Last Week in Denmark (10.09 - 17.09) Episode 35 Year 3
War against gangs; 20 ideas for the healthcare system; Property assessments
Editor HQ
Meet with us and win cool merchandise
21 September, University of Southern Denmark Kolding (SDU), Universitetsparken 1, 6000 Kolding (16.30-19.00). Read more.
22-23 September, Øksnehallen, Halmtorvet 11, 1700 Copenhagen (International Citizen Days).
23 September, Herning Bibliotekerne, Østergade 8, 7400 Herning.
23 September, Borgernes Hus, Østre Stationsvej 15, 5000 Odense C (10-14). Read more.
You can still sign up for the Stock Games 2023 here.
Last Week in Denmark's Universe
Listen to our weekly podcast on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Pocket Casts, Google Podcasts, Overcast, Amazon Music, Goodpods, Podfriend, Castbox, Castro, Player FM, Deezer, Podchaser, Podcast Addict, Podcast Index and Buzzsprout.
The podcast is produced by Wizmedia (Broadcast journalist Wizzi Magnussen).
Check out our “New Denmark” merchandise collections : “Moving Forward”; “Searching for Home”; “Vasil”; “Irina”; “Monika” and “Kifaax”.
Read evergreen content on our website: How to get started with investing in Denmark; Born in Denmark: Pregnancy; Born in Denmark: Giving birth
Danish Politics HQ
New Laws and Regulations
360 million DKK yearly for adult education: The government and the labor market partners (representatives of the companies, trade unions, municipalities, and regions) entered into a tripartite agreement to ensure that more adults learn how to read, write, understand, do basic math, and obtain digital skills.
119 million DKK yearly for AMU (labor market education); The purpose of the AMU courses is that workers can acquire the skills in demand on the labor market. There are some AMU courses in English.
The formation of a national alliance on promotion of basic skills.
30 million DKK yearly for digital skills courses for adults.
Expansion of FVU-English and FVU-digital (preparatory adult education).
Danish Citizenship, Integration and Immigration Laws
Homeschooling attracts Germans to Denmark: In the last two years, more than a hundred German families moved into the border municipalities of Sønderborg, Tønder and Aabenraa. Why? The possibility of homeschooling their children. In Germany, it is not allowed.
In Denmark, there are 10 years of compulsory education. On the other hand, there is no compulsory schooling, as there is in Germany. This means that parents themselves have the right to choose how their children should be taught.
1200 nurses from Iran: In the past five years, 1200 nurses from Iran have been approved to move to Denmark. Unfortunately, due to the language requirements for authorization to work as a nurse, they have to wait a long time before entering the Danish healthcare system. In the Vejle municipality, they found a temporary solution - while they study the language, they work as “vikar” (substitutes) in elderly and people with disabilities centers.
Nurses from outside the European Union can get a 3 year residence permit, during which they can take free Danish language school classes and apply for authorization to work as a nurse in Denmark.
Law proposals and ideas
The war against gangs has intensified: Pusher Street in Christiania has been closed. There is an open war between Hell's Angels and Loyal to Familia. The police have, for a couple of weeks now, turned parts of Copenhagen into visitation zones (areas with increased police control). In the wake of this situation, the government came up with a law package that contains no fewer than 39 proposals.
The prime minister is worried that Denmark is becoming more like Sweden and calls for the “parents of gang members of another ethnic background than Danish” to take responsibility for their children.
There are 1322 gang members in Denmark. The average age of a gang member is 26 years old, and almost half of them are under 25 years old. There is also a growing number of underage gang members (589 criminal acts committed by 15-18 years olds in 2022). 26% of gang members are in prison today.
The government will invest 100 million DKK next year and 150 million DKK annually between 2025 and 2027 to reduce gang violence in Denmark.
Among the 39 proposals, you can find: preventive measures to stop the recruitment of younger people into gangs; municipalities should create after-school jobs for 15-17 years olds who have committed criminal acts; harder sentences against humiliation violence; gang members should not have access to public money; weapon possession sentences are doubled to 16 years in prison; for a while, it will be possible to give away weapons without being charged; cooperation between the police, tax authorities and municipalities to prevent fraud and reduce the gangs funding; the police should be able to recruit civilians for temporary tasks, like providing information and be allowed to listen to gang members’ phone calls; municipalities should be able to close gang club houses; expansion of the decryption capabilities of the police; etc.
The political arena
20 recommendations to improve the healthcare system in Denmark: Last year, the Parliament established an expert commission led by Søren Brostrøm (former director of the Danish Health Agency) to suggest possible solutions to the challenges faced by the healthcare system today.
