Last Week in Denmark (09.10 - 16.10) Episode 35 Year 2

Heat Support; Unhappy youth; Tax cuts and free choice

Editor HQ

Opportunity: In collaboration with European Training Center Copenhagen, we are offering you a cybersecurity course worth 50.000 DKK, in exchange for 16 hours from your life during the month of November. Kept by a senior cybersecurity expert, the course will give you the basic understanding on how a hacker can gain access to your devices / data and what solutions low-cost are there for an entrepreneur and/or small/medium business. Sign up here until 24th October. 

• For who? Mainly entrepreneurs or people working or owning a small/medium business. However, people interested are also welcomed. Previous IT knowledge is not required. 

• When? 4 modules of 4 hours each every Saturday (09 to 13) in November 

• Module I (General terminology, CIA triad, anatomy of an attack, cybersecurity frameworks) - you will understand the tools that an attacker has to get access to your devices and data 

• Module II (Information security management - email & devices) - you will understand how to protect your email and devices 

• Module III (Users & Identity protection, Application data protection, Business cybersecurity strategy) - you will understand the risks involved in giving access to others to your data and how you can protect it 

• Module IV (Business cybersecurity strategy, cybersecurity vendors, opportunities for funding to increase your security) - you will understand how to make a business cybersecurity strategy and how to update it, where to get protection solutions and how to apply for public funding that will increase your security

• The people that participate in all four modules, will receive a diploma at the end. 

• Method? Storytelling, explanations in plain English language, live lab simulations and interactive games. 

Call to action: If you think more internationals should be reading this newsletter, 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, you can download the file from here. 

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Danish Politics HQ

Focus on: Young people 

44% of young people (between 16 and 25 years old) are unhappy with their life. This leads to bad sleep, anxiety issues, no hope for the future, depression, and sudden breakdowns. The parties have proposed the following solutions: 

• Socialdemokratiet, Venstre, Konservative, and Frie Grønne want to build an accessible service in the municipalities that can help young people cope with their situation. 

• SF, Radikale Venstre, Enhedslisten, and Alternativet want to have fewer students in primary school classes, shorter school days, more hours with 2 teachers in class and less focus on performance. 

• DF wants to focus on upskilling school teachers, pedagogues, school health nurses, and psychologists to better deal with the current situation of young people. 

• Nye Borgerlige wants to introduce one psychologist in every school.  

If you are young and need help tackling mental health challenges, you can contact the following organizations free of charge: Headspace, Ventilen, Student Counseling, Psychiatry Fonden and The Children’s Telephone (116111). 

Why are young people unhappy? 

• Acceleration - Everything has to go faster and faster. You have to finish your education earlier and figure out what you want to do in life at a younger age.

• Performance - Too much focus on performing (good grades on tests) forces young people to ask too much of themselves. 

• Psychologization - Young people today do a lot of self-monitoring, self-criticism and self-discipline. 

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The parliamentary elections 2022

Updates from the red parties 

Socialdemokratiet: There is opposition to the idea of a red-blue government from the local leaders of the party; The party proposed to raise the monthly employment deduction to 8.300 DKK for everyone besides single parents, who can get an employment deduction of up to 11.400 DKK. The idea will reduce tax on work income by 4 billion DKK. Where do they plan to get the money? Reduce the spending on job centers by 3 billion DKK and 1 billion DKK from unused funds. 

If it becomes reality, the spending reduction of 3 billion DKK at the job centers can mean layoffs (job consultants fired) and no more offers for upskilling (paid courses by Jobcentre). The current budget for the Jobcenters is 12 billion DKK/year. 

SF: The party is against the idea of reducing the tax on work, when the welfare system is so heavily underfunded. 

Enhedslisten: The party is against the idea of reducing the tax on work, as it will not help unemployed people, pensioners and sick people. 

Updates from the blue parties 

Free choice: The six leaders of the blue parties have presented five common measures that are meant to promote free choice in relation to welfare services. 

• Pregnant women should be able to choose between a public and a private hospital. The pay at the private hospital should be discounted by the value of the public one. 

• Guaranteed fertility treatment for childless couples. You should be able to go to a private clinic if you must wait longer than 30 days. 

• Young people should be able to choose the gymnasium they want and not based on their parent's income, as it is today. 

• At least one private elderly care home in every municipality. The elderly should be able to choose between a public elderly home and a private one (friplejehjem). The difference is made up by the extra services you can purchase in the private one. 

• The blue parties are encouraging the privatization of the public sector, which can lead in the long term to welfare access only for the rich. 

