Last Week in Denmark (07.08 - 14.08) Episode 27 Year 2

The rent nightmare; Exchange rate surcharge; Opportunity

Editor HQ

11 days until the “Political Festival of Europe”. A milestone for the international community, the largest event in English ever held in Denmark. A milestone for “Last Week in Denmark” as democracy and media partners. As members of the “International Community” in Denmark, it’s our duty to ensure that this event goes further than the first edition. When? 25-28 August Where? Mariager, North Denmark.

Opportunity: The European Commission is giving away free large posters with maps of Europe made for children. You can order it from here by pressing the blue button “Order a copy”. 

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Danish Politics HQ

The political game

As we have announced in the last edition, the unofficial campaign (the official one will start the moment the prime-minister announces elections and it will last 3 weeks) has started. Political parties have started to present their vision for the future of Denmark and to position themselves in the eyes of the voters. 

• Venstre (Liberals) has presented a new housing plan (to be implemented if they win the elections) - a tax deduction for first-time house owners; 122.000 new houses until 2030; noise control and covering of motorways; fewer taxes on houses with a value under 1 million DKK. With this plan, Venstre aims to attract social-democrat voters towards them and win the race for the government. 

• Venstre plans to win votes by tapping into people’s dream to own a house. At the moment, 51% of the people in Denmark live in rented houses. Ever since the pandemic, the number of people that desire their own house has increased dramatically. 

• DF (Nationalists) risks not entering the Parliament this time, so Morten Messerschmidt (their infamous leader, also the most unpopular politician in Denmark) decided to challenge Inger Støjberg to a debate in Hadsund (Inger’s hometown). In his opinion, people need to see what the difference between DF and Inger’s party is. Inger accepted the challenge. 

• Radikale Venstre (Social Liberals) are continuing with their ultimatum to Mette Frederiksen to call for elections on the 4th of October the latest. If she doesn’t do it, they will leave the “red block” and point towards a “blue” prime minister. Radikale Venstre dreams for a red-blue government, where the social-democrats lead Denmark together with the liberals and conservatives. They also presented their vision for the future and which includes new taxes on flying, diesel, and car ownership and the removal of the “efterløn” (early retirement). 

• SF (Socialists) made 16 demands in order to support a new social-democrat-led government. Among them, you can find a request for a greener government that focuses on making Denmark climate neutral by 2040; the law of nature; cleaner groundwater; more focus on children and youth; refugees should not be sent home if it’s unsafe. SF has recovered after the 2014 meltdown and since then has stayed away from drama, while attracting the more traditional voters of the social-democrats. 

The winter is coming for people that are renting: Since July 2015, it was decided that the rent can be increased every year based on inflation. 95% of all rent contracts since then have this provision that rent increases based on net price index. From 1st January, 180.000 homes will see their rent increase between 8 and 10%. 

• If you are renting, check your contract to see if it says that the rent increases based on the net price index. You can find that information in clause 11 “special conditions” which can also be found in the annex. 

  • Check to see if your contract is under “Lejeloven” (Tenancy Act) or “Boligreguleringsloven” (Housing Regulation Act). If it is under the second, the increase will be smaller. 

  • You can see the net price index on Statistics Denmark. Check what is the regulation month (in the contract) and then compare that month with the same month from the previous year and see what percentage increase is there. That’s how much your rent will increase. 

SF and Enhedslisten (Red-Green Alliance) have requested the intervention of the government. The minister of housing and interior, Christian Rabjerg Madsen acknowledges the danger that renters face and decided to meet with the two political parties to find solutions. 

Law proposals

Safety for cyclists: In Denmark, there is no legal distance requirement when you “overtake” cyclists with your car. Now, the Ministry of Transport wants to follow the example of Germany, Belgium, Spain and introduce a concrete distance requirement (1.5 to 2 meters). A law proposal will be presented in the autumn. 

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Danish Economy HQ

The state of economy: According to economists, the Danish economy is in a transition period that can lead to either better times or really bad times. It became hard to predict what’s coming next. 

• If you look at the record-high employment, shortage of workers, the high demand, the average 4% salary increases and the large amount of money sitting in the personal accounts of the people in Denmark - then we are doing really well. 

• If you look at the record-high inflation, falling GDP that leads towards recession and rising interest rates - then we aren’t doing so well. It’s a matter of perspective. 

• The sad part is that the economy needs to cool down to bring the inflation back to normal. This also means that unemployment will rise again. Some people need to pay the price so that we all pay a smaller price when we go grocery shopping. 

• In layman’s terms, we need to buy less of everything. Avoid big investments that f.ex. require huge amounts of construction materials.

The prices keep going up: Inflation has reached 8,7% (this means that the prices in July 2022 are 8,7% higher than in July 2021). The highest increase since 1983. According to Nykredit, a family needs to spend 39,000 DKK more to have the same amount of goods purchased as last year. 

