Last Week in Denmark (04.09 - 11.09) Episode 30 Year 2

Lower electricity tax, Higher tax deductions, Tips to reduce energy consumption

Editor HQ

For the second year in a row, events are organized in September to welcome internationals all over Denmark. Under the name “Welcome September” more than 60 events are ready to welcome you and your friends. 

• North Denmark: Aalborg (15 September / New to Denmark Fair); Thisted (21 September / Living in Thy); Frederikshavn (1 October / Culture Day) 

• Central Denmark: Randers (14 September / Discover the locals); Struer (16 September / Welcome to Struer); Aarhus (1 October / Aarhus City Welcome); Herning (24 September / Expat Fair) 

• South Denmark: Esbjerg (13 September / International Day); Odense (24 September / International Welcome Day); Vejle (11 September / Welcome trip); Sønderborg (24 September / Welcome Day for Newcomers) 

• Copenhagen (23-24 September / International Citizen Day) 

Call to action: If you think more internationals should be reading this newsletter and you plan to attend any of the events from “Welcome September”, please consider becoming our ambassador for a day. Your role? Spread the word about us to fellow internationals and help them sign up. 

• If you have access to a printer and don’t mind taking some flyers with you, we can send you a template. Just send a mail to narcis1george@gmail.com in the following days. 

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Danish Politics HQ

New laws and strategies

Changes to the electricity tax: A majority in the Danish Parliament decided to lower the electricity tax to 68.8 øre from October 1st  until the end of the year. From the 1st of January 2023, the electricity tax will be further lowered to 65.5 øre. At the same time, they have also decided to increase the employment deduction to 43,500 DKK until January 2023, when it will further increase to 44,300 DKK. 

It’s getting colder in schools, town halls, and other public buildings: The government decided to lower the temperature in public buildings to 19 degrees (usually it is 21-22 degrees) from October 1st . Exemption is made for hospitals, elderly care centers, and nurseries. Also, all unnecessary night lights will be switched off. 

• The heating in public buildings will only switch on if the temperature inside drops to under 19 degrees. 

According to the government, we are not in an energy supply crisis yet. However, we are preparing ourselves for the worst case scenario, which would be a collapse of the European gas market and a very harsh winter. Then we can expect hours without heat and/or electricity. For now, we all can contribute towards reducing the consumption, by turning off the lights, taking cold showers, and reducing the heat inside the house. For every degree you lower the temperature, you reduce your heat consumption by 5%. 

Rwanda is ready to welcome asylum seekers from Denmark: If you enter Denmark and ask for asylum (protection from persecution, war, etc.), you can risk being sent to Rwanda to wait there while your case is processed. Denmark and Rwanda signed a cooperation agreement. Denmark will also invest 75 million DKK in green projects in Rwanda. 

• The international community is not happy with Denmark’s actions regarding treatment of asylum seekers. The United Nations Refugee Agency and the European Commission criticized the agreement. Human Rights Watch also declares Rwanda “unsafe” for asylum seekers, as the country is ruled by one party that dislikes any opposing voices. 

• Great Britain made a similar agreement with Rwanda to send asylum seekers there. 

• Denmark plans to send 1000 asylum seekers in the next months to Rwanda. Ukrainians are exempt. 

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The parliamentary elections 2022

The first prime minister debate: Mette Frederiksen, Søren Pape and Jakob Ellemann-Jensen faced each other for the first time in a presidential debate over who should be the next prime minister of Denmark. 

• The blue camp managed well the disadvantage of having two prime minister candidates. For the voters it’s clear that Søren and Jakob have different economic visions for Denmark and a blue government will look different depending on who will be at the helm. 

• The conservative prime minister candidate Søren Pape has been attacked by both Mette and Jakob over his economic vision for Denmark that will affect the welfare state. 40.000 public employees would lose their jobs, according to them. 

• The social democrat prime minister candidate Mette Frederiksen has been attacked on the presumption that she is “too powerful”. She replied that she is the “safe hand at the wheel during difficult times”. Denmark is going from crisis to crisis in the last couple of years and a blue government brings uncertainty about the future. 

• Mette Frederiksen has also signalled to the public employees that they deserve higher salaries, although she cannot do much about it. The Danish model says that salaries are negotiated between the employees and employers, without political interference. 

Lower the electricity tax: Venstre’s leader Jakob Ellemann-Jensen proposed to lower the electricity tax from 72,3 øre / Kwh hour to 0,8 øre / Kwh hour for the next 6 months. The Conservative’s leader Søren Pape proposed the same reduction until 2030 instead of 6 months. 

• Enhedslisten and SF are against the idea of lowering the electricity tax. They argue that it will cost the state budget 3.5 billion DKK, which will need to be cut from somewhere else. 

• A model is being discussed in which the electricity tax would be lowered only for the lower-income segment of the population. 

What are the Danish voters' most important topics during this parliamentary campaign? 29% believe that the politicians should focus on finding solutions for the issues in the healthcare system. 14% believe that the management of the Danish economy is the most important topic while another 14% consider a focus on environment and climate issues is needed. Only 6% have an interest to see politicians talk about integration, refugees and immigrants, topics that used to be the most important in the past. 

A documentary this week about the activity of the job centers called “Håbløst arbejde” with regards to the people that are too ill to work and too healthy to go on early retirement, has created a wave of anger against the job centers with some parties asking for them to be reformed (Venstre, SF, Enhedslisten). Why? It seems that the meetings with the job centers were traumatizing for some of the people. 

