Last Week in Denmark (16.06-23.06) Episode 22 Year 4
Three days without electricity; Cheaper to inherit companies; Custom tariffs on cars
Editor HQ
State of Denmark
“Be ready to manage without electricity and water for three days.” Defense Minister, Troels Lund Poulsen
The statement made by the Defense Minister last weekend sent shockwaves into society and woke many people up to the reality of war in Europe. Why now? Well, the question should be, why wait until now? Our Nordic neighbors, Sweden, Finland, and Norway, started to prepare their populations for crisis situations long ago.
A reason for starting now could be the increase in the number and intensity of cyberattacks. The Center for Cyber Security (CFCS) upgraded the risk for destructive cyberattacks from low to medium. Another reason could be that Denmark is seen by the Russians as the weakest link in NATO’s northern flank and it’s especially exposed to hybrid threats.
Work is underway to create a national emergency plan and major investments will be made in our operational capabilities. However, the government and emergency services would like people to also prepare for crisis situations. Here is the checklist:
9 liters of water per person + more if you have pets/livestock
Food for three days that is long-lasting and easy to prepare
First aid kit, iodine tablets, medicine (expect supply chains to be interrupted so stock up if you depend on them)
Hygiene articles
Blankets, duvets, warm clothes (ensure you can get warm without access to district heating)
Power banks, flashlight, batteries, cash/other valuable and tradeable items, candles and matches
Simulate emergency situations - no electricity, no heat, no water, empty stores, flooding, fire, the need to leave house in a hurry - and see what you need to consider
Make a preparation plan. Talk to your neighbors and friends, and coordinate potential emergency responses together.
People have already answered the call from the Defense Minister. The demand for water canisters, portable stoves, first aid kits and emergency radios at Spejder Sport “exploded.” ReadyBox has also seen increased demand for ready-made package solutions with emergency equipment. However, do not jump at buying everything you need at once. Be patient in your purchases so as not to drive up costs.
Prepare, as it is important for our common resilience in the face of crisis. However, do not be afraid. As our Prime Minister says, “Denmark is still a safe and secure country,” and this is only an exercise, an expression of timely care.
Thank you for reading and sharing Last Week in Denmark!
Paid partnership
We would like to offer our readers a little summer present. To help you better understand the nuances of Danish culture, we are hosting a free, online, beginner-friendly Danish class in partnership with Sigga Hansen from Lingua Danica. The topics covered include the alphabet, genders and forms of nouns, and phrases to help you survive daily conversations. The class will be held on June 25th at 6pm and you can register at this link.
Danish Politics HQ
Weekly political overview
Denmark will be the first country to invest directly in the production of weapons on Ukrainian soil. 1.2 billion DKK has been reserved and a green light for the investment is expected soon. The government is lobbying other EU member states to do the same. The European Union appointed Denmark to coordinate direct EU investments in weapons production.
Five of the fifteen members of the European Parliament sent from Denmark are women. This marks a significant decline in gender equality compared to 2009, when almost half of the members sent from Denmark were women. The picture is completely different in Finland (where 9 of 15 are women) and Sweden (where 13 of 21 are women).
Danmarksdemokraterne (nationalist populist) have chosen their European family, namely ECR (European Conservatives and Reformists), which recently became the third largest in the European Parliament. There was an idea to join EPP (the largest group) to get more influence, but in the end, they preferred the company of Marion Marechal and Giorgia Meloni.
According to their local leaders, Socialdemokratiet (social democrats) lost their “political identity” from being in government with Venstre (liberals) and Moderaterne (social liberals) as the party moved further to the right .There are calls for a major internal reform and among the ideas floated, some members would like the party to leave the government.
The 41 initiatives for turning Denmark into a “world class country” for entrepreneurship presented in the last edition will become reality faster than anticipated. The government has already secured a majority with support from DF (nationalist conservatives). The price? 25 million DKK to be invested in better conditions for entrepreneurship in rural areas.
Focus
Proposal to make it cheaper to transfer your company to your children: The government wants to lower the estate and gift tax (bo- og gaveafgiften) on family-owned businesses from 15% to 10%, making it cheaper to pass them on to children. As the value of the tax is based on the value of the company, the government also wants to introduce a fixed model of determining a company’s worth. This will make it simpler to calculate what you need to pay to pass on the company.
The tax was previously reduced from 15% to 5% during the Lars Løkke Rasmussen government (2017), only to be raised back to 15% by the Social Democrat government in 2019.
