Last Week in Denmark (19.03 - 26.03) Episode 11 Year 3
Good news for non-EU citizens; Study while getting paid; Finance Law 2023
Editor HQ
Opportunity: Test these two courses on Cybersecurity made for employees and managers. You can sign up until midnight on Monday and go through the material until Friday evening. Remember to complete the evaluation form and receive your diploma and new skills at the end. The participation is free of charge as this is the test phase of an e-learning platform. P.S. - Choose the DK courses (they are in English).
Call for companies: Would your company like to know more about recruiting and onboarding international employees as well as having the chance to network with international talent? International House North Denmark is holding the event Talents and Onboarding with Dennis Nørmark and Ballard on April 13th where you can hear interesting presentations: first from Ballard Power Systems, who will share their experience with recruiting and onboarding international employees, and then from keynote speaker and culture expert Dennis Nørmark who will shed light on cultural understanding and differences within a company with multinational employees. Sign up here.
Spotlight on the project IVDK Hub for Ukrainians: This week, I want to tell you about the efforts of a fantastic team of Ukrainian women in Denmark who have a dream: to bring entrepreneurship to the Ukrainian refugees and convince them to either restart their businesses from Ukraine here or to give it a go for the first time. If you are Ukrainian or you know someone Ukrainian, give this link and/or tell them to reach out to Iryna Tereshchuk or Anna Ivanenko.
Danish Politics HQ
New Laws and Regulations
The possibility to study while you get paid will be reintroduced from July 2023: I am not talking about SU. This is an opportunity for unemployed people over 30 years old, unskilled or with an outdated education. You will be able to receive 110% of your unemployment benefits while you study a vocational education to become a SOSU helper or assistant, office assistant, trader, industry operator, electrician, service assistant, technician, and so on.
Danish Citizenship, Integration and Immigration Laws
Non-EU citizens can obtain a residence permit in Denmark with a lower annual salary: The minimum salary requirements have been changed from 465,000 DKK to 375,000 DKK. The law will be implemented on April 1, 2023. Other important changes include:
The minimum requirement regarding the number of employees has been changed from 20 to 10, for companies that wish to join the fast track scheme.
Non-EU citizens graduating higher education in Denmark will automatically receive residence permit for job search, valid for three years. This will replace the current establishment card scheme. When they find work, they will be able to get a work permit without restrictions.
The positive list is expanded (a residence permit can be granted to a non-EU citizen who has entered into an agreement or received an offer of employment in a field where there is a shortage of qualified labor).
The "Startup Denmark” scheme is also expanded to include non-EU entrepreneurs that already have a business in their home country and want to open a branch in Denmark.
A Danish-Iranian woman who was married to an ISIS fighter and her two children will be evacuated from the Al-Hol camp in Syria. After she was stripped of her Danish citizenship (which she obtained by virtue of being born in Denmark) in 2020, she regained it after winning a case in the Danish Supreme Court.
Moderaterne would like to also evacuate the other children with Danish citizenship from the Al-Hol camp. The rest of the government is not up for it yet, as they might need to also bring their mothers, which broke the law by joining ISIS.
A member of the Citizenship Committee (Parliament) declares: “The political committee that decides if an applicant should receive dispensation for one or more citizenship requirements is biased, and discrimination is given free rein.”
The member of the Parliament from Alternativet is shocked by the lack of requirements regarding objectivity when decisions are made. In that direction, she proposed that information about name, country of origin, age and gender should be anonymized.
Law proposals and ideas
Finance Law 2023: Normally it was supposed to be proposed and approved before the end of 2022, but because of the long negotiations to form a new government, the budget for this year is presented only now.
200 million DKK in the “negotiation reserve” - this money will be used to finance initiatives coming from political parties so that they support the law in the Parliament. The amount is historically low, as normally it is 1.5 billion DKK.
185 million DKK for the legal system in Denmark. Funds are given to the judicial courts so that they can reduce the very long waiting time for cases.
184 million DKK for faster internet and investments in culture. The areas with poor internet coverage around Denmark will receive a broadband upgrade. Money will also go to fund artistic education and initiatives; museums and other institutions.
7 billion DKK for the Ukraine Fund. 5.6 billion DKK for military support, 1.2 billion DKK for civil support and 400 million DKK for business support.
2.4 billion DKK for inflation aid. (we wrote about this agreement in the previous editions).
2 billion DKK to reduce waiting times in the healthcare system.
3.6 billion DKK investment in research. 1.7 billion DKK for green research initiatives. 800 million DKK for digitalization research. 700 million DKK for health research and 100 million DKK for research related to the wellbeing of children and young people.
1.3 billion DKK reserve for the new agreement on the working environment that will be discussed in the coming months.
Usually the list would be much longer, with initiatives they would finance through the yearly budget, but this year they decided to keep the spending low as inflation is still very high.
The educational readiness assessment will be dropped: Since 2014, students who completed “folkeskole” (the first 9-10 years of school), received a “ready” / “not ready” assessment to continue their education. The minister of education has announced that he will drop the “uddannelsesparathedsvurdering” after all of the political parties (with the exception of Konservative) recommended it.
The education readiness assessment focused on professional, personal and social skills. In the future, only the grades will matter.
