Freedom to use your national flag; New powers for the police; Rules about mortgage loans

Last Week in Denmark (20.10-27.10) Episode 36 Year 4

Editor HQ 

State of Denmark 

“The Germans are coming, and they are badly needed” - headline from a DR article. 

There are 33,599 German citizens living in Denmark. If you include the historical minority in South Denmark and the second-generation Germans with Danish citizenship, the number is much higher. Put together, the German minority is probably the largest in Denmark. In the last two years alone, 5,000 Germans moved to Denmark. 

Why? For some, it is the higher salaries and the promise of a more relaxed working life. For others, the possibility to homeschool their children. Also, several municipalities are making efforts to attract Germans by organizing special information days in German and by hiring German-speaking relocation guides. 

Contrary to expectation, most choose to live outside the big four cities, and they are quite well distributed across the country. The island municipality of Ærø has experienced the largest influx of Germans by percentage over the past five years - from 97 to 230 people. In fact, almost 25% of the children at the island’s local school are of German descent. 

Take the example of a family from Hannover planning to move to Denmark soon. They want more nature, more space, and more freedom. To accomplish that, they will acquire a bed & breakfast farm in Husby (near Holstebro) and invite their parents to join, creating a three-generation home. 

In 2030, it is predicted that internationals will make up 20% of the population, and Germans will play an important role in that growth. 

Thank you for reading and sharing Last Week in Denmark!

LWID Universe 

Instagram: Justas Galuškinas is stepping down as team lead and will continue as team member. The new leader is Ali Lewis. Thank you, Justas, for your efforts, and good luck, Ali! 

Call for Instagram team volunteers (content creators; graphics; video; photo) - hr@lwid.dk 

Administration: The leadership of the administration will be shared by Petra Mihucz and Yana Vytiaz. The newly established team will be in charge of onboarding, offboarding, internal communication and structure, plus the website and app. 

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Danish Politics HQ

Weekly political overview 

The police will be able to create fake images with offensive materials related to children, to trap and catch predators lurking online. This is one of the initiatives from a law proposal made by the Ministry of Justice. Also part of the law, pornographic deepfakes with real people will be punishable under the Criminal Code. 

The dialogue on anti-semitism between the ministers of Integration and Church and the Danish Muslim Union failed before it began. Now both sides are using the media to attack each other. 

SF (Socialists) lost their crown prince (aka leader-in-waiting). Jacob Mark decided to end his political career at 33 years old. Why? The lifestyle of politicians. In 2021, he lost his sight for a while due to intense work pressure. In the last three years, he reduced his involvement and became less public. 

Generation shift in local politics. Another social democrat mayor resigned before his mandate ended (sixth one in a row), giving opportunity to a young person to put on the mayorship chain. This time, it’s Aarhus. The new mayor is 32 year-old Anders Winnerskjold. 

“Insufficient control of the farmers’ emissions of nitrogen,” say the State Auditors in a sharp criticism towards the Ministries of Agriculture and Environment. Nitrogen emissions are the primary cause of oxygen depletion in the sea. 

Proposals from political parties

• SF (Socialists) and Konservative (Conservatives) want a women’s prison on Jylland. Why? To expand the capacity, but also to bring the inmates from Jylland closer to their families. We have only one women’s prison in Denmark (in Jyderup, West Zealand) with limited capacity. 

Focus

The freedom to raise your flag on the flagpole might soon end. Thanks to a ruling from the Supreme Court, we have been able to raise any flag we wanted since June 2023. Unfortunately, that freedom may soon end as Parliament debates a proposal to ban national flags (with a few exceptions - Nordic and German flags). 

• We still need to wait to see the final text of the law, but the way it looks now, it seems that the ban only covers flagpoles. You can still raise the flag on literally anything else. 

• The Supreme Court ruled that a ban would go against human rights, such as the right to express yourself. The lawyer that won the first case in June 2023 will start legal proceedings again if the law passes. 

1.3 billion DKK to support the 43,000 young people that are neither in work nor education. A good share of the money will go towards free psychological help for this group, as almost half have a mental health diagnosis. Another share will be used to create “bridge” types of jobs, which can be used to give them the experience of working within a collective. You can read the agreement here. 

200 billion DKK revenue from tourism in 2030. This is the ambition of the government for the next six years. To compare, last year we had a revenue of 164 billion DKK. To achieve this goal, the government will spend 44 million DKK to promote Denmark abroad and 10 million DKK to encourage us to visit other parts of Denmark. Furthermore, 50 million DKK will be spent every year between 2025 and 2028 on tourism initiatives. 