20% of the treatments offered are unnecessary. There should be stricter guidelines for expensive and resource-intensive treatments with limited effects.
Reduce the need for bureaucracy (documentation).
Specialists should be able to work for several health institutions across Denmark (via video link).
Further digitalization and automatization of the healthcare system to reduce bureaucracy and need for administration work.
Further development of digital skills among healthcare staff to increase their usage of technological solutions.
Open up education for healthcare and elderly care for young people in the European Union. Medically trained staff in other EU states should get authorization more easily.
The pressure grows on the prime minister to give up on the extra tax cuts: Local and regional social democrat leaders are rebelling against their party leader (the current prime minister) on the question of welfare vs. tax cuts. They cannot understand how a social democrat prime minister can choose to allow extra tax cuts over giving money to local and regional councils to avoid closing down schools and bus routes.
The five regional councils (who administer the healthcare system, among others) need to cut 2.5 billion DKK in spending.
A new right-wing political party: The former vice president of Nye Borgerlige (Libertarian Nationalist) has decided to start her own party called Frit Fællesskab. The party ideology line is anti-vaccine and anti-climate change. According to Henriette Ergemann (the leader), “the temperature has only risen by one degree in the last one hundred years. Should we really stress about it?”. The party wants to compete with DF and Nye Borgerlige for right-wing voters.
Internal conflict in Alternativet (Green): There is a conflict between the Green members of the Parliament. Five of them want to exclude the sixth, Theresa Scavenius. It seems that Theresa has, in several cases, disregarded the official party line and gone her own way in the public media.
Who should pay for the CO2 emissions from food production - the farmers or the consumers?: The local leaders of Venstre (Liberals) started to advocate for a tax on agricultural produce instead of a tax on agriculture. They consider that consumers should bear the cost of the green transition in agriculture, not the farmers. Not surprising, considering that Venstre is a party founded by farmers. The national leadership of the party is waiting for recommendations from a group of experts.
Danish Economy HQ
0.25% interest rate increase from September 15th: The Danish National Bank has decided to increase the interest rate for the 10th time since the inflation crisis started. Good news for people with a lot of money on their accounts and bad news for people with bank loans.
2.4% inflation rate in August: A noticeable decrease compared to July, when inflation was at 3.1%. The main driver of the decrease is food prices. 5-10% decrease in price (compared to the previous month) for frozen or conserved fruit, seafood, potatoes, and eggs; 3-5% decrease in price for butter, ready recipes, pasta, and other baked products.
1.1% tax increase for the people living in Frederiksberg: The local council decided, for the second year in a row, to increase the municipal tax to 24.57%. Last year, it increased from 22.8% to 23.47%. Why? Without the tax increase, the municipality of Frederiksberg would go bankrupt by 2026.
In 2022, the municipal tax in Frederiksberg was the lowest in the country. Even with the 1.77% increase over the last two years, the tax is still one of the lowest in Denmark.
At the same time, Copenhagen is decreasing its municipal tax by 0.1%.
Fact! We pay different municipal taxes on our salaries depending on the municipality we live in.
See your new property assessment: If you put your address on this website, you can find out what the “temporary valuation of your land and house is”, which will be used to calculate your property taxes in 2024. Unfortunately, the “temporary valuation” seems to be full of mistakes, and there is nothing we can do about it until 2025.
There are two property taxes: one for the value of the land (Grundskylden) and one for the value of the house (Ejendomsværdiskatten). If your property taxes increase for 2024 (which you will find out in November), you will receive a tax discount so that you don’t pay more than in 2023.
For 2024, “Ejendomsværdiskatten” will be reduced from 0.92% to 0.51% out of the value of the house. The average “Grundskylden” (which differs in every municipality) will be reduced from 2.7% to 0.74%. Also, the payment for “Grundskylden” will be automatically collected from your income.
Daily Life in Denmark HQ
10 million DKK to build in Odense, one of Northern Europe’s largest concert venues: Dyrskuepladsen in Odense will be expanded to accommodate 70,000 people from next year. Why? Two sold-out concerts this summer with Rammstein (German rock band) at a 45,000 people capacity. Once the development is ready, Odense will challenge Horsens (Nordstern Arena) and Copenhagen (Parken) in the battle to bring the biggest music stars to Denmark.
Official apology from the government for “one of the darkest chapters in Danish history”: A historic investigation revealed that in the period 1933-1980, children with disabilities were placed in “special care” where they met with severe bad treatment and abuse. Over 5000 of them have been sterilized, while tens of thousands others have been subjected to violence and rape.
