people because of their political affiliation.
25 criminal immigrants serving short-term prison sentences have been driven to the airport by police and kicked out of Denmark since June, in accordance with new legislation passed last Spring.
Only 10 days after the international outcry about the massacre of more than 1,400 dolphins in the Faroe Islands, at least 53 pilot whales were killed this week.
The Danish Tax Agency (Skattestyrelsen) demanded DKK18.7m (nearly $3m) back from 1,498 drivers who had an income from Uber while claiming welfare before the ride-sharing service was banned in Denmark four years ago.
Residents of Christiania acknowledged that the cannabis trade in the ‘free state’ is ‘running wild’ after Berlingske revealed how the immigrant street gang Loyal to Familia (LTF) has taken control of a stand on the notorious Pusher Street
Business:
A.P. Moller-Maersk is heading for record earnings this year – according to analysts the the world’s biggest shipping line’s 2021 result will be a record in Danish corporate history, three times higher than Maersk’s previous record in 2014 and more than double the 2020 result of Novo Nordisk, Denmark’s most valuable company.
Despite the ‘green boom’ wind energy giant Vestas is stopping production at factories in Germany, Spain and Denmark, to ‘adjust its manufacturing footprint’.
And That Was The Week That Was, September 20th – 26th 2021: To read all the above articles in full see: http://seven59.dk/archive (subscription required).