Discover more from Last Week in Denmark
Last Week in Denmark (29.01 - 05.02) Episode 4 Year 3
New unemployment rules; Organ donors; Inflation aid
Editor HQ
Cyber attacks on companies in Denmark: The Center for Cyber Security (CFCS) has raised the threat level of Russian cyber attacks against companies in Denmark from “medium” to “high”. The danger? They can destroy your company’s data and work devices. They can take over your website or prevent anyone from accessing it.
You can still raise the digital security level of your company before it’s too late. Access the 50,000 DKK voucher from SMV Digital with support from the Aalborg Institute for Development. This only applies for companies with at least 2 full time employees.
Danish Politics HQ
New Laws and Regulations
New unemployment rules: The ministry of employment decided that from the 1st May of 2023 the following rules will apply:
The maximum period of benefits for graduates will change from two to one year. This applies to graduates who become eligible for unemployment benefits from May 1st 2023.
All graduates must possess a level of Danish equal to Dansk 2 in order to receive unemployment benefits. An exception can be made for the students that worked 600 hours full time or 400 hours part time in the last 12 months before graduating.
After the first three months of unemployment, the monthly income will be lowered if you don’t have children. If you are under 30 years old, it goes down to 9700 DKK. If you are over 30 years old, it goes down to 12,253 DKK. This rule also applies retroactively to unemployed graduates from before the 1st of May 2023.
If you lose your job after the 1st of May 2023, you can receive a higher income from your unemployment benefits for the first three months, if: you have been a member of an A-kasse for 4 years; you have worked full time 2 years out of the last three; had a monthly salary of over 25,000 DKK.
Emergency plan for healthcare: The government proposed a 2 billion DKK investment in the healthcare system to reduce waiting times.
A simplified process with fewer requirements to obtain a work permit to encourage more non-European medical personnel to move to Denmark
Time spent on administration, development, research, and Phds will be reduced and the time spent with the patients will be increased
Pensioners will be permitted to contribute (and earn additional income alongside their pension)
More specialized nurses.
Danish Citizenship, Integration and Immigration Laws
Afghan female refugees will be granted residence permits: Since the Taliban took over, the quality of life for women in Afghanistan has degraded to such an extent that it would be dangerous to send female asylum seekers back. Therefore, Flygtningenævnet (a board that handles complaints from refugees) decided to change practice and approve asylum requests from Afghan women based on gender.
Previous cases where Afghan female refugees got their asylum request denied will be reopened.
“It should be easier to bring your non-European spouse to Denmark”, states the government. Currently, a 100,000 DKK bank guarantee is required to bring your spouse from outside the European Union to Denmark. The government intends to lower that amount to 50,000 DKK, as it was prior to 2018.
The bank guarantee will be used by the local municipalities, in case the spouse will request kontanthjælp. The money needs to be deposited and kept in a bank account for 10 years.
Law proposals and ideas
Every citizen over 18 years old should be an organ donor: The minister of health proposed a law that automatically registers every adult citizen as an organ donor. You will still have the option to deregister.
Etisk Råd recommends that people in Denmark should decide by themselves if they want to be organ donors.
In 2022, 84 people donated organs after their death. 338 patients received an organ transplant (from Denmark and abroad). 460 patients are still waiting. 21 have already died waiting.
The same model exists already in France, Sweden, Spain, Italy, Belgium, Netherlands, Poland, Hungary, Greece and the list goes on.
27% of the people in Denmark are registered as organ donors.
The negotiations on inflation aid have started: The government began negotiations with the parliamentary parties on how to spend the 2.3 billion DKK to help the people in Denmark most affected by the inflation crisis.
1.2 billion DKK comes from the European Union. 600 million DKK are moved from other budgets. 500 million DKK from the 2022 reserves.
SF (Socialist Party), Enhedslisten (Red-Green Alliance) and DF (Nationalist Party) want a larger amount to be spent as aid for inflation.
DD (Danish Democrats - far right) want part of the money to go to rural areas without district heating.
Liberal Alliance and the Conservatives are against spending public money as aid for inflation.
Radikale Venstre (Social Liberals) are doubting the need for the inflation aid.
Nye Borgerlige (Libertarian nationalists) would like to reduce taxes and if possible increase the amount by privatizing DR (national television), reducing foreign aid and closing the job centers.
