Last Week in Denmark (29.07-04.08) Episode 24 Year 4
We are back! Energy drinks, house fraudsters, Venezuela
Editor HQ
State of Denmark
…and we are back! Just as Denmark is slowly re-emerging from its July slumber, we are also rolling out changes in August! New writers, new content types, and more people are joining us to deliver on our mission: empowering people with information! An incredible number of people (71) have volunteered to join “Last Week in Denmark,” which shows that we are not alone in believing that the international community in Denmark needs to be empowered with access to information.
August is also synonymous with new beginnings, especially moving into a new apartment in Denmark. For the past decade, August 1st has been the day most people have changed addresses in Denmark - including some 35,000 out of 854,000 moves last year. At the same time, it is high season for housing fraudsters, as thousands of students have also begun their apartment search. If an apartment seems too good to be true (price, location, conditions), then most likely it’s a fake advertisement. What should you do before paying the deposit and first month's rent? Check the ownership of the house here and contact the owner to see if they are actually renting it out, see the house before paying, and beware of signing contracts right away.
What’s Denmark talking about? Energy drinks and their bad effects on children. For the past couple of years, energy drink consumption has skyrocketed in Denmark among every age group, with severe consequences for our general health situation. Poland, Lithuania, Latvia, Romania, and Norway have already banned energy drinks for young people under the age of 16. The United Kingdom and Hungary are preparing similar bans. There are voices from the health sector in Denmark that demand we go the same way. Why? High consumption of energy drinks leads to headaches, stomachaches, heart palpitations, sleep disturbances, increased stress levels, and unexplained bouts of anger, among other symptoms.
Find time to talk about energy drinks at the dinner table with your children. They need to understand the risk they are exposing themselves to by following others in consuming energy drinks at breakfast and lunch. There are multiple YouTube videos you can watch together to understand their effects. Also, be a role model and give up drinking energy drinks in their presence.
Thank you for reading and sharing Last Week in Denmark!
LWID Universe
Instagram: Our Instagram channel team went viral with this post about urgent emails during the summer holidays, reaching more than 200,000 people. A perfect ending for Meghna Nijhawan’s era at the helm and a challenging start for Justas Galuškinas. Thank you for your service Meghna and good luck, Justas :)
Facebook: Alina is looking for pictures from your summer vacation here.
Danish Politics HQ
Weekly political overview
At first, it was the companies that started to look for talent abroad. Then the state followed, looking for doctors and nurses. Now, it’s the Danish gangs’ turn to recruit from abroad - Sweden, more specifically. The effect of a very low unemployment rate.
The seven-point scale for giving grades in school is very unpopular with both teachers and students. Four years ago, the government established a commission to figure out how to modernize the grading system. The commission has long ago made its proposal, yet there has been no political action. Why? It is not a priority for the current government.
The Canadian environmental activist and co-founder of Greenpeace, Paul Watson, was arrested in Greenland. Why? A Japanese arrest warrant via Interpol (a red notice) for damages done to fishing vessels in 2010. Since the arrest, there has been strong international pressure to release him and not extradite him to Japan, including from French President Macron.
Focus
50% of the electricity produced in the European Union is green: Solar cells, wind turbines, hydropower, and nuclear power account now for half of the electricity produced. What about Denmark? We produce 81.5% of our electricity from green sources. Number one in Europe? Not quite. More like 9th place. Who’s in front? Sweden with 100%; France (95.7%); Finland (91.8%), Austria (91.3%), Portugal (90.2%), Slovakia (86.9%), Luxembourg (84.6%), and Spain (83.6%).
Why are the others in front? France, Finland, and Slovakia have nuclear plants; Portugal and Spain have a wind and solar power boom; and Austria has hydropower. At the same time, development of wind and solar power in Denmark has stalled for a couple of years now.
What about the rest of the world? Brazil (93.81%), Kenya (93.8%), New Zealand (83.19%), and Canada (80.14%) have similar percentages with the European Union states. Luckily, even the two superpowers, the U.S. and China, are getting more green (44.42% in the U.S. and 37.34% in China).
Private companies in Denmark are joining hands to strengthen crisis preparedness: Not so long ago, the government advised people to be prepared for at least three days of survival in case of epidemic, cyberattack, power outage, infrastructure sabotage, or war. To support the public effort to prepare for crisis situations, Falck has started an “emergency network” for private companies, where they share information on how to use their resources to support the population.
One of the network members is Salling Group (Netto, Føtex and Bilka). They are preparing their stores to run without access to electricity, and are working with their suppliers on how to keep the lines open even during a crisis.
Unfortunately, Denmark is 5-10 years behind the other Nordic states in crisis preparedness, according to a national security expert. The private emergency network is a step forward, but more must be done for us to be truly prepared.
Danish Economics HQ
Weekly economics overview
2,879 families have applied for “school start aid” from Dansk Folkehjælp. This is a record number compared to previous years, which shows that inequality in Denmark is growing.
Entrepreneurial spirit is strong among young people in Denmark. Read the story of two teenagers (11 and 13) who turned their grandparents unused space into a parking lot.
