Last Week in Denmark (03.12 - 10.12) Episode 47 Year 3
Digital rejsekort; New education programs; Higher salaries
Editor HQ
Opportunity: Free online course about your rights and opportunities as a European Union citizen living in Denmark provided by AMIS with funding from Europa-Naevnet. When? Saturday, 16th December at 14:00. Sign up here.
There are still 40 places available for the Zoom workshop.
Public speaking workshop in Aalborg: You are invited on 14th December (Thursday) at 17:00 for a free workshop on public speaking at the International House North Denmark. The workshop is delivered by me (Narcis) and is provided by the European-Ukrainian Hub.
Danish History online course: If you are preparing for the Danish citizenship course or simply want to better understand Danish society, then I recommend you take this free online course (a great way to spend your free days during the winter holidays - at your own pace). The course is created by Aarhus University.
The Turkish edition of the newsletter goes into an indefinite hiatus: If you are interested in taking over the Turkish edition, write us at lastweekdk@gmail.com.
Vote for the Furesø Museer (Immigrant Museum, Mosegaarden and Cornelen) in the yearly competition for the best museum in Denmark - “Årets Bedste Museer 2023”.
How do I vote? Send an SMS with the code MUS 188 to 52 51 09 87. There is no extra cost for the SMS.
Read more about the competition here. You can vote until 14th December.
How cool it would be if we mobilized to make the “Immigrant Museum” the nr.1 museum in Denmark!
Winter vacation: On December 17th (next Sunday), we will publish the last newsletter of this year. We will return on January 21st (the third week of the year). It’s a long break (one month), and we apologize for that, but we need to give our volunteers time to rest, and we need to plan for 2024. We have received a lot of useful feedback from surveys, and we will incorporate it into the next stage of “Last Week in Denmark”.
Congratulations to the three winners of the survey competition. Charls Foster Mataro, Riccardo Garavaldi, and Georgian Gabriel Iacob. They have already received their prize - a Microsoft Surface 6 laptop. We have used a randomizer program to select the three winners.
Danish Politics HQ
New Laws and Regulations
6.8 billion DKK salary increase for five groups of public employees: A tripartite agreement has been found between the unions, the employer’s association, and the government regarding an increase in salary for pedagogues, nurses, SOSUs, midwives, and prison guards. The increase will be different for the different groups, and in some cases even conditioned and it will gradually come into effect by 2026.
As part of the agreement, the government promised to no longer get involved in matters related to salaries. That is left to the negotiations between the unions and the employer’s association. Their involvement this time has been highly unusual and against the Danish model.
The pedagogues will see a monthly increase in salary of 1,800 DKK (in 2026 - next year, it will increase by 600 DKK, and in 2025, by 900 DKK).
Nurses (working in hospitals) with more than 4 years of employment will receive a salary increase of 1,600 DKK (monthly). Nurses that will be willing to take “difficult shifts - like night shifts f.ex” will get 1,400 DKK on average more per month. The same opportunities apply to SOSUs, midwives, and other healthcare staff working in hospitals.
It’s unclear at the moment what the exact salary increase will be for prison guards and healthcare staff (nurses, SOSUs) outside of hospitals.
The end of burning religious books in public spaces: After much debate, the Parliament has passed the law that bans the burning of recognized religious books (Bible, Koran, Torah, f.ex.) in public spaces (that includes the online space like social media). The law also protects the religious scriptures of the 185 recognized denominations in Denmark from degrading treatment in public.
Just as a reminder, there is also a law against burning the flag of another nation. It is punishable by prison for up to two years.
Danish Citizenship, Integration and Immigration Laws
Moderaterne (social-liberals) want to remove the “handshake requirement” for obtaining Danish citizenship: The requirement was introduced by the former minister of integration, Inger Støjberg in 2018. What does it mean? If you have applied for Danish citizenship, you need to attend a ceremony where you need to shake the hand of the mayor. If you refuse, it doesn’t matter if you fulfill all the other conditions; you will not be granted citizenship. According to Moderaterne, it’s a ridiculous requirement that doesn’t belong in a free society. You should be able to greet people as you feel comfortable.
Unfortunately, neither Socialdemokratiet (social democrats) nor Venstre (liberals) are open to the idea of removing the requirement.