The political arena
Preliminary investigation in the case of Ahmed Samsam: The investigation committee under the Danish Parliament decided to look into the case of Ahmed Samsam.
Ahmed Samsam (Danish citizen of Syrian descent) was imprisoned in Spain (in 2018) for fighting for the Islamic State in Syria. Samsam claims to have worked for the Danish Intelligence Service in Syria. He is currently serving his sentence in a Danish prison because the Danish Intelligence Service denied any association with him.
Ahmed Samsam is currently suing the Danish Intelligence Service.
Danish Economy HQ
Interest rate raised again: The National Bank of Denmark raised the interest rate by 0.35% to 2.1%. This is in response to the European Central Bank's 0.5% increase in interest rates to 2.5%.
The interest rate is the price of borrowing money. The rate was increased to slow down spending and inflation.
A higher interest rate means more expensive loans.
The end of high inflation in Europe is near: the IMF (International Monetary Fund) predicts that inflation in the Eurozone (EU states that use Euro as currency) will decline to 6.5% in 2023 and 2.6% in 2024. This will also impact Denmark as it has a currency fixed to the Euro.
If the war in Ukraine continues it can lead to unpredictable events that can impact the world economy negatively.
A lower inflation means you can afford to buy more with the same amount of money.
The market
Coop closes Irma, Kvickly and SuperBrugsen: From the 1st of April, Coop will reorganize its chain of grocery stores to reduce costs. A new store chain called “COOP” will be opened instead. Not every closed store will be part of the new store chain.
Irma is a historical grocery store chain started in 1886 in Copenhagen. Coop acquired the store chain in 1986. Out of the 2000 employees at Irma, 1400 will be kept in the new store chain.
Opportunities for entrepreneurs
Export to USA: “The Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) is a historic step toward achieving the clean energy transition, and Danish business will be instrumental in helping the U.S. achieve our ambitious climate goals," says the US ambassador to Denmark, Alan Leventhal.
Programs promoting Danish businesses focused on green transition in the US will be soon created.
Daily Life in Denmark HQ
Denmark is the world’s least corrupt country: According to Transparency International’s Corruption Perception Index, Denmark is the least corrupt country in the world for the fifth year in a row. Denmark has a score of 90 out of 100.
Healthcare
A new project will empower health nurses to detect violence in newborn families: A pilot project run in Albertslund, Glostrup, Helsingør, Hvidovre and Høje-Taastrup trains health nurses to spot signs of violence (when they make the first visit after birth). Unfortunately, the arrival of a baby triggers happy times but also stressful situations that could lead to violence. Health nurses need to identify these in the incipient phase in order to better handle the conflict.
The current subsidy system for medicine leads to inequality: The number of people in Denmark that cannot afford to pay for prescription medicine grows every month.
The first 1,045 DKK spent on medicines are not subsidized. Further on, 50% of the price is covered by the Regional Council. When you have spent 4,435 DKK on medicine, the subsidy goes up to 100%. The subsidy year starts from the moment you acquired your first medicine. On the same date next year, the procedure restarts.
Decriminalization of hard drugs in Copenhagen: The majority in the city council of Copenhagen wants to make the city a testing ground for decriminalization of possession of hard drugs in small quantities. They have asked permission from the government to be able to implement this decision.
Hard drugs are: heroin, morphine, fentanyl, cocaine, methamphetamine and ecstasy.
Sports with Jelimir Vlastici
Denmark takes the gold. After dominating this year's tournament and having won their previous 28 games at the World Handball Championship, Denmark secured gold with a comfortable win over France, 34-29. With this success, Denmark writes handball history by becoming the first nation to win 3 consecutive world titles.
High hopes in tennis. With Holger Rune as their best player, Denmark will be facing India this weekend in the Davis Cup.
Announcement Board
6 February, UN City Copenhagen: Join on International Day of Zero Tolerance for Female Genital Mutilation (FGM), for a screening of the movie “A Girl from Mogadishu” and an introduction to global and regional initiatives to eliminate the practice of FGM.
International media about Denmark HQ
Study uncovers widespread unethical practice for assigning authorships to research papers.
World’s longest underwater rail and road tunnel will connect Germany and Denmark by 2029.
Believe It or Not, These Waves Are in Denmark.
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