Last Week in Denmark (12.03 - 19.03) Episode 10 Year 3
Extra year in kindergarten; Ukraine Fund; Tax deductions
Editor HQ
50,000 DKK voucher for your business: Requirements? You should have had a minimum of 2 employees full time in the last financial year. What can you use the money for? Improve online sales and marketing; establish a webshop; social media marketing; cybersecurity; digitize administrative processes (customer and order management; inventory management; financial management), etc. You can apply for the voucher from the 12th of April. If you would like to know more, the Aalborg Institute for Development is organizing an info meeting soon. Sign up here.
Romanians in Jylland (from North to South): Please complete this anonymous survey with three questions. An airport from Jylland is interested in opening one or several direct lines to Romania. They asked us to collect some data about the Romanian community in Jylland, which cannot be retrieved from official sources.
Danish Politics HQ
New Laws and Regulations
An extra year in kindergarten: The Minister of Education announced that children who are not yet ready to start school can stay one extra year in kindergarten. Also, the number of children per class in the first three years of school will be reduced from 28 to 26. The changes will apply from the 2024–2025 school year.
Danish Citizenship, Integration and Immigration Laws
You can now activate MitID with a non-Danish passport/ID that has a chip: Thanks to an update to the app MitID, a function has been introduced so that you can also activate your MitID with your non-Danish passport/ID as long as it has a chip. Read more here.
Law proposals and ideas
Financial support for dental damage caused by treatment of disease: Several political parties are asking the Minister of Health to change the law so that all the people who receive dental damage because of disease treatment can get financial support.
Today, only patients that receive certain cancer treatments, suffer from Sjögren's syndrome or rare congenital disease receive financial support to repair the dental damage caused by the medication.
The entire law regarding adult dental health will be re-examined, says the minister of health. Potentially impactful changes are coming.
No financial aid for young people affected by the inflation: A majority of political parties in the Danish Parliament (including the governing parties) have refused a proposal made by SF (Socialists) to offer 5,000 DKK inflation aid checks for young people.
30% of young people are struggling with their finances due to inflation - an increase of 20% compared to 2021.
According to the social democrats, the more vulnerable groups of young people (those with disabilities or those who are single parents) will receive inflation aid. Also, the amount you can earn next to SU has increased by 4,000 DKK per month.
26 weeks of extended maternity leave for families with twins: The opposition parties are asking the government to introduce a law that will allow families with twins to have more weeks of maternity leave available, which can be shared between parents.
The proposal will cost between 70 to 90 million DKK.
The proposal is the result of a citizen proposal signed by 52,000 citizens.
The law has already been changed for families with triplets and quadruplets. They can already receive 26 weeks of extended maternity leave from the 1st of January 2023..
On average, per year, 1108 births result in twins and 9 in triplets. There is a quadruple birth every five years.
Ankle monitors with GPS tracking for people who violate their restraining order: In Denmark, we had 8076 breaches of a restraining order in 2022. Now, the Ministry of Justice is looking at the Norwegian model of putting ankle monitors with GPS tracking on the offenders. A law proposal is expected soon.
The political arena
The leader of the Liberal Alliance is in trouble: Enhedslisten (Red-Green Alliance) and Alternativet (Greens) have asked the Presidium of the Parliament to investigate whether Alex Vanopslagh (the most popular politician among young people) should be prosecuted on suspicion of fraud.
Why? For almost three years, he has received 30,000 DKK yearly for double housekeeping. He had his address registered in Struer. However, he was rarely going there, living most of the time in Copenhagen.
Moderaterne obtained their first seat in the European Parliament: Lars Løkke Rasmussen’s son, Bergur, switched his affiliation from Venstre (Liberals) and joined his father’s party, Moderaterne. He brought with him a seat in the European Parliament.
Seven billion DKK for the Ukraine Fund: The government, together with almost every political party (besides Enhedlisten and Alternativet), agreed to establish a seven billion DKK Ukraine Fund. The fund will allocate 5.4 billion DKK to military donations, 1.2 billion DKK to humanitarian aid in Ukraine and neighboring countries, and 400 million DKK to business initiatives.
Danish Economy HQ
Time to check your annual tax statement: You can go on skat.dk and see the results of your annual tax statement. If it’s green, you need to receive money. If it’s red, then you have to pay. It’s always a good idea to check if the data used to calculate your taxes is correct.