Danish Economics HQ

Weekly economics overview 

10% of new EU funding allocated for CO2 neutrality goes to Denmark. Considering there are 27 member states in the European Union, this is a significant win for Denmark. 3.5 billion DKK will go to seven projects. Among the projects is a factory to produce green fuel (e-methanol) in Padborg. 

• 1.6 billion DKK will go towards the Aalborg Portland cement factory for a project to capture and store CO2. The company aims for zero emissions by 2030. Aalborg Portland is Denmark's absolute largest single emitter of CO2 with 1.7 million tons per year.

Multiple coastal municipalities are too poor to build the necessary defenses against great floods. For example, Kerteminde and Lolland. They asked the state to intervene and support the coastal areas. The government responded that a climate adaptation plan is coming soon and the burden for building flood defenses in the coastal areas will be shared between the state, municipalities, and landowners. 

77,738 pension-aged people are still working. An increase of 18.9% compared to last year. In fact, 57% of those close to retirement are considering continuing working during the pension years. Why? Since January 2023, a new law ensures that one’s pension is not affected by the income of the spouse / cohabitant. Plus other measures that increase the employment deductions, making it more attractive to continue working. 

Focus

How to prepare for your first meeting with the bank when you are asking for a mortgage loan: Typically, the bank can offer you a loan that is up to four times your annual income and with a 5% down payment if you are an EU citizen. This means an 80% mortgage loan, 15% bank loan, and 5% cash. If you can afford more than 5% cash, then you can either get a higher mortgage or take a smaller bank loan. 

• The bank can refuse a mortgage loan if they notice that you do not have a history of saving at least part of your income. If you tend to burn through all your money every month, it will be difficult for them to trust you with a loan. They usually look back at the last 6–12 months to see your spending habits. 

• Your debts count towards the maximum amount you can borrow from the bank. This means that the amount is decreased by the total debt, be that another loan for a car or SU debt, etc. If you have troubles with the debt agency due to unpaid debts, usually it can mean a direct refusal from the bank. 

• Contact at least three different banks to get mortgage loan offers. Ensure that they work with different mortgage institutions. For example, if they all work with Totalkredit, the loan offer will be the same.

• From reports we received from our readers, it seems that for non-Europeans, they usually ask for up to a 20% downpayment. 

Despite low quality and warnings about the dangerous chemicals used in their products, Temu has become the most used webshop in Denmark. How can Temu be so cheap? First, they sell products directly from factories in China to the customer. As they call themselves just an intermediary platform, they avoid EU regulations regarding product safety. Second, it is cheap for companies to send from China to Denmark as there is a discount on delivery via the postal services. 

Entrepreneurship Corner

Aalborg Institute for Development is looking for a trainer/speaker on the topic of financial planning and understanding finances for entrepreneurs who can travel to Viborg for a course for international entrepreneurs. Paid opportunity. Send a mail to pl@aalborgid.com 

Tip of the week! If you want to expand your team, you have the following options: a) 1-month trainee from Jobcenter (unpaid); b) 3 to 6 months subsidized employee from Jobcenter (50% of the salary paid); c) 6 months subsidized employees from SMV:Growth Pilot (50% of the salary paid). If you are from Aalborg and surroundings, you can also access an EU-scheme that can give you an employee paid by the European Union for a period between a month and a year. If interested in SMV:Growth Pilot and/or the EU-scheme, write to info@aalborgid.com.

Daily Life in Denmark HQ

Insights into the Danish way of life

This week, the Minister of Social Affairs and Housing Sophie Hæstorp Andersen revoked permission for Danes to adopt children from South Africa. Although seemingly irrelevant, the news comes at a time when fertility and parenthood are at the top of conversation subjects around the table. This might then be a good time to take a look at Denmark’s history with adoptions.

Back in the 20th century, the Vietnam War triggered a peak of adoptions by Western parents, including Danes, a trend that extended to the 70s and 80s. During these decades, South Korea, India, and Colombia became major countries from which Danish families adopted children.

In response to the growing numbers of international adoptions, through the years Denmark incorporated harsher regulations around bringing foreign kids into the country. 

One of the well-known facts about why processes have been made difficult is that Danish media eventually discovered a dark truth about adoptions: some parents were happily getting kids that were presented as abandoned or orphaned, but in fact had biological families that had been coerced to give their kids away.

Despite the decline, Denmark remains a country with a high percentage of internationally adopted children relative to its population, a trend that probably stems from the fact that very few children are available for domestic adoption in Denmark. 

One might wonder where these adoptions are taking place, as Danes remain very homogenous-looking people. This somehow points to a different question to ask: how effective is the integration system for foreign kids in a country like Denmark? As always, we don’t have all the answers, but we hope the questions in this section might inspire reflection that is useful for our readers.