The “free choice” presentation sparked a debate around the question “Should elderly people be allowed to refuse care from people wearing a headscarf?” Initially, Jakob Ellemann-Jensen (Venstre) said that elderly people should be allowed to refuse (like DF proposed last month), quickly backtracking its statement after the conference, saying that free choice should be about the quality of the service and not who delivers it. 

Venstre: To compete with the Socialdemokratiet, they want to cut even more taxes. 8,7 billion DKK (more than double what Socialdemokratiet proposed). 5 billion to reduce taxes on work; 3 billion to increase the tax deduction for full-time workers and 700 million to reduce taxes for businesses. Not yet defined where the money should come from. 

Konservative: After calling Greenland, “Africa on Ice”, Søren Pape is once again in the middle of a scandal. He apologized publicly, but the Greenlandic people are not happy. 

Liberal Alliance: The young leader and TikTok influencer, Alex Vanoplasgh, has broken the rules of the Danish Parliament and now has to pay a 30.000 DKK fine. In order to get a free apartment in Copenhagen (provided by the Parliament), he maintained a home address in Struer (Jylland). However, he spent less than 180 days at his home address to be qualified as such. 

Updates from the center parties

Moderaterne: To get their support, the next prime minister needs to prioritize healthcare. They have made 5 demands regarding healthcare - an increase in salary with 2.500 DKK/month for all the medical staff; more medical secretaries to be trained in vocational institutions to free administrative time from doctors and nurses; simplify the procedure to get internationals workers into the medical system; create more part-time positions and a suspension of the 30-days treatment guarantee during 2023. 

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Danish Economy HQ

Inflation: Prices have increased in September by 10% (compared to September last year). The highest increase since November 1982. It is mostly food and energy prices that push the average price increase. Unless your salary has increased by 10% since last year, you now earn less than you did last year. 

Food banks: In times of need, people start looking towards food banks run by churches and aid organizations. You can notice now, 3-hour long queues to get 100 DKK worth of food. If you also find it difficult to put food on the table, write “kirkens foodbank” and the name of your city on Google Search and you will find a few places where you can get some. 

200 million DKK for citizens that cannot pay their heat and/or electricity bill: If you have a heat and/or electricity bill that you are unable to pay, you can go to your municipality to ask for help. A case worker will analyze your situation and if they assess that you really cannot pay it then they will cover it. However, so far only 1.1 million DKK have been used this year. 

Warning from the Economic Council: The four economic experts (Carl-Johan Dalgaard, Lars Gårn Hansen, Jakob Roland Munch (all three University of Copenhagen) and Nabanita Datta Gupta (Aarhus University) from De Økonomiske Råd are warning politicians to stop promising more money and lower taxes. Pumping money into society will lead to a longer period of high inflation, as the demand for goods and services will not decrease. The main way to reduce inflation is to reduce consumption. 

More than 100.000 people will lose their jobs in 2023, according to the Economic Council. Why? The Danish economy will slow down as a consequence of the global economy slowing down, rising interest rates and high inflation. The economic experts predict 3 years of “nearly zero growth” in Denmark before we can get out of the crisis. 

Air travel tax: The idea of introducing a 13 DKK air travel tax in Denmark is being debated by politicians at the moment. A recent survey shows that 58% of the population is willing to pay an even higher tax for each flight ticket (45 to 96 DKK). Denmark is one of the few countries in Europe without an air travel tax. The UK has a 115 DKK tax per flight ticket. 

• Even though 51% of the blue voters want an air travel tax, Konservative and Venstre refuse to support the idea. They prefer a jet fuel tax. 

Tax-free incomes: To sell your house in Denmark (a house with a plot under 1400 m2 where you lived for a period of time) it is tax-free. In the last 3 years, more than 60.000 home owners made more than a million kroner tax-free from selling their home. 336 of them made more than 10 million kroner free of tax. 

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Daily Life in Denmark HQ

Young candidates on TikTok: A 20-year old candidate from SF and a 23 year old candidate from Konservative organized the first political debate on TikTok. Both TikTok and Instagram Stories have become the tools used to reach the young voter audience. 

The deportations of refugees continue: After 7 years spent in Denmark, Mariam (a 20-year old Syrian woman) has to go back to Syria. She is currently working as a sosu-assistent at an elderly care home while being a scout leader in her free time. Like her, there are dozens of young Syrian girls that have spent their time in Denmark to become part of the society here. Now, they all must go back to Syria. Why? The resident permit was revoked because Syria is considered to be a safe country now. 