Now you can also add your deductions - for example, if you commute more than 24 km to and from work then you qualify for a transport tax deduction (Kørselsfradraget). It doesn’t matter what you use to go to work (public transport, bike or car).
If you managed to do some home improvements in the first 3 months of 2022, then you can still claim a craftsman tax deduction (Håndværkerfradrag). Also, if you paid people to do cleaning, gardening or to take care of your children in your home, you can also claim a service tax deduction (Servicefradrag).
March 31st is the first deadline to make your changes to the annual tax statement. May 1st is the last deadline. If you have to receive money, you will get it by the 14th of April.
New collective agreement for workers in the hotel and restaurant industry: 3F, Horesta and Dansk Erhverv reached an agreement that will be valid for two years if the workers in the hotel and restaurant industry vote “Yes” on it.
75,000 people work in the hotel and restaurant industry
4.5 DKK per hour wage increase in 2023 and 2024
The Danish National Bank says that “the financial stability in Denmark will not be challenged by the bankruptcy of Silicon Valley Bank”. Tighter requirements established after the 2008 financial crisis shield the Danish banks from such events.
The interest rate grows again by 0.5%: After the European Central Bank decided to raise the interest rate again by 0.5%, the Danish National Bank followed suit. The inflation is still too high and is decreasing too slowly, so the consumption needs to be further curbed.
Since the inflation crisis started, the interest rates have been increased by 2.75% in Denmark
House prices are expected to fall by 9.4% this year and continue declining next year, according to the Danish National Bank. Barely in 2025 are house prices expected to recover.
You can now apply for the “heat check”, if you were supposed to receive it but, because of errors on BBR, didn’t get it when it was sent last year. You can check the rules on this website, if you don’t remember them.
Daily Life in Denmark HQ
Time for meteorite hunting - find a rare one and get up to 50,000 DKK per gram: 13 days ago, one or several meteorites fell somewhere in South Central Jutland (between Herning, Ikast and Silkeborg). Now Aarhus University is calling for the Great Meteorite Hunt, in which you can end up earning a lot of money if you are lucky.
Look for a stone that is burnt black with a glazed surface - it can be anywhere, car park, pavement, tall grass or in the forest. Find the area and pictures of the meteorite here.
One person already received a 2 million DKK reward for the meteorite they found.
Healthcare
PFAS contamination of groundwater in 104 places around Denmark: You can see the map here.
PFAS is the collective term for more than 12,000 chemicals. They are used in packaging, plastics, paint, adhesives, carpets, electronics, lubricants and so on.
They are known as “forever chemicals” as they are extremely persistent in our environment and bodies. They can lead to health problems such as liver damage, thyroid disease, obesity, fertility issues and cancer.
Areas where PFAS have been used heavily in production have led to the groundwater to be contaminated.
The regional governments are responsible for cleaning the groundwater, but at the moment the existing technology is expensive and inefficient.
The only contaminated place that is being cleaned up right now is Copenhagen Airport. The airport itself – in dialogue with the region and the municipality – has set up treatment plants that clean the contaminated groundwater using a series of carbon filters.
Climate
Diesel and petrol cars will be banned from driving in Aarhus, no later than 2030: The Mayor of Aarhus has announced that he wants to ban diesel and petrol cars from driving in the city as soon as possible. Copenhagen has similar thoughts and has already started a trial on one street (Stefansgade in Nørrebro) where such cars are banned.
Announcement Board
Aalborg, 28th March, 15:15 - Free Brand Identity Design workshop for entrepreneurs and business owners. Sign up here.
Aalborg, 4th April, 19:00 - The University Chaplains are inviting everyone to join for a guided tour about the ancient parts of Aalborg, followed by a pre-Easter celebration with music.
Copenhagen, 30th March, 17:00 - Råhuset and Basement are looking for new volunteers to join their team! They are looking for volunteers who are interested in working in bars, entrances, as photographers or doing lights at concerts at Råhuset and Basement. In the summer they have outdoor events at Onkel Dannys Plads. Check out the volunteer package.
International media about Denmark HQ
Gray area: Chilling past of the world's biggest brain collection (France24)
Egypt, Denmark renew strategic energy cooperation agreement
The best surf spots in Denmark
Nord Stream gas explosions may have caused greater ecological damage than expected (Forbes)
Aarhus is on Time’s World’s Greatest Places 2023
How (and why) to get off the beaten path in Denmark