Law proposals and ideas
Denmark’s Economic Council proposes a higher insurance cost against storm surge damages for people living in high-risk coastal areas: The last storm surge in October left behind damages worth 2 billion DKK. It is expected that the frequency of extreme storm surges will increase in the following years, which could lead to billions of DKK in damages every year. At the moment, we all pay the same insurance against storm surges, no matter where you are in Denmark. Denmark’s Economic Council would like to discourage people from living in high-risk coastal areas by increasing the cost of insurance.
DD (populist nationalist) and DF (conservative nationalist) are against the idea. Moderaterne (social-liberals), SF (socialists), Liberal Alliance (libertarians) and Enhedslisten (red-green alliance) support the idea. Venstre (liberals) considers it’s not the right time to talk about it.
The political arena
After only 14 days, Mia Wagner resigns from the minister position: After only a couple of days as Minister of Digitalization and Equality, Mia Wagner (known from the tv show Lion’s Den) went on sick leave. One week later, she decided to resign. The former minister, Marie Bjerre got re-appointed as the minister.
This is the third shortest term as a minister in the history of Denmark. Number one is the christian democrat Mimi Jakobsen with 9 days as Minister of Greenland (1987). Second place is the social democrat Hans Larsen-Bjerre with 12 days as Minister of Fisheries (1965).
Mia Wagner takes home as severance pay 6 months of minister salary. The annual minister's salary is 1,374,720 DKK. The rules state that even if you are a one-day minister, you still get six months of severance pay.
Funny enough, Marie Bjerre became more known thanks to being fired and then re-hired again. In just 14 days she went from being one of the anonymous ministers to being called “a future leader of the Liberal Party”.
Dead end for Margrethe Vestager; Spain’s candidate gets the presidency of the European Investment Bank: Denmark’s EU Commissioner and vice-president of the European Commission, probably the most influential Dane at the European level, Margrethe Vestager has lost the race for the presidency of the European Investment Bank. Spain’s candidate, Nadia Calviño got the position.
A Galician-born Spaniard, Nadia is the deputy Prime Minister of Spain. She is a 55-year-old technocrat (and not a member of a political party) who is not afraid to stand up to big companies. During her mandate, she implemented an extra tax on banks and energy companies due to their “extraordinary profits”.
What’s next for Margrethe? Well, she returns to her current position until a new Commision is selected after the EU Parliament elections in June 2024. Will she be considered for another mandate? Most likely, no. She is from Radikale Venstre (social liberals) and they are not in government. Will she return to Danish politics? After 10 years of being away, it will be difficult to reintegrate. so most likely she will move forward to another international-level position.
Who could be the next EU Commissioner from Denmark? The social-democrat Minister for Development Aid and Global Climate Change Cooperation, Dan Jørgensen.
Daily Life in Denmark HQ
Rejsekort (the public transport card) goes digital in 2024: There are 3.3 million people in Denmark who have the blue public transport card. It happens often that people forget their card at home and end up having to buy a ticket. To avoid that, you will be able to install an app from 2024 so that you have an alternative in case you forget it.
As extra functionality, the app will remind you when you need to check out (we often forget to do that).
With time, they plan to phase out the plastic cards and go completely digital.
Very high alert for ransomware attacks on production companies in Denmark: A ransomware attack is a cyberattack where important data is stolen and released after the company pays a certain amount of money. They specifically target production companies because they know that they cannot stop operations even for a day without significant damages, so those companies would be more willing to pay a ransom.
Healthcare with Punitha Kumar
Need masks or personal protective equipment (PPEs)? There’s a surplus of these items, 482 pallets to be exact, as they could not be donated by Region Syddanmark to Ukraine due to storage and product expiry issues. So, the region has now come forward to encourage humanitarian and charity organizations to apply for and receive new and unused protective gear. Applications are open now until March 1, 2024, or while stocks last. Region council chairman Bo Libergren said though it was a shame the supplies could not be donated as intended, perhaps NGOs and other relevant organizations will still be able to utilize the expired products. If the items are not given away by the deadline, the equipment will be destroyed. More information on how you can apply for a pallet is here.
Respiratory diseases and Covid-19 cases continue to rise, Statens Serum Institut (SSI) announced. SSI’s Dr Bolette Søborg said cases have increased for influenza, RS virus, whooping cough, and mycoplasma too. Due to the significant increase in whooping cough and mycoplasma cases, she classified both diseases as reaching epidemic levels. To stay updated with information released by the SSI, read more here.