In 1929, Denmark was the first country in Europe to introduce a law that allowed the state to sterilize citizens it considered "morally weak". Everything from maladjusted youths and petty criminals to violent men, pedophiles and arsonists were placed in institutions and sterilized in the name of “racial hygiene”. More than 11,000 people got sterilized.
Healthcare with Punitha Kumar
Debunk fertility and pregnancy myths to help tackle the rising age of first-time mothers, Rigshospitalet’s fertility department chief Søren Ziebe says. In a TV2 report, he said people often thought fertility problems only occurred after the age of 35 and that “all problems” could be solved with fertility treatments. “As a society, we must also have discussions about how our culture and norms shape the image (of being a mother). I have yet to meet a woman who does not think it is a problem to get pregnant too early in her career.” He also said it was important to provide constant and accurate information, especially regarding human biology. “We must dare to talk about the consequences of human biology, where age and especially the woman's age - matter. We don't want to scare anyone into anything, but people can't navigate this if they don't know,” Søren said.
Last year, the average age for a first-time Danish mom was 29.9 years old (in the capital region). Dragør municipality recorded the highest average age at 31.8 years old, while Lolland municipality recorded the lowest at 27 years old.
On average, Danish women have 1.55 children.
1 out of 8 women does not have a child, while it is 1 out of 5 for men.
European Union HQ
This category covers interesting happenings from other EU member states, EU candidate countries and EFTA countries (Norway, Iceland, Switzerland)
You can continue to buy cans without a deposit from German border stores: The European Court of Justice repealed a decision from 2021 that stated that you should pay a German deposit on cans bought at the border stores. The decision was won in 2021 by Dansk Erhverv and Danmarks Naturfredningsforening (Nature Conservation Society).
Why is Dansk Erhverv (the association of businesses in Denmark) involved? The Danish stores are losing money every time people go across the border to buy.
Why is the Danish Nature Conservation Society involved? Thousands of cans from Germany end up thrown into nature because there is no “pant” or deposit on them.
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.
Thy, 21st Sep, 16:30-19:00: Are you an international living in Thy or do you consider moving to Thy? At the “Living in Thy” event that takes place within the Welcome September program, you will have the opportunity to meet local companies, get more information about leisure activities and entrepreneurial possibilities, and network with other internationals.
Copenhagen, 22nd Sep, 16:00-20:00 & 23 Sep, 10:00-15:00: “Welcome September” is a national initiative welcoming international citizens across Denmark. And Copenhagen will welcome internationals with the International Citizen Days 2023, bringing public authorities, private organizations, and local communities together. Friday will be about jobs and careers; you will have the opportunity to meet companies and get informed about the Danish workplace culture. Saturday is more about housing and social life and is more geared towards families. The focus will also be on the cultural scene, clubs, and associations.
Odense, 23th Sep, 10:00-14:00 Another “Welcome September” event for those who are looking for a new hobby, an opportunity to volunteer, or a place to go for cultural experiences. At this event, you will meet public institutions, clubs, and organizations.
Stock Games 2023 with Andreea Bianca Pascalau Buza
Aktiespil just started this week, and if you don’t have a strategy yet, then worry not, as that’s exactly what we’re talking about today.
In my opinion, Aktiespil is mostly about luck. Nobody can foresee what stocks will increase and decrease, and any financial expert will tell you that 2 months is too short of a time horizon to invest. In fact, most experts say that your time horizon should be at least 3 years, and preferably 5-10 years. However, that doesn’t mean you can’t have a strategy for the game and have some fun in the next couple of months :)
Disclaimer: I’m not a financial advisor; any strategies and stocks I mention should be considered examples and not advice.
“In real life”, my investment strategy is long term, dollar-cost averaging, spread across several countries and industries. Long term and dollar-cost averaging don’t really work in Aktiespil, but I will try to spread the investments across countries and industries.
I will mainly be buying stocks from the Danish and US markets. For Danish companies, I decided to only choose companies under OMX C25, which is an index of the 25 largest public companies in Denmark. As for the US, I will be focusing on very volatile US stocks - something I would never really do in my real portfolio.
I’m planning to make changes to my portfolio every day and basically try to play day-trading in the next couple of months. The winner of this game will be whoever has the most profit at the end of the game, so stability is not really what I’m looking for - which is also the opposite of my “real-life strategy”.
Now, if you’re wondering how to create a real strategy (not for Aktiespil), I've got you :) I just wrote a detailed article on my blog, moneylikealocal.dk where I talk about risk profiles, my personal investment strategy, and other common investment strategies. You can also find me on instagram @moneylikealocal.dk where I talk about investments in Denmark, home-ownership, loans and more.