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Law proposals

Reform of the weapons law: According to the minister of justice, Mattias Tesfaye, it should be even more difficult to own a gun than it is already today. He is planning to propose some changes to the weapons law. Why? People with mental illness should not be allowed to own guns, to avoid public shootings like the one two months ago in Fields Copenhagen. 

Changes in the advertisement of the gambling industry: The government has proposed to ban famous actors and athletes from appearing in ads that promote gambling. 

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Danish Economy HQ

10 tips to save energy

• Take shorter and colder showers (if you reduce your shower time with hot water from 15 to 5 minutes, you can save 5.000 DKK/year). 

• Avoid using the dryer for clothes (save 2.500 DKK/year). 

• Wash your clothes less often at a lower temperature (30 degrees) (your washing machine represents 23% of your energy consumption). 

• If you have a variable energy contract, then monitor when the energy is the cheapest to use. 

• Completely switch off devices you don’t use (leaving them on standby represents 10 to 15% of your energy consumption) (save 1.000 DKK/year). 

• Get rid of old appliances (fridge, dishwasher, etc.) that consume a lot of energy. 

• Keep the heat radiator on maximum 3 (or 2 if you can tolerate the cold). 

• Drive with other people - have the car full each time you use it. 

• Drive slower. 

• Pump your tires. 

Changes to the property tax: From 1st January 2024, the yearly amount you pay in property tax (Ejendomsværdiskatten - Property value tax and Grundskylden - land tax) will change. You can use the calculator here to see the reduction for your property. If you are a house owner before the 1st of January 2024, you get to keep the discounted property tax, if you get a house afterwards, then you will pay a higher property tax. Basically, if you plan to buy a house, do it before the end of 2023. 

• From 2024, the property tax will automatically increase if the price of the house increases. 

Erase the debt: The people in Denmark have a total debt of 152 billion DKK to the Danish state. For example, speeding fines, old SU loans and unpaid taxes. The chairman of the Danish State Auditors called for 10 billion DKK to be pardoned, as the people owing those money are unable to pay. Other tax experts consider that a higher amount (50 billion DKK) could be pardoned. The tax minister will consider the idea in the near future. 

Higher interest rate: From September 9th, the Danish National Bank has raised the interest rate from -0,1% to 0.65%. If you have a variable loan, you will pay more on the next bill. After 11 years of low interest rates, the perspective is grim ahead for people that have borrowed money or want to borrow money. 

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Daily Life in Denmark HQ

Innovation during times of crisis: The enterprises that depend on energy for production, like horticulture, got creative in avoiding high energy bills that will force them to close down. Knud Jepsen A/S with support from researchers at SDU and Aarhus University have developed an algorithm that regulates energy use based on weather forecasts and energy price monitoring. 

Sport with Jelimir Vlastici

Mads Pedersen won the 19th stage of Vuelta in Spain. On Friday the Dane was the first cyclist to cross the finishing line on the 19th stage. This is the third stage win in the Spanish tour this year, the previous two were stages 13 and 16. Regarding the overall standings, the leader is the Belgian Remco Evenepoel, with a comfortable margin of more than 2 minutes over the Spaniard Enric Mas.

This weekend, a Chechen refugee, Tupal Bisultanov will represent Denmark in the World Wrestling Championship in Belgrade. The 20-year-old wrestler is fighting a demanding battle, both on and off the mat. Tupal is chasing a medal in Belgrade and, shortly after, he will focus on getting his Danish citizenship, which is a requirement if he wants to maintain his ambition to make it to the Olympics in 2024. Five months ago, Bisultanov won European Championship gold in the 87-kilogram class in Greco-Roman wrestling, and the expectation for a medal in the World Cup is high. The World Championship in Belgrade will be held from the 10th until the 18th of September. 

Local news

Reduced municipal tax in Copenhagen: The majority in Copenhagen City Council has decided to lower the municipal tax with 0.1%. The agreement included two red parties (Enhedslisten and Radikale Venstre) and all the blue parties. Socialdemokratiet and SF have been against the tax reduction as it will lower the city budget by 130 million DKK. 

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European Union HQ

Queen Elizabeth Windsor is dead: The 96-year-old monarch of the United Kingdom is being mourned by people of the world. You can see here her life in pictures and what impact she had on the world. 

United Kingdom’s new prime minister: After winning the internal leadership race for the leadership of the Conservative Party, Liz Truss has been designated as the prime minister of the United Kingdom. Read here the mistakes made by Boris Johnson that ended up with him losing his seat before time. 

European Union measures to lower the price of electricity: Ursula Von der Leyen, EU Commission President, proposed to tax the sellers of electricity and then use the money collected to give energy subsidies to the people. Now, the EU’s energy ministers (one from each EU member state) will have to decide what measures they will implement from the following options. 

• Tax on electricity sales - backed by Ursula Von der Leyen, Germany and France. 

• Mandatory consumption reductions in peak hours - Poland, Spain and Malta are against the idea. 

• Decoupling of gas and electricity prices. This is the more ambitious option and would mean electricity made from cheaper sources is no longer sold at the price of the most expensive source (gas). 

• Price caps on gas. The Commission has proposed a cap on the price paid for Russian pipeline gas, but some countries such as Slovakia and Hungary fear Russian President Vladimir Putin would react by stopping all gas flows to Europe.