Last Week in Denmark (27.11 - 04.12) Episode 42 Year 2
International students; Compensation for stress; Parallel societies
Editor HQ
We are very close. If we can get another 100 people to participate in this survey we will have a strong case when we discuss with the public institutions about providing the following courses free of charge. All participants to the survey joining the mailing list will receive information on how to obtain 150,,000 DKK to further develop their business or validate their idea.
Taxes for entrepreneurs.
How to open a business in Denmark.
Basic law for entrepreneurs.
From idea to start-up.
Funding for start-ups.
Basic accountancy and economics for entrepreneurs.
How to sell to the Danish customer.
How to establish a freelance business.
…and more (the 8 examples from up are the most requested ones so far).
Among the other languages besides English for the courses, Romanian was the most requested one.
Special focus: Since 2007, international students in Denmark have contributed 26,7 billion DKK to the Danish economy, according to a study requested by IDA (the engineer’s union). Each international student that graduated in the period 2007-2011 contributed 2 million DKK on average through taxes. This is only the last study that proves that the government’s decision to close down English-speaking bachelor programs was misguided. There is a strong movement that advocates for their return so let’s hope we will see progress on that in 2023.
Danish Politics HQ
Government Negotiations (Week Four)
A multi-party government, across the middle, which has a majority in the Danish Parliament will be historic. The social democrats and the liberals (Venstre) are now negotiating the foundation for the future government in order to prevent ideological conflicts. What are they discussing?
Economy: The population is asking the government to help use public funds to support those most hit by inflation, the energy crisis, and rising interest rates. However, there is a high risk that the current situation will turn into an economic crisis with high unemployment and a slowdown of the economy which could dry up public funds. Already, there are only 12 billion DKK left that the government can spend on new initiatives until 2030. This is unless they start cutting costs or collecting more money through higher taxes.
Reforms: There are two types of reforms: the “classic” where you can secure more workers by cutting public benefits, lowering taxes, and raising the retirement age; and the “second-generation” where you can motivate more people to take a vocational education. This will be interesting to see because the liberals prefer the “classic” model while the social-democrats are more inclined toward the “second-generation”.
Taxes: Both parties want to increase the employment deduction (in order to motivate people to move from public assistance into work) so that they reduce the tax burden on low and middle-income families. Also, neither of the parties is willing to reduce the top tax that will benefit high-income families. At best, they are willing to increase the upper limit after which you need to pay top tax.
Pension: As it will become increasingly hard to afford pensions in the future, the state needs to find alternatives. Some of them might not be very popular. For sure, the parties will advocate raising the retirement age and reducing the possibilities for early retirement.
Welfare: Both parties have promised that public spending must keep up with demographic changes (more elderly and more children) so that the quality of public services remains the same. Spending needs to increase by 0,55% annually. A major source of conflict will be the salaries of public employees.
Kontanthjælp: Both parties are planning to introduce a 37-hour mandatory work week for people receiving money from the social safety net. The work will most likely be in the service of society.
Climate: Both parties agree that there is a need for a CO2 tax on agriculture. To what extent, remains to be seen, especially as the liberals have a very close connection with the farmers.
Internationals: Both parties want to maintain a strict immigration policy. However, without the influence of the far-right in the government, there will be space to relax some of the crazier rules out there (like the ones related to family reunification). A source of conflict between the parties will be the non-European workers. The liberals want to make it easier for them to come to Denmark, while the social democrats claim that there is enough of a workforce in Europe to cover the needs we have in Denmark.
The New Parliament
When general elections are called, all the legislative proposals on the table at that time are removed. They need to be re-submitted to be considered again and debated in the Parliament. However, the Parliament will not consider or debate new proposals until a government is in place. 49 proposals are waiting to be re-submitted.
Danish Economy HQ
Unemployment status: 75,200 unemployed people in Denmark in October. 200 less compared with September. 2,6% of the population doesn’t have a job. The chief economist at Dansk Erhverv warns that the number will increase in the following months. The number of advertised jobs dropped 22% compared to February 2022 and the number of people fired is at the highest level since the pandemic times of 2020.
Economy status: 0.5% economic growth in the third quarter of the year (July - September). In the second quarter, the economy grew by 0,9%. The deputy director of Dansk Industri believes that growth will decline from the fourth quarter and the first quarter next year, due to weaker purchasing power, higher interest rates and a lower export volume.
The average inflation (November) in the 19 EU member states that use the euro as currency has dropped by 0.6% to 10%. This could be seen as good news as it might convince the European Central Bank to make the next increase of interest rates smaller than intended (0.5% instead of 0.75%). P.S - It has become cheaper to shop in Germany!
Electricity price: Due to the lower outside temperatures, the price of electricity has started to go up again. It has reached 5 DKK per Kwh (+transport and taxes) at peak hours. The current cold weather with almost no wind is expected to last at least the first one week and a half of December. The wind turbines are producing less energy and low water levels in Norway and Sweden lead to less hydropower energy production. This means we are buying expensive energy from Germany at the moment.
Stress to be recognized as an occupational injury: 25% of the people in Denmark feel stressed “all the time” or “often”. As a result, trade unions are pushing for “stress” to be seen as an occupational injury. There is political support for the idea.
An occupational injury is an illness or a disorder caused by the work or the conditions under which the work took place. You can see the full list of recognized injuries here. If stress becomes an occupational injury you will be able to request compensation from your employer if you are afflicted by it.