As part of the same proposal, the government wants to increase the tax deduction for research and development from 108% to 120% (until 2028) and simplify the procedures of inheriting a real estate business (from 2025). You will no longer be able to deduct the entire cost of computer software or costs related to know-how and patent rights in the same year (from 2025).
At the same time, the government will reduce the pool for business support by 900 million DKK to finance the tax cuts.
Danish Economics HQ
Will shortening 10% of master degree programs from two years to one year and three months be enough to increase the workforce by 4,600 in 2028? An interim report shows that it might not be quite enough. The report suggests that 23% of programs will need to be shortened, which means one in four students would study a shorter master degree from 2028.
The government says that the interim report is not complete, and when the final report is presented in October 2024, the numbers will be closer to the 10% agreed upon by a political majority in Parliament.
The state pension company ATP invested billions in Terma, a Danish company that produces parts for weapons and military equipment. ATP will become a minority shareholder with an undisclosed ownership percentage of between 10 and 49% and a seat on the board. Terma produces parts for the F-35 warplanes and employs 1,700 people in Denmark.
The expansion of the Port of Aarhus was put on hold indefinitely. 70% of Denmark’s entire container traffic goes through the Port of Aarhus, which makes it a port of national interest. Both the business world and the government would like to see the port expanded by 84 hectares in the next thirty years. However, the City Council of Aarhus decided that priorities lie elsewhere and abandoned the idea, to focus instead on the Aarhus ReWater project.
42,785 young people between 15 and 24 years old are neither at school nor at work. This represents 6.3% of this demographic, marking an increase of 0.5% since 2021.
38.1% customs tariffs on Chinese-produced electric cars from July 2024. The decision to raise the tariffs will definitely increase the price for Chinese electric cars, but also for other brands that produce some of their cars in China, like Tesla, BMW, Volvo, and Polestar.
The new customs tariffs are temporary (a final decision will be made in the autumn), and they will apply differently depending on the company. For example, MG and Maxus will have the highest rate (38.1%), while Volvo and Polestar will have a reduced rate of 20%. China can still negotiate and bring the customs back to the current level of 10%.
The end of the Danish electric car adventure. The electric car company Fisker Inc. has filed for bankruptcy protection in the USA. In 2021, the company was valued at 55 billion DKK as people lined up to buy the world’s most sustainable vehicle. Unfortunately, car production proved more expensive and complex than expected, and Fisker was forced to send unfinished cars to customers to generate cash flow. The unfinished cars led to bad reviews, which in turn led to a significant devaluation of the share price.
Despite the bad reviews, more than 65,000 people are waiting in line to get a Fisker Ocean car. Why? A cult has developed around the car. So far, only 362 Fisker cars can be found on Danish roads.
The car designer Henrik Fisker has previously declared bankruptcy on another car company in 2013 that produced a plug-in hybrid car.
Daily Life in Denmark HQ
Insights into the Danish way of life
Glædelig Sankt Hans! Today, June 23rd, we celebrate the eve of St. John’s Day. For Danes, the date is not necessarily religious but traditional, celebrated in an evening of bonfires. The origin of this practice dates back to pagan times, when the summer solstice was associated with higher activity of magical elements. People would pick herbs for healing effects, and fires would be lit to keep witches and wizards away. Once Denmark became Catholic around the year 1,000, the midsummer rituals on June 21 were transferred to St. John’s Day to facilitate the transition into Christianity.
This week is also the most exciting for students around the country: the youth are graduating from Gymnasium (High school) and ready to party. Denmark’s biggest high school tradition is the studenterhue, a sailor-style hat that is customized for each student, institution and education. That’s why, if you ask your Danish friends, they all will be able to tell you the size of their heads.
At the final ceremony, graduates are “crowned.” The hat is signed by loved ones on the inside, and close friends make bite marks on the shade. If you swim naked, you cut a wave into the band. If you stay up until sunrise, you get a triangle notch. If alcohol makes you get medical assistance, you lose the shade as a consequence. There are also symbols for break-ups, kissing, and sex. The premise is that the hat acts as a token of the rite of passage, where memories are literally cut into the fabric.
The tradition dates back to the 1930s, when students rode around town in horse carriages. Today, they ride the studenterkørsel, which are open trucks that drive through the city and stop at each student’s house for food and drinks. TV2 estimates that each student spends between 900 and 2,300 DKK in total for the hat and the truck ride. Make their parents proud of their spending by waving to the excited teenagers singing and blowing whistles around town.