• The top 10 everyday foods that got the highest increase in price (compared to last year) are - butter (50%); beef (29%); baby food (28%); milk (27%); fresh fish (25%); eggs (25%); cheese (23%); coffee (22%); yogurt (21%); bread (14%). 

Exchange rate surcharge: It’s the percentage of the amount you pay in another currency levied by the bank. So basically whenever you go abroad and pay something with your card or you buy something online from a foreign store, you pay a tax to your bank. 

• The Competition Council (Konkurrencerådet) considers that we have paid too much in the past years and ordered Danske Bank and Nordea to lower the percentage of the exchange rate surcharge. 

• Danske Bank removed the tax within the European Union and lowered it to 1,5% outside of the European Union. Nordea reduced the fee to 1% within the European Union and 1,5% outside of the European Union. 

• Lunar is the only bank that doesn’t have an exchange rate surcharge, regardless of where you are in the world on VISA Pro/Premium. However, on the VISA Standard, it is 1% for the whole world. 

• The worst banks to use while shopping from abroad are: Vestjysk Bank (2% EU, 2.9% non-EU); Jyske Bank (2% World); Middelfart Sparekasse (2% World); SAS EuroBonus (2% World); Skjern Bank (2% World); Sparekassen Danmark (2% World). 

The Google Scandal: The Danish Data Protection Authority (Datatilsynet) has banned the schools (folkeskoler) in Helsingør from using Google Workspace as support for teaching. Why? The municipality cannot guarantee the safety of the students’ personal data. 

• Helsingør received the first warning in September 2021. They made severe mistakes in the implementation of Google Workspace into teaching. F.ex - the students got Youtube accounts with their real name. 

• 40 municipalities (out of 98) use Google software as support for teaching. The Danish Data Protection Authority will investigate further 20 municipalities in regards to their use of Google Workspace and Chromebooks for education. 

• Aarhus City Council spent 56 million DKK on 23.000 chromebooks given to students at the schools within the municipality. Now the municipality risks having the entire education system paralyzed if Datatilsynet decides to ban Google products. 

• A Chromebook is a cheap laptop (max. 2000 DKK) that has Google Workspace for Education pre-installed. Some experts are saying that Google is using the Chromebook to collect data from the students to learn how to target them later in life. 

If you are among the 400.000 of the households that use gas for heating (or your district heating is 65% based on gas; or you use an electric heater or heat pump) you will automatically receive 6.000 DKK on your account. If you didn’t receive the payment automatically (for whatever reasons), you can apply for it in 8 weeks here. P.S - Your family income in 2020 should be under 650,000 DKK.

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Daily Life in Denmark HQ

130 Danish soldiers will train Ukrainian civilians in Britain. One-month long training of people with no military experience to prepare them in how to use a weapon, how to survive in the winter and how to defend against artillery. 100 million DKK have been allocated by the Danish government for the training of Ukrainian soldiers. 

63 weeks to see a psychiatrist: That’s how long the waiting list is today. However, due to an understanding between the psychiatrists and the general practitioners, your doctor can send you for a rapid psychiatric evaluation (§66 agreement) if you suspect that you have stress, anxiety or depression. 

Monkeypox vaccine: The Danish Health Authority is offering the vaccine to men that have sex with other men, as they are the most vulnerable to get monkeypox. The virus that can cause, among other things, fever, swollen lymph nodes and a rash with white blisters. The illness usually lasts two to four weeks and in most cases goes away on its own. The vast majority of patients are expected to make a full recovery. 

This year, Russian planes invaded Danish airspace 51 times, keeping the Danish fighter jets very busy, pushing them out. 

10 Danish clothing and textile companies made an agreement with the Danish Environmental Protection Agency (Miljøstyrelsen) to use more recycled textiles in their production. They need to reach 40% by 2030. 

Sport with Jelimir Vlastici

This week, Herning was the host of the World Championship in Jumping, Dressage, Para Dressage and Vaulting. Thus, making it the most important equestrian event held on Danish soil. The small town welcomed around 550 athletes from 70 nations; and more than 200.000 visitors. 

Worth mentioning here is that on Wednesday, Tobias Thorning won the gold medal in para dressage. This form of dressage represents the event in which an equestrian with a physical impairment is showcasing a horse’s training by performing a set of prescribed movements in front of a panel of judges.

At the time of posting this newsletter, Denmark is leading the scoreboard in terms of the number of medals obtained. The total medal tally is 7 - 3 gold, 3 silver and one bronze. 

Local news

“Pant” on takeaway packaging: The lord mayor of Copenhagen, Sophie Hæstorp Andersen, proposed to introduce a “pant” (like the one on bottles and cans) on takeaway packaging (coffee cups and takeaway trays). A “pant” is a deposit you pay extra (next to the actual price) that you can receive back if you return that item.