Last Week in Denmark (09.07 - 16.07) Episode 26 Year 3
Ban on smoking in outdoor dining; Low inflation; 10.000 empty apartments
Editor HQ
I survived the military bootcamp :) and I’m back to doing my favorite volunteer job, curating Danish media. We are already in mid-July, so most of you must be somewhere else in the world, discovering new places, visiting family and friends, or simply relaxing on a beach with a cocktail in your hands. Enjoy your well-deserved vacation, and don’t worry, you will be able to catch up on what happened at home by searching in your mail, our latest newsletter editions.
We need your feedback on the merchandise project: As you have seen in previous editions, we made a call for international artists living in Denmark to design our merchandise line. From the dozens of submissions, we have chosen to go forward with Julie Smith-Belton, an artist from South Africa who lives in Roskilde.
Before we make the final decision on the merchandise line, we would like to ask for your comments and opinions. So if you have 10 minutes available to take a look at the drafts here, we would be very grateful.
You can leave comments directly on each slide (by using the Ctrl+Alt+M function), or you can give more general feedback here.
Thanks to your donations, the “Last Week in Denmark” podcast will have a professionally made jingle that will become our identity sound. It has been quite a heartwarming experience to see that in less than 48 hours we gathered the sum we needed.
The patrons of our identity sound are Laura Agrigoroaie, Adrian Solomon, Aleksandra Slowinska, Florin Savin, Florin Catalin Hazu, Ondrej Ceska, Simona Mihaela Alupului, Alexandru Stelian Craciun, Ioan Romanas Alupului, Willem Van Den Brekel, Kitti Alexandra Fabian, Bogdan Bosinceanu, Alexandru Gabriel Medrihan, Traian Lehaci, Victor Silviu Blajut, Vlad Preutu, Augustin Allard, Xisi Yang, Alexandru Avram, Ioana Malina Moise, Daniel Henrique Leiria, Irfan Kanat, Alina Hurciuc, Marton Vara, Francesca Dossena, Daniel T. Avram, Radu Ghiorghiu, Daniel Gallai, Mathias Hansen, Li Ting Goh, Mikkela Munk, Slawomir Milejski, Daniel Dragan, Ilie Alin Dumitriu, Robert Popescu, Peter Janovits, Orkun Nazim Kadioglu, Daniel Alexandru Runcan, Adrian, Bogdan Ionasca and the many others who chose to be anonymous.
The grand premiere of the jingle and the return of the podcast is on 13th August.
Danish Politics HQ
Law proposals and ideas
51% of the people in Denmark support a ban on smoking in outdoor dining: There is already a ban on smoking inside restaurants, cafes, and bars. Now, a majority wants the ban to be extended to outside areas of the places where they serve food and drinks. Why? Passive smoking. Even if only one person smokes outside, everyone else present will be affected by the toxic elements in the smoke. Hanging around smokers is like smoking yourself.
Radikale Venstre (Social Liberals) supports the extension of the ban on outdoor dining areas. Liberal Alliance (Libertarians) wants to leave it up to each restaurant/café to decide if they want to be a smoke-free zone or not. The government parties are most likely inclined to support the ban as they want to severely reduce the percentage of young smokers.
The political arena
Jens Stoltenberg will continue as NATO Secretary General until October 2024: This gives Mette Frederiksen a year and three months to decide if she wants to continue as prime minister of Denmark or switch jobs. Regardless, she now has to convince her own party, the other government parties, and the people of Denmark in general that she still wants to be prime minister and is willing to dedicate 100%.
Danish Economy HQ
2.5% inflation in June: We are getting very close to the target level of 2%. The last time inflation was so low was in September 2021. Salling and Coop, two supermarket giants on the Danish market, have already announced significant price reductions for most products. Lidl is also planning to reduce prices, and most likely the other supermarkets will follow.
Lauritz.com went bankrupt: The oldest auction house in Denmark closed its doors. Despite being on a growth path (got listed on the stock exchange in 2016, expanded to 12 auction houses, and went abroad to Belgium), they ran out of money. The previous year ended with a deficit of 59 million DKK. The total debt is 148 million DKK.
If you sold something recently through the auction house, it will be a while before you can recover your money (if ever). The auction house owes 50 million DKK to users.
If you have to recover money, then collect all your correspondence with Lauritz.com and report your claim to the bankruptcy estate.
20% increase in the price of agricultural land in Denmark: Three years ago, the price for a hectare of agricultural land was 150.000 DKK. Today, it increased to 181.000 DKK. Why? There is a demand for green conversion projects - to transform agricultural land into forests or solar cell parks.
It is predicted that the agricultural area of Denmark will be reduced by 10% until 2030. The value of farmland will continue to increase, making the current farmers very happy. However, the future looks bleak for new farmers who have to acquire land.