Ombudsman vs. Debt Agency: The infamous Gældsstyrelsen, which makes your heart stop with just one letter in your mailbox :), is in trouble. The ombudsman (which is the public advocate) will investigate their handling of voluntary payment of debt. It seems that a lot of citizens have complained that they wanted to pay their debt faster, but they couldn’t and that “bad credit” situation affected their purchase of loans.
Ombudsman vs. Ministry of Employment: People on kontanthjælp get their monthly income reduced when they go to shop abroad without informing the municipality two days before. Now, the ombudsman is asking the ministry of employment if this is in line with EU law and if not, to inform the municipalities to stop this practice. Three experts on EU law say that the rule goes against union law.
Financial Supervisory Authority vs. Jyske Bank: Finanstilsynet has requested a police investigation of Jyske Bank. Why? Suspicions of money laundering.
Daily Life in Denmark HQ
Parallel societies: Once a year, the ministry of interior and housing announces the residential areas that are classified as “parallel societies”. To be classified as such, the following conditions need to be fulfilled: more than 50% of the residents have a non-Western background, the proportion of residents with a criminal record is three times the national average and the unemployment level is over 40%.
There are 10 residential areas on the list - Tåstrupgård (Høje-Taastrup), Mjølnerparken (Copenhagen), Askerød (Greve), Vollsmose (Odense), Nørager/Søstjernevej (Sønderborg), Stengårdsvej (Esbjerg), Sundparken (Horsens), Skovvejen/Skovparken (Kolding), Bispehaven and Gellerupparken (Aarhus).
Climate
The first off-grid housing district in Denmark: Off-grid means without access to central grids for electricity, heat and water. The first such district will be built next year in Brenderup (Vestfyn, Middelfart) with 34 small houses. However, there will be a communal house that will be connected to the grid as it is illegal in Denmark to drink rainwater.
Culture and religion
The Ukrainian Orthodox Church: After Russia invaded Ukraine, Ukrainians in Denmark decided to secede from the Russian Orthodox congregation and make their own. At the moment, they hold services in an old chapel in Holstebro and in two churches in Viborg.
Netflix vs. Danish filmmakers: The conflict between Netflix and the Danish film industry is over. “Create Denmark”, the association that looks after the interests of actors, directors and screenwriters, is happy that they managed to reach a rights agreement with Netflix, so now the production of Danish content for the streaming service can be resumed.
Rose d'Or: Sidse Babett Knudsen a.k.a. Birgitte Nyborg from Borgen received the gold rose (a European Oscar) for the category “Performance of the Year”.
The greatest films of all time: There are two Danish movies in the top 100 films of all time - on 21st place, The Passion and Death of Joan D’arc (made in 1928) and on 48th place, The Word (made in 1955). Both of the movies have been directed by Carl Th. Dreyer.
Sport with Jelimir Vlastici
Early World Cup exit, in sharp contrast to the European Championship performance. Before the start of the World Cup, hopes were high among the Danish supporters, due to the excellent performance of Euro 2021, where the team reached the semi-finals. Fast-forward a year and a half to November and the World Cup in Qatar. Here Denmark was expected to repeat the magical summer, but sadly it was eliminated, registering their worst performance at the tournament ever.
Local news
Aalborg restaurants vs. Wolt: The rebellion against Wolt is over. Initially, 30 restaurants decided to band together and convince people to drop Wolt as they take 30% from the value of an order. Now, 28 restaurants have returned into the fold. Despite that, Anram El-Souissi from Falafel House will continue her boycott of the Wolt platform.
Hanstholm Port Take Over: The North Danish port accumulated a debt of 600 million DKK over the past years. This situation forced Thisted municipality to take over operations and invest 175 million DKK until 2025 to keep the port open. The 175 million DKK will be obtained by canceling other infrastructure investments and cutting costs on services for citizens. The closure of the port would have led to 2.300 people losing their jobs.
European Union HQ
Hungary vs. European Union: The European Commission has formally asked the European Council to freeze Hungary’s access to the EU money allocated to them from the Cohesion Fund (56 billion DKK). Why? They do not respect the principle of rule of law, which is a mandatory part of being part of the European Union.
Operation Desert Light: A European super cartel has been taken down by EUROPOL (European Union Police). 33% of the cocaine trade in Europe was controlled by this cartel. 49 people were arrested in six different countries. 30 tonnes of cocaine confiscated.
Announcement Board
North Denmark: International House North Denmark compiled a list of all the Christmas events happening in their region.
“Storytelling: from cave drawings to digital content” by Carolyn Yates, contributing editor
Storytelling is the act (and art) of telling stories to entertain, inform, or educate. It is one of the oldest and most compelling methods of communication. According to National Geographic, some of the earliest examples of storytelling were cave drawings of people and animals from 30,000 years ago!
It is often said that everyone has a story to tell. In the words of Hans Christian Andersen, the world-famous Danish writer, “Life itself is the most wonderful fairy tale” and “You can get a story from everything you touch”.
We’d like to hear your stories, but we’re not looking for fairy tales – Andersen already has those covered! We’re inviting volunteers to write about their experiences of life in Denmark, with a focus on sharing information to help internationals.
You could write about almost anything relating to Danish life and culture. Previous pieces have covered subjects like volunteering, sports participation, and sustainability initiatives. The main thing we’re looking for is an interesting ‘angle’ and some practical information or advice.