The Week That Was, November 5th – November 12th 2018

Politics/Economy:

Integration Minister Inger Støjberg  resisted calls to amend family reunification rules for minors who she claimed have been indoctrinated by Koran schools in their own country before they arrived in Denmark.

Social Democrat whip Henrik Sass Larsen came under fire within his own party for suggesting Denmark should pull out of ‘destructive’ international conventions and human rights courts.

The Social Democrats pushed back against ‘false U.S. allegations’ that living standards are higher in the USA than Denmark

Denmark’s economic growth between 2015-17 was far better than previously reported – Statistics Denmark upwardly adjusted the GDP figures for 2015-16 to 2.3% and 2.4% respectively, from the previously published 1.6% and 2.0%.

The Southern District of New York court granted the Danish Tax Agency permission to proceed with its legal action to recover DKK5.4bn ( $820m) in funds paid out on fraudulent tax refund applications from small American pension companies.

Denmark’s foreign exchange reserves remained unchanged at DKK468bn in October, despite a weakening of the krone against the euro.

EU/Foreign Affairs:

Lawmakers called for a probe into the Iranian embassy’s possible involvement in the alleged assassination plot against  exiles residing in Denmark – the ruling Liberal’s foreign affairs spokesman, Michael Astrup Jensen, said the authorities need to take a ‘very critical look’ at the embassy in Copenhagen. Three Iranian exiles were arrested by the police, Wednesday on suspicion of ‘praising an act of terror’.  The alleged Iranian assassination plot revealed by Danish Intelligence (PET) last week was an ‘Israeli conspiracy’ according to Iran’s foreign minister.

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo stressed the threat of Iranian terrorism in a personal phone call to Foreign Minister Anders Samuelsen – according to the U.S. State Department the two discussed ‘the importance of strong collective EU action to hold Iran accountable for its continued use of terrorism on European soil.’

Denmark strongly urged the EU to come to an agreement that would prevent a hard Brexit – -in an interview with Bloomberg News, Prime Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen said maintaining access to vital financial infrastructure in London is a ‘key concern’.

Danes’ support for the EU continues to grow – a new Megafon poll for TV2 showed only 1 in 4 voters in this country would support a ‘Danexit’ if a referendum was held today.

Denmark rejected an EU proposal to slap a 3% tax on global internet companies such as Google and Facebook.

Denmark received a ’formal letter of notice’ for failing to fully implement the EU’s 4th money laundering directive – the European Commission ordered both Denmark and Estonia to ‘completely transpose the directive’ into national law or face a possible court battle.

Foreign Minister Anders Samuelsen has spent DKK340,000 (€45,000) redesigning his office even though his party campaigned for minus public sector growth at the last election.

Defence Command Denmark (Forsvarets Operationscenter) was forced to issued a retraction after wrongly claiming that a Russian cargo ship had passed through Danish territorial waters loaded with dangerous cargo.

The new Tibet Commission has been given a mandate to extend its investigation to cover 199 Chinese visits since 1995.

South Korea and Denmark agreed to expand cooperation on renewable energy and innovative energy technologies to create synergies between the two nations.

Social Affairs:

64-year-old Britta Nielsen arrived at Copenhagen Airport, Friday, to face charges of embezzling DKK111m from the Danish social authorities.

Charity organisations warned the government’s cap on social benefits has led to a drastic increase in the number of vulnerable families that can’t afford to buy food.

Denmark was ranked 5th on the 2018 EF English Proficiency Index (EF EPI) that compares levels of English among non-native speakers across 88 countries around the world.

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Business:

Danske Bank’s Chairman of the Board Ole Andersen quit as the bank bowed to pressure from its biggest shareholder, A.P. Møller-Maersk –  pension funds JØP and DIP put Danske Bank on an observation list following the money laundering scandal and warned they will monitor the new management.

Lego unveiled two 2019 Chinese New Year sets and revealed it will launch its first education courses for Chinese students – the toy giant also won a major legal victory against four Chinese firms who infringed upon multiple copyrights.

Global meat processing company Danish Crown signed a €300m agreement to supply 250 tons of pork to Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba every week over the next five years.

It was reported that international law firm Pinsent Masons, hired by the Danish authorities to try and retrieve the DKK12.7bn defrauded from the tax department (SKAT), has previously advised wanted financier Sanjay Shah, the main suspect in one of the world’s biggest-ever tax evasion scandals.

Partially state-owned energy company Ørsted closed the $510-million purchase of Deepwater Wind and created Orsted US Offshore Wind, a company that will deliver clean energy to every state “in the densely-populated East Coast between Massachusetts and Virginia.”

Wind energy giant Vestas emerged from the first nine months of the year with a DKK3.5bn profit, a 23% decline on the same period last year following  a decrease in  the price of turbines.

Global Danish charm bracelet seller Pandora  is scaling back acquisitions of franchised stores and focusing new openings on promising markets like China after cutting its outlook and abandoning a long-term sales goal.

Novo Nordisk announced plans to cut 1,300 employees by the end of 2018 following the company’s third quarter financial results revealing profits had fallen by 8%.

126 agricultural companies filed for bankruptcy during the first 10 months of the year, 5 more than the whole of 2017 and the highest figure since 2016 when 180 went bust.

And That Was The Week That Was, November 5th – November 12th 2018: To read all the above articles in full see: http://seven59.dk/archive (subscription required).