Today, 61% of Denmark’s area is agricultural land.
Daily Life in Denmark HQ
Warning! Do not let your small dog bathe in a lake: Silkeborg Municipality warns small dog owners to stay away from Silkeborg Langsø and Gjessø. Why? Poisonous blue-green algae that developed due to the strong sun we had in the previous weeks. Small dogs can die in contact with the poison.
Is this only in Silkeborg? So far, only Silkeborg made an announcement, but it’s hard to believe that other lakes escaped the blue-green algae infestation. When you go into a lake, all the way up to your knees, and you cannot see your toes, then you should not bathe in there.
The blue-green algae is not a typical algae but a cyanobacteria that, in small quantities, is invisible to the eye. You can see it when it covers the water with a thin layer of paint (which can be green, brown, yellow, blue, or a combination of them). Foam in the water is a clear no-no for bathing.
10.000 empty apartments in Aarhus: After many years of intensive building, there are now more homes than tenants in the second-largest city of Denmark. This means Aarhus is a tenant’s market, where the landlords have to compete for tenants. How? Two months free rent (Blækhus Aarhus Nord), Two months free rent + 3000 DKK Rema1000 giftcard (Risskov Engby), Free bicycle (Basecamp Katrinebjerg), 10000 DKK gift card for furniture (Arresøvej Risskov).
The longest reigning monarch in Danish history: The current queen Margrethe has become the longest reigning monarch in Danish history this month, after defeating the record established by king Christian IV - 51 years and six months. She became Queen of Denmark on 14th January 1972.
Queen Margrethe turned 83 in April this year. She intends to rule until death.
7.5 million passengers through Copenhagen Airport during the summer: A record has been broken in terms of how many commercial planes are flying at the same time. 134.386 planes in one day. At the same time, we are experiencing extreme weather conditions, like the very high temperatures in Southern Europe. It’s strange, we want to live more climate-friendly, but we are not willing to give up flying. Would a tax on flying moderate the usage of planes for traveling?
European Union HQ
This category covers interesting happenings from other EU member states, EU candidate countries and EFTA countries (Norway, Iceland, Switzerland)
Sweden can join NATO: After months of negotiations, Turkey has finally decided to accept Sweden's bid to join NATO. The price? Sweden will push for Turkey’s bid to join the European Union (they applied in 1987). Is that all? No. Sweden will resume arms exports to Turkey and expand the counter-terrorism operation against the PKK (Kurdistan Workers' Party). Basically, Sweden is no longer a “safe haven” for anti-Erdogan activists.
For Denmark, the fact that Finland joined and Sweden will join, is a reason for celebration. Within NATO, they can build the “United Nordic Army”.
Conclusions after the NATO Summit in Vilnius: It was clearly said that Ukraine will become a member of NATO and that the procedure to integrate Ukraine and raise its standards to NATO level has already started. A special NATO-Ukraine Council has been established to monitor the progress of the reforms.
Russia has been designated as the “most significant threat to the NATO allies”, while they are open to “a constructive dialogue” with China. They expect China to condemn the Russian aggression against Ukraine before such a dialogue can even start.
NATO members are required to spend at least 2% of their GDP on defense while being encouraged to go well above that limit. Each member state needs to spend 20% of the defense budget on military equipment.
More NATO troops and military equipment will be moved to “potential invasion danger areas”.
The “Nature Restoration Law” has passed in the European Parliament: Main point? Rehabilitation of 20% of Europe’s degraded ecosystems until 2030. The regulation establishes binding targets in seven fields of action, such as farmlands, peatlands, pollinators, and sea bottoms, with the goal of reversing the environmental damage caused by unchecked human activity and climate change.
In other words, more support will be given to stop the decline of bees and other pollinators; the cities will be forced to open up more green areas; the watercourses will have to be unblocked and cleaned; and in general, the spotlight will be put on natural areas in decay.
France declares war on textile waste: 700.000 tonnes of clothes are thrown away every year in France. In an effort to convince citizens to stop throwing away clothes and to maintain them for a longer period, the French government decided to give “clothes and shoes repair support” in the value of 7 to 25 euros, depending on the repair.
With this initiative, the sewing and shoe repair industries in France will be reinvigorated.
Announcement Board
This section is curated by Cicek Eris. If you have events you want us to include here please send an e-mail to denmarkhappenings@gmail.com. You can check out her newsletter about cultural events in Denmark here.
Invitation to Copenhagen Opera Festival: When? 11-20 August Where? All over Copenhagen. The festival offers an extensive program, including classic operas interpreted with a contemporary vision, featuring newly commissioned productions, world premieres, and classics with world-renowned soloists, conductors, and directors, performances for the whole family, and many events. Read more here. (in English)
International media about Denmark HQ
This Hyperlocal Restaurant Is Worth A Trip To Denmark (Forbes Magazine)