Basic bank account for homeless and other vulnerable citizens: The business minister Morten Bødskov together with Finans Danmark and voluntary organizations for vulnerable citizens will work to create the possibility for homeless and other vulnerable citizens to have basic bank accounts.
A basic bank account is an account where you can deposit money, withdraw cash, make payments, receive money and access online banking.
The law says that all EU citizens are entitled to a basic bank account in a Danish bank. The bank has 10 days to approve your request.
The political arena
Conscription instead of prison for first time violent offenders: The minister of justice, Peter Hummelgaard said in an interview that he is looking closely at the idea of offering first-time offenders the choice between prison and going into the army. The thinking behind this is that it will ease the pressure on the prison system while at the same time giving the criminals a chance to straighten themselves out.
Latest opinion poll: The troubles within the Nye Borgelige (far-right party) have taken them from 8.5% last year to 1.9% today. Their voters are running to Inger Støjberg’s party.
Government parties - Socialdemokratiet (Social Democrats) 21.3% (-6.2%); Venstre (Liberals) 9.4% (-3.9%); Moderaterne (Moderates) 6.7% (-2.6%)
Red opposition - SF (Socialists) 14.3% (+6%); Enhedslisten (Red-Green Alliance) 7.7% (+2.6%); Radikale Venstre (Social Liberals) 3.7% (-0.1%); Alternativet (Greens) 2.7% (-0.6%)
Blue opposition - Liberal Alliance (Libertarians) 12.1% (+4.2%); Konservative (Conservatives) 6.5% (+1%);
Far-right parties - Danmarksdemokraterne (Populists) 10% (+1.9%); DF (Nationalist Socialist) 2.7% (+0.1%); Nye Borgerlige 1.9% (-1.8%)
Danish Economy HQ
0.1% increase in employment in January 2023: 4400 more people found employment in the first month of the year. The number of people employed in 2022 increased by 59,600. Despite the uncertain times of inflation, the Danish economy maintains its stability.
We contributed 255 billion DKK to Denmark’s GDP in 2022: Last year, almost half a million international workers contributed 255 billion DKK to Denmark’s GDP. The Danish yearly budget received 17.7 billion DKK from contributions made by international workers. Compared to 2021, we had an increase of 12% in contribution value made by us to the Danish economy.
Daily Life in Denmark HQ
Denmark will train Ukrainian soldiers: As part of the EU military mission, Denmark will participate in training 30,000 Ukrainian soldiers. The location of the training for the Ukrainian soldiers has not been disclosed for obvious reasons.
The creation of the Nordic Air Force: Denmark, Norway, Sweden and Finland have signed a cooperation agreement to create the “Nordic Air Force” which means joint command and joint operations, joint monitoring of the Nordic airspace, joint education, training, and exercises between the air forces of the four countries.
The power of the Nordic Air Force is 250 combat aircraft. Almost the same size as France and Great Britain. The number of planes will increase as Denmark is buying 27, Finland 64, Norway 52 and Sweden will produce 60.
Healthcare
13,000 people registered as stem cell donors in February: The monthly average is 670, but recently, interest in becoming a stem cell donor has exploded. 87,000 people are currently registered as stem cell donors in Denmark. 30 million are registered worldwide.
The reason for the high interest has been the call made on social media by the mayor of Høje-Taastrup, who suffers from leukemia. His life was saved thanks to a match to a stem cell donor from Chile. He encouraged the people in Denmark to sign up as donors.
You can register to become a stem cell donor on sundhed.dk (aged between 18 and 55 years old and healthy). Once you register, you get three cotton swabs which you use to scrape inside your mouth (just like during the pandemic). That will determine your tissue type. If someone ever needs stem cells that are matching yours, you will receive a call and then you can still decide if you want to go forward with the donation.
Climate
“Our children and grandchildren will fight wars over water and food” said the EU climate chief, Frans Timmermans. We have only 7 years to reduce by half our CO2 emissions if we are to keep the temperature increase at 1.5 degrees.
European Union HQ
Finland has beaten Denmark to be declared the happiest country in the world: Again. An introverted, dark, and cold country on the outer edge of Europe. For the past six years, Denmark has kept coming in second place after Finland. Why? World-class education; High trust in authorities; Low corruption; Stable, free and safe society; Low organized crime; High degree of trust between citizens; Lots of time spent in nature; Being satisfied with what you have - mentality :)
Joint EU Military procurement: Over the next three years, the military budgets of the 27 EU states will increase by 500 billion DKK. Part of the money will be invested in increasing the production of weapons and military equipment in Europe. Also, the EU states will jointly acquire one million artillery shells which they will send to Ukraine.
Announcement Board
Aalborg, 13th April: If you are an international student or a job seeker, International House North Denmark has an opportunity for you! At their event you can meet and pitch yourself to companies and expand your network. The event is in Hobro, but there is free bus transportation from Aalborg to Hobro and back! It will be a “reverse-matchmaking” so companies will come speak to you instead of the other way around. Read which companies you can meet and sign up here.
International media about Denmark HQ
Mental health: Is Denmark's youth living up to the country’s happiness claims? (Euronews)
Prince Joachim of Denmark Is Moving to America (Vanity Fair)
What is the source of the information regarding Non-EU citizens graduating higher education in Denmark will automatically receive a residence permit for job search, valid for three years?