Weekly overview

Too late to keep the global temperature rise below 1.5 degrees Celsius. A new report from the United Nations shows that we are heading towards a 2.8-degree temperature increase. The only significant decrease in greenhouse emissions compared to 2022 has been recorded in the European Union (-7.2%). With the exception of the United States (which also presented a small decrease of -1.4%), the rest of the world has increased their greenhouse emissions. 

• If we look at greenhouse emissions per person, the USA and Russia are the countries that need to do the most work. If we take Africa as the ideal (2.2 tons per person), then both countries need to reduce almost 17 tons per person. In the European Union, we also need to reduce 5 tons per person. 

Denmark started to prepare for significant floods that endanger 40% of the territory. Several municipalities launched special climate initiatives to prepare homeowners. If you live in an area with a risk of flooding, it is a good idea to invest in a pump. Then, make sure to waterproof your house by blocking all possible entry points. You can also prepare sandbags, which you put around your house. 

• Kolding, Vejen, and Syddjurs invited people to participate in courses on “how to protect your house from flooding.” 

A village in Thisted will be demolished to expand the National Test Center for Large Wind Turbines. 34 families will be expropriated from the area. The last time a village was razed to the ground by the state was in 1960, when the Army had to expand a shooting range. The test center is located in Europe's best wind field.

Say hello to “Gefion,” Denmark’s newest AI-powered supercomputer. Approved researchers and companies can access the supercomputer. If you are a startup that needs some serious processing power, then you should apply for approval to use Gefion. 

• Gefion is the result of the collaboration between the Novo Nordisk Foundation, Denmark's Export and Investment Fund (EIFO), and Nvidia.

Discovery: The fossil of the first flying lizard in Denmark was found in Stevns Klint. You can see it here. 

Latest from the “War on Screens”

A private school from Odense banned social media use for students under 13 years old and proposed that parents sign a contract in which they take responsibility to keep children away from social media platforms. 

Mariagerfjord is the first municipality in Denmark to certify schools in the usage of screens by students. They want the schools to use screens more sparingly during classes and even in afterschool programs. The idea is to only use screens when it positively benefits the child's development. 

International Community in Denmark HQ

19.2% of the international students at Højskolerne come from Japan. Højskolerne are boarding schools for people over 18 years old to study a wide variety of subjects. 

Florin Lungu made his debut on lwid.dk with an article about navigating leadership in multicultural teams. 

Excerpt “Stepping into a leadership role in a multicultural team is like walking into a bustling market square. Imagine the blend of aromas from a dozen different food stalls, each representing a different culture and tradition. The colors are vibrant, the sounds diverse—a cacophony of voices in a dozen languages. Leading in this space is exciting, but also overwhelming. You want to savor the richness, but you need a plan to navigate the complexity.”

Elizabeth McClure also debuted with the column “Belonging”. The first episode is “The neighborhood that started with a tortilla”. 

Excerpt “When we move to a foreign country, especially if the country is far from our own, we lose that sense that we have people we can call on for help. And we lose that social support at the very same moment that we embark on a transition that completely upends our lives.”

Sebastian Florian covered the EU referendum in Moldova, also making his debut as reporter. 

Excerpt “You might have missed it, but one of the fiercest political battles in Europe took place on Sunday, October 20th, in the small country of Moldova. A referendum was held to decide whether the constitution should be amended to express a commitment to European integration.”

Announcement Board

Odense, October 30, 18:00: You can join this workshop with Q&A that will cover key topics that many internationals wish they had known before moving to Denmark. Participants will gain insights into the dynamics of culture shock and its psychological impacts, along with tools to manage the emotional ups and downs of international relocation. It’s free to join but spots are limited.

Odense, October 31, 09:00-11:00:  If you are an accompanying partner to an international and you wish to learn more about job searching in Denmark, you can join Job Search Seminars. The first seminar is on October 31, but there are more in the coming weeks. Make sure to sign up no later than three days in advance of each session. 

Aarhus, November 6, 16:30 - 18:30: Join a network meeting between Danes and Internationals while listening to a debate about Denmark's future place in the UN Security Council and EU presidency, as well as how this will affect the cooperation between the two organisations. Where? Kulturhus bunkeren (Olof Palmes Allé 11, 8200). Sign up by sending an email to kurtnielsen.kn@gmail.com 

International media about Denmark HQ

Denmark revolutionizes global mobility with this fuel (Econews) 

Denmark Launches Leading Sovereign AI Supercomputer to Solve Scientific Challenges With Social Impact (Nvidia Blog) 

Denmark’s Spending Dilemma: Cheerful Minds, Tight Purses (BCG)

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