Education
PISA results for 2022 show a decline in the level of reading and mathematics for 15-year-olds in Denmark: Compared to the last PISA results (in 2018), the average level in reading and mathematics has declined, while the level in natural sciences has improved slightly. The same can be said about the other countries, where a similar decline in reading and mathematics has been recorded.
Every three years, the PISA survey is conducted across the world. In 2022, 81 countries participated.
From Denmark, a total of 7,800 students participated from 347 educational institutions. 6,200 pupils have been tested in mathematics, reading, and science.
Top 10 countries in mathematics - Singapore, Macao, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Japan, South Korea, Estonia, Switzerland, Canada and Netherlands. Denmark is in 13th place.
Top 10 countries in reading - Singapore, Ireland, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Estonia, Macao, Canada, the USA, and New Zealand. Denmark is in 15th place.
Top 10 countries in natural sciences - Singapore, Japan, Macao, Taiwan, South Korea, Estonia, Hong Kong, Canada, Finland, and Australia. Denmark is in 20th place.
19 new higher education programs from 2024: Ministry of Higher Education has approved the following new programs for the next educational year. Aalborg University (Digital Health master in English; Wellbeing and Psychological Welfare master); Syddansk University (Data Science master in English - Kolding; Public Health Science master and Data Stewardship master - Odense) and several AP and PBA programs (all in Danish, unfortunately).
Climate
Until December 12th, the world leaders are meeting in Dubai to discuss climate change at COP28: The message from Dubai is clear “The world is headed for a catastrophic rise in temperature, and we must pull together. Now!”. EU’s climate service (Copernicus) reported that 2023 is the warmest year ever recorded. According to the scientists, we are heading towards a temperature increase of 2.9 degrees by the end of the century.
Denmark is fourth in the Climate Change Performance Index (CCPI 2023). However, there is no country in the first three places, as no country has shown a good enough effort against climate change. How could Denmark do better? A tax on agriculture and on biomass. In fact, Denmark should stop promoting biomass as an alternative source of energy.
Denmark will give 175 million DKK to the new Climate Fund. However, they will take most of that money from development aid meant for poor countries. In fact Denmark’s contribution to development and climate aid has reduced in the last decade from 0.9% from the national gross income to 0.7% today.
Sports with Jelimir Vlastici
Surprising defeat to Japan: Denmark is the first of the three Nordic host countries to suffer a defeat in this year's edition of the Women's World Cup handball tournament.The disappointment in Herning was palpable after the surprising defeat against Japan in the intermediate round on Thursday.
European Union HQ
This category covers interesting happenings from other EU member states, EU candidate countries and EFTA countries (Norway, Iceland, Switzerland)
The World’s Most Powerful Women 2023: The President of the EU Commission, Ursula von der Leyen is the most powerful woman in the world. The top 5 is completed by Christine Lagarde (President, European Central Bank); Kamala Harris (Vice President, USA); Giorgia Meloni (Prime Minister, Italy) and Taylor Swift (Musician, USA).
Denmark has only one woman in the top 100. Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen is in the 72nd place.
Announcement Board
This section is curated by Cicek Eris. If you have events you want us to include here please send an email to denmarkhappenings@gmail.com. You can check out her newsletter about cultural events in Denmark here.
Odense, 12th Dec, 09.00-12.00: Do you want to learn how to make LinkedIn work to your advantage in your job search? Then you can join this seminar in which you will learn all about the practical use of LinkedIn and basics of opening an account. Deadline for signing up is December 11.
Copenhagen, 12th Dec, 17.00-19.00: Are you familiar with the (un)written rules at your workplace? Do you know your rights and obligations as an employee in Denmark? Have you wondered how to handle conflicts within your team? This informative event will provide you with an understanding of the unique Danish workplace culture.
Copenhagen, 13th Dec, 17.30-20.00: If you are looking for a casual atmosphere where talented local women entrepreneurs get together, then this Christmas market event by Professional Women’s Network might be for you.
Copenhagen, 14th Dec, 18.00-20.00: Do you want to learn more about traditional Danish Christmas? Are you perhaps spending December in your new home away from your family and friends? Then you are invited to this “Welcome to Denmark” event organized by Copenhagen Municipality.
International media about Denmark HQ
Denmark and Netherlands report surge in child pneumonia as China battles outbreak (The Standard)
Denmark orders military to protect Israeli, Jewish sites in country (Jerusalem Post)
Denmark: The major pork producer trying to wean itself off eating meat (BBC)
Last Week in Denmark's Universe
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