• Moderaterne, Liberal Alliance and Radikale Venstre want to change the law regarding refugees. If in the time they spent here (from arrival until their country was deemed safe again), they have shown a connection with Danish society (learned the language, active in the organizations, taking a society needed job, etc.), they should be able to change status from refugee to immigrant. 

Psychiatric help - only for the privileged: If your parents have great health insurance, then you don’t need to worry about waiting lines, if you need to see a psychiatrist. If you are unlucky enough to have parents without health insurance, then your waiting time could be months during which your mental disease can only worsen. 2.3 million people in Denmark have health insurance. 

The most popular book right now in Denmark is called “Spy boss - memories from cell 18” written by the former head of the Danish Army Intelligence Service (FE), Lars Findsen. In the book he is accusing Trine Bramsen (former minister of Defense) for dismissing him due to political reasons. Lars Findsen has been dismissed from service due to accusations of leaking highly classified information. 

Leased cars can also be confiscated: The Danish Supreme Court ruled that the police could also confiscate leased cars due to “reckless driving”. A 57-year old banker was driving at 103 km/h in an area of 50 km/h with a car leased by his wife from a car rental company which also didn’t own the car. The owners of the car, Nordania Finans, sued the state without luck. 

Sport with Jelimir Vlastici

Nordic nations launch bid to co-host Women's Euro 2025. Denmark together with the other Nordic countries, Sweden, Norway and Finland have officially launched their bid to co-host the Women’s European Championship for 2025.The agreement is that each of the four countries would have two host cities: Copenhagen and Odense in Denmark; Stockholm and Gothenburg in Sweden; Helsinki and Tampere in Finland; and Oslo and Trondheim in Norway. Lastly, the 50,000-seater Friends Arena in Stockholm would be the stadium where the final would take place. UEFA will announce the winning bid in January next year.

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A new writer debut - Cecilie Hou Thomsen with a column called “Volunteering into the depths of the unknown”

Writer bio in her own words “I would describe myself as a people person. I love interacting with new people and learning about their culture. I am currently studying in the 5th semester of a bachelor’s degree in Language and International Studies at AAU, which allows me to fully emerge into what I love: Cultural aspects and International Relations.”

Why should we engage in voluntary work? Volunteering is not just something that will affect the organization or company you’re working for or something that grants you that picture-perfect cover letter you’ve been dreaming of.

It shapes us. It defines who we are as human beings and is an effective way to boost our self-confidence. As a volunteer, you’re doing something that positively affects civil society and others in the community; more importantly, it affects you. Volunteering can also provide you a new perspective and grant you a sense of belonging to something. In other words, create a new sense of identity.

With this philosophy in mind, I decided to volunteer at the Political Festival of Europe in Mariager. Torrential rain, bad weather conditions, a small Danish rural city, and somewhat boring political debates might come off as a poorly mixed cocktail. However, in my case, these were all exciting parts of my Friday night at the end of August last month in Denmark.

Foreign politics, present conflicts, and cultural experiences were vital parts of what drove me to become a volunteer at the festival. However, it was also the need I had within me to experience something completely different from what I had ever experienced before. It was a call to meet like-minded people from across Europe and even the globe. Who themselves believe in a greater cause and hold the belief that joined in mutual interests, we are all the same. We are all human beings regardless of race, religion, sexual preferences, or ethnicity. Equal in nature.

When I signed my contract to volunteer at the festival, I had never imagined that I would end up tasting homebrewed Romanian Palinka made by a guy called Bogdan with other volunteers from across the European continent. That Friday night, I established a whole new international network of people and opportunities, much different from what I have been used to in my daily life as a Dane. Being a volunteer was a rich cultural experience that gave me both confidence in throwing myself into the depths of the unknown and a feeling of belonging to a new kind of community. The international community.

You might wonder now if language barriers and cultural differences would play a role in my experience at the festival. It did at first glance, but the secret here is to grab a glass of gin and tonic and communicate open-mindedly with the magic of the lingua franca of the English language. All Danes love a good party, and so do eastern- and southern Europeans. I discovered that, that Friday night in Mariager.

Barriers can only exist if you make them a barrier, so I told myself that no good would ever come with being closed off. All obstacles in life are something that can be overcome with the right spirit; in this case, it is not alcohol I’m referring to.

Even if you think volunteering is a waste of time, I strongly urge you to reconsider. Embrace everything there lies within being a volunteer; embrace the depths of the unknown and even the homebrewed Romanian Palinka, even though it has a horrible taste (no offense) - because you will only get a few chances in life to experience the unexpected.