Last Week in Denmark (27.03 - 03.04) Episode 12 Year 2
Opportunity for future entrepreneurs! House tax; Heat check; Online police
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Ukraine HQ
Refugees
A few of the 98 municipalities in Denmark have reached the limit of available accommodation space for Ukrainian refugees. You can see on the map, which municipalities have reached capacity and which can still receive people. At the moment, there are 24,000 Ukrainian refugees in Denmark.
Free transport: PostNord offers free delivery for packages (up to 20 kilos) sent to Ukraine by individuals. The company sends the packages to Poland, where they are taken further by the Ukrainian postal company, Ukrpostha. P.S.! You need to write on the package, what is inside.
Others
The furniture chain Jysk decided to close permanently all its stores in Russia.
Carlsberg decided to sell all its business in Russia (eight breweries that employ 8,400 people).
There is pressure from the population in Denmark on Danish companies to close or sell their business in Russia. One of the targets is the shoe manufacturer ECCO (250 stores in Russia).
Danish Politics HQ
The political game
The Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskyj, addressed the Danish Parliament via video transmission on Tuesday.
“We must say that the level of brutality has reached a level that is now higher than what we saw during World War II, which was otherwise the most destructive war in Europe” - 1,119 civilians died so far and more than 3,8 million fled Ukraine.
Zelenskiy made a call towards Denmark to rebuild the city of Mykolaiv after the war.
He praised the Danish companies that left Russia.
He also asked us to drop Russian oil and gas.
He finished his speech with a call to action to the population in Denmark to “light a candle at the window” for all those that lost their life so far in the war.
800 soldiers for NATO: Denmark prepared a combat battalion in Slagelse that is on standby ready to go to the Baltics if necessary. NATO requested for the battalion to be placed in Latvia. Denmark already has soldiers in Estonia and military aircrafts in Lithuania.
Controversy: For a few days now, a video has been circulating on social media, with a Iranian woman that is treated violently by the repatriation officers. Now, the minister of Integration has been called for questioning by the Danish Parliament.
Danish Economy HQ
Updates on the “heat check”: The government made a new agreement with several parliamentary parties regarding the “heat check”.
Households that earn less than 650,000 DKK / year will qualify (before it was 550,000).
Each household will receive 6,000 DKK tax-free (instead of 3750 DKK).
419,000 households will receive this check automatically after the summer holidays.
Only households that are not connected to district heating qualify (exception is if your district heating company uses 65% or more gas).
Until 2024, the Danish Valuation Agency will re-evaluate the value of all the properties (public and private) in Denmark. This means that the amount you pay today in property tax (Ejendomsværdiskatten) will change based on the new valuation. So far, only 50,000 households have been assessed.
If you disagree with the new valuation of your home, you can do the following:
In a maximum of four weeks since you received the first letter from the Danish Valuation Agency (a 20 pages long letter on eBoks), you can complain for free.
When you complain, you need to find a minimum of 5% errors in their valuation, for them to change it.
Ten weeks after receiving the first letter from the Danish Valuation Agency, you will receive the final evaluation.
You can still complain, but it will cost you 1100 DKK and you need to find at least 20% errors in the valuation.
Corona loans: 46,200 companies that received loans during the pandemic have to start paying back now. They owe the state 22 billion DKK. Time to pay back? 2 years. Interest rate? 8,76%. The restaurant industry is the most affected.
Unemployment: The number of unemployed people has further fallen, with another 3400 people finding work. The unemployment rate is at 2,5%.
Shortage of components: The auto industry suffers from a shortage of sub-components. The auto sales have dropped 22% compared with last year. Why? Many producers of sub-components are placed in Ukraine.
Daily Life in Denmark HQ
Online Police: NSK (National Unit for Special Crime) has launched an online police patrol unit that needs to ensure security on the internet and investigate online crimes. The “digital police officers” will patrol on social media platforms. You can contact them here.
1000 cars: That’s how many cars the police have confiscated since the new law came into force last year. The most prolific region? Midtjylland. The main reason? Alcohol abuse.
Partner violence: According to a study from VIVE, 92% of the partner violence cases in Denmark are not reported. There are four types of violence: physical, mental, sexual and financial. Yearly, 82,000 women and 43,000 men are exposed to violence from their partner.
If you are an abused man in a relationship, from now on, you can also get free psychological help. The number of men exposed to violence in relationships is growing every year.
Climate records: According to DMI (Danish Meteorological Institute) we broke two records in March. We had the sunniest month in 102 years and driest month since 1874. The typical Danish weather took a vacation in March but is coming back strongly in April.
Culture
Oscars 2022: Despite the fact we had 5 nominations from Denmark, our delegation came empty handed home.
Sport
FIFA Rankings: Denmark’s men’s football team dropped in the FIFA Rankings to the 11th place (from the 9th place). The Netherlands and Mexico got ahead of Denmark. Brazil got the first place from Belgium as the best team in the world.
Local news
Nordjylland: Melsen Foundation donated 20 million DKK to the regional hospital from North Denmark. The money needs to be used for neurorehabilitation.
Kattegat: Greenpeace activists managed to block for 24 hours a Russian oil tanker until the police removed them. They are charged with vandalism because they painted on the tanker.
Odense: Odense’s Tramway has reached the testing phase. However, the locals have already started to complain about the noise it makes. The project manager promised to fix the sound issue.
Slagelse: The municipality needs to reduce spending by 8% (323 million DKK) on social services, like elderly care, healthcare, education, etc. Such a large cut in spending is unusual and it will be felt by the local citizens.
Thanks!