Weekly overview
Talk to your children about being prepared for emergency situations: The recent message from the authorities on the three-day survival can provoke anxiety among children and young people, as they will most likely imagine bombs and shelters. You need to take the time to speak with your children and explain the situation. De-dramatize it by explaining this is about cyber attacks that can cut electricity, internet, heat and water. It's not about conventional warfare. Psychologist advice! Do not ignore or avoid this discussion.
The first wild beaver in Denmark after 2,500 years: see the video here. The first immigrant beaver in millennia can be found at the lakes in Maribo. He traveled for 40 kilometers across the Baltic Sea and it is expected that more will follow.
The danger of nicotine pouches: Young people in Denmark love the white nicotine pouches they can put under their lips. Little do they know that those small addictive bags are full of future health issues. For example, teeth can turn gray, followed by permanent injuries to the mouth and teeth.
The Ministry of Health proposed a law to ban flavored nicotine pouches and white nicotine pouches with high nicotine content. If it passes in Parliament, it should come into force from July 2025. With this law, they want to put e-cigarettes and other vapor-based tobacco products under the same restrictions as cigarettes, meaning where you cannot smoke, you also cannot vape.
Free fertility treatment for the second child: The government entered into an agreement with the regions to provide free fertility treatment for a second child at a cost of 150 million DKK per year. The law should come into force from December 2024. Without government assistance, the cost of the fertility treatment per family is up to 100,000 DKK.
To reduce waiting time (which already is quite significant), an agreement has been made with private clinics to provide publicly-funded treatments.
A growing number of people have given up on flying, choosing the train instead: It started many years ago, when almost a million people in the Nordics pledged to not fly for five years (including our executive editor, Narcis George Matache) to reduce their climate footprint. Fast forward to today, - the idea of not flying has become commonplace among young people.
Compared to previous generations, there is a bigger sense of responsibility from young people (18-34 years old) with regards to climate. More are willing to stop driving, flying and eating meat, and to have fewer children.
8,883 families have applied for holiday help from Mødrehjælpen: Fewer than last year’s record (9,611), yet still a worryingly high number. The organization expected that the record employment and the good economic situation in Denmark will lift more families from poverty (by the Danish standards).
The holiday help is 400 DKK per child.
European Union HQ
Europe This Week
The Nature Restoration Law was approved in the European Council: After a dramatic vote, where the Austrian Minister of Environment went against instructions from the Austrian prime minister and voted in favor of the law, the proposal to restore at least 20% of the EU’s land and sea areas by 2030 and all ecosystems in need of restoration by 2050 became law. Read more in English here.
The leaders of the European Union member states could not agree on who should be ruling Europe for the next five years. They will try again next week to reach a consensus. The package is still the same: Ursula von der Leyen (EPP, Germany) for European Commission President, Roberta Metsola (EPP, Malta) for European Parliament President, Antonio Costa (S&D, Portugal) for European Council President and Kaja Kallas (Renew, Estonia) as High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs. What’s the apple of discord? EPP wants more; the term for the European Council President is 2.5 years and they want the next president to be from EPP.
80 countries agreed on a roadmap for peace in Ukraine: The main point? Ukraine should not accept Russia’s territorial claims in the event of a peace offer. 92 countries gathered in Switzerland for the peace summit (Russia was not invited and China chose to not participate). Although Brazil, South Africa and India participated, they chose to not support the roadmap for peace.
Russia’s current offer for peace has three main points: for Ukraine to give up the regions of Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhya (almost half of the territory), for Ukraine to never be allowed to join NATO and for the EU to lift all sanctions against Russia.
A right-wing group in Denmark is on the USA’s terror list: The Nordic Resistance Movement (Nordfront), a neo-Nazi group originally from Sweden, has been put on the USA's terror list. They organize in Denmark as "nests,” with “nest leaders” as local commanders. The group members have carried out violent attacks on political opponents, protesters and journalists alike. The association was banned in Finland in 2020.
The association organizes training in melee and knife combat and sends the members on various missions, like putting stickers with messages on mailboxes with Jewish sounding family names and placing threatening flyers in mailboxes of internationals. The Danish leader was convicted after covering 84 Jewish gravestones with paint.
Announcement Board
Online, June 27, 17:00-19:00: In this free webinar, you’ll get insights into what a day in daycare may look like, get to know your options for childcare, how to sign up your child, and what to expect as an international parent. focus will be on childcare for 0–6 years of age.
Aarhus, June 28, 10:00-12:00: Join the International Community for a Coffee Morning event where you get to meet new people, and ask questions to occasional speakers.
International media about Denmark HQ
How Denmark forced young women in Greenland to get IUDs (DW News)