The Week That Was, June 6th – June 11th 2016
Politics/Economy
A parliamentary majority sealed an agreement to purchase 27 F-35A stealth fighter jets from Lockheed Martin at a cost of nearly $9bn (DKK56.4bn) – Prime Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen called the multi-billion purchase a sign of Denmark’s ‘active commitment’ to NATO, but the Conservatives dismissed it as a ‘bad deal’ for the Danish military which it couldn’t support. The Conservatives’ youth wing called on party leader Søren Pape Poulsen to withdraw support for the government and trigger a new election, following the party’s exclusion from the cross-party agreement.
In his Constitution Day speech, Prime Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen said Denmark is performing well but ‘can’t do everything alone’ – he stressed that Denmark will always belong inside the European Union no matter what the outcome of Britain’s June 23 ‘Brexit’ referendum.
After nearly 12 months in power the ruling Liberals sunk to their lowest level of support for 26 years – a new Wilke poll for Jyllands-Posten indicated that just 16.5% of the electorate would vote for the party if an election was held today, leading to a 5-seat loss.
Prime Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen was asked to explain today why an eight-year old interview with his predecessor as Liberal leader, Anders Fogh Rasmussen, concerning the basis for Denmark going to war in Iraq. has been locked away in a confidential archive at the Ministry of State.
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Foreign Affairs/EU
In an emotional speech to MPs at a parliamentary conference convened to discuss Denmark’s role in the war-torn country between 2001-14, Afghanistan’s Deputy Foreign Minister Hekmat Karzai expressed his ‘deep gratitude’ for ‘helping a nation that has suffered’, even though a highly critical Danish report published the same day showed his country is still very vulnerable and unable to offer basic security, justice, service, or economic opportunities to its population.
As the British ‘Brexit’ referendum approaches, a new poll showed 42% of the Danish electorate would like to see a similar vote on Denmark’s EU membership, up from 37 percent in a previous poll in February – in a separate poll, 62% of the Danish electorate said Brits should remain in the EU while just 19% say they should leave. The Danish krone was trading at ‘critically strong levels’ throughout the week as investors, fearing a ‘Brexit’, sought safe havens
The Red/Green Alliance and Conservatives called on Queen Margrethe to cancel her upcoming state visit to Turkey, as meeting with President Ergodan would be ‘complete madness’ and an insult to those democratic forces in Turkey he is trying to suppress.
During a visit to Copenhagen Poland’s President Andrzej Duda held talks with Prime Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen on a wide range of issues, including energy, security, and the Ukraine conflict.
Speaker of the house Pia Kjærsgaard was presented with a list of organisations funded by Denmark, but which promote boycotts of Israel, during her visit to Jerusalem, Wednesday.
Denmark’s foreign exchange reserves rose to DKK 426.9bn ($64.1 billion) in May from DKK 403.5bn a month earlier.
The European Commission praised Denmark’s economic stability but expressed concern about the decrease in productivity – the ‘Country Specific Recommendations’, released Wednesday, put Denmark ahead of the curve in economic policy objectives but warned that, “Danish productivity growth has been sluggish for the past two decades.”
Social Affairs
The Supreme Court upheld a lower court ruling to revoke the passport of convicted terrorist Said Mansour, also known as ‘The Bookseller from Bronshøj’ – Integration Minister Inger Støjberg vowed to make life ‘intolerable’ for Mansour if the immigration authorities are unable to deport him.
In Denmark’s biggest ever terror-funding trial, Wednesday, the High Court convicted two men for raising millions of kroner for Kurdish militants between 2009 and 2012, but acquitted eight others.
Parliament tightened family reunification laws again with a controversial bill that will require the immigration authorities to evaluate the ability to integrate of all children above the age of six who have a parent in their home country.
Only 87 refugees or migrants applied for asylum here during the final week of May compared to 641 immediately after border control was reintroduced on January 4th.
A Delhi court convicted five men for gang raping, robbing and kidnapping a 52-year-old Danish woman in 2014.
A new report, ‘Illicit Cigarette Consumption in the EU’, showed an estimated 150 million illegal ‘ciggies’ were sold in this country last year, with many of them containing ‘additives’ such as rat faeces, plastic, and asbestos.
Denmark’s National Gallery was accused of ‘censorship’ and ‘cleansing history’ after removing the word ‘negro’ from all titles and descriptions of paintings.
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Business
Partially state-owned DONG Energy saw its shares rise by 10% on the first day of trading on Copenhagen Stock Market, Thursday, increasing its market value to over DKK100bn ($16bn) in the world’s biggest stock market listing so far this year.
Parliament’s two biggest parties, the Social Democrats and Danish People’s Party,warned that Denmark may need to tighten punishments for bankers on the wrong side of the law, following media reports alleging that employees at the Russian unit of Nordea Bank AB, Scandinavia’s largest lender, created offshore shell companies for the purpose of evading taxes and are reportedly operating two real estate companies in Denmark.
Industrial production climbed a seasonally adjusted 0.8 percent month-over-month in April, reversing a 2.1 percent drop in the previous month.
Global credit ratings agency Moody’s stripped Finland of its coveted triple-A credit rating but Denmark remains amongst the elite – according to the Confederation of Danish Industries, the lesson to be learnt from Finland is that Denmark needs to keep a tight rein on public spending.
And that was The Week That Was, June 6th – June 11th 2016. To read all the above articles in full see: http://seven59.dk/archive (subscription required)