The electricity market is the “wild west” in Denmark. Since the privatization of the sector, many electricity companies that act only as intermediaries between the producer and the consumer have appeared, along with stories of clever tricks that mislead customers. According to the Consumer Council, you need to be very careful when you choose your electricity provider.
Focus
15.7% of young workers feel unsafe when they go to work, especially if they are from a different ethnic background: Young workers mentioned that customer behavior, especially in grocery stores, can sometimes cross the line. Remarks like “Your skin color will rub off on my products, put on gloves” and “Aren’t you too stupid to sit here? Can’t you count?” are unfortunately all too common for them. Remember, next time you meet a young worker, give them encouragement. We can be the change in Danish society.
The youth movement SAGA made a proposal to allow people under 35 years old to use their pension savings as financing for a house.
A housing policy expert says that “if you give people more money to buy houses without building more, the prices will increase.” and it will make it even more difficult for some categories of young people without pension savings to ever buy a house.
On the contrary, a former pension company director and finance expert says that the proposal can be adapted so it doesn’t impact housing prices. How? Phase it in gradually, per cohort. First, 34-year-olds should have the opportunity. Then 33-year-olds, and so on. Expect more developments in this story soon.
Entrepreneurship Corner
Learn how to start a company in Denmark by joining the free online course “Doing Business in Denmark” provided by Aalborg Institute for Development and Iværksætterdanmark. When? August 15 to September 5.
If an online course is not up your alley, come to Aalborg for the same course in person, “Doing Business in Denmark,” from October 10 to 31. Sign up here.
Write to Marie from Finklusiv (marie@finklusiv.dk) if a bank has rejected you or you have had other issues getting a business bank account.
Daily Life in Denmark HQ
Insights into the Danish way of life
What time is it? Fear not, dear readers, it is still summertime. However, as the beginning of school approaches, life is slowly flowing back into the streets. In terms of city life, Denmark lives against the seasons, with summer being the deadest period of the year. As soon as July rolls around, hundreds of thousands of Danes pack their bags, schedule the out-of-office automatic email, and disappear until the August winds arrive.
Nobody takes a holiday like a Dane. In that respect, a common sense of honesty is shared: when you are off work, work becomes irrelevant, and others are therefore forbidden from disturbing your annual leave. Funny interactions between Danes and their international business partners can often be found online. Naturally, the international business partners’ jaws drop when they come to understand that Lars won’t answer that urgent email for at least three weeks' time. However, this phenomenon can also lead us to reflect on the biggest Danish luxury of all: safety. How does everyone stay safe when there is no one home to keep watch? The answer is trust.
In Denmark, it is estimated that 77% of Danes trust one another, ranking highest in the world. Aside from calm holidays and safe houses, the benefits of a society where people don’t fear strangers are also financial. Political scientist Gert Tinggaard Svendsen argues that trust accounts for 25% of Denmark’s otherwise inexplicable wealth.
Trust in the words and actions of others means people are less likely to sue one another or hire third parties for security purposes. It also means those extra kroner you put aside can go to an Aperol Spritz in Southern Italy instead of being invested in burglar alarms. As we come back from holidays and switch back to reality (one that can sometimes be daunting in the accelerated world we live in), let us have a moment of gratitude for this big privilege.
Weekly overview
From January 2025, you can only take the driving test in Danish or English, with some exceptions (German in border areas, Greenlandic, and Faeroese).
If you have lived longer than three years in Denmark, you have to pay if you need a translator with you when you visit the doctor. A large number of internationals avoid seeing a doctor due to this fee. Experts advise abolishing the fee, as it did not lead to people learning Danish faster.
More people have started to sell used clothes and other items in front of their houses by using the “honor system.” They leave the items there and a sign where to pay.
Potatoes are climate friendly. A hospital in Vejle created 13 different potato dishes for patients in an effort to cut back on meat products.
Fast track at Legoland makes people angry, as it is “an attack on Danish values.” The fact that people with money can skip the queue teaches the wrong lesson to the children waiting in line, according to various politicians and parents interviewed.
Netflix acquired the Danish TV concept “The Last Word,” where famous people are interviewed with the purpose of being published after death. On Netflix, it will be called “Famous Last Words”.
International Community in Denmark HQ
Contribution by Manuel Rodríguez Rodríguez
Venezuela’s Election Crisis: What You Need to Know and How You Can Help
As a Venezuelan living in Denmark, I felt obliged to share what has happened in the past week and kindly ask you to keep my country in your mind and social media feed.
What happened?
Presidential elections on July 28. Main candidates? Incumbent President Nicolás Maduro and opposition candidate Edmundo González Urrutia. The government controlled National Electoral Council announced that Maduro narrowly won the election without publishing full results.
The opposition argued that the results were fraudulent and walked the talk by posting digitalized tally sheets online that prove that Edmundo Gonzalez won the election by a landslide.
Protests erupted nationwide following the elections. In major cities, clashes between protesters and government forces resulted in numerous injuries, arrests, and 11 deaths. Reports of human rights violations have emerged, with security forces using tear gas, rubber bullets, and water cannons to suppress the demonstrations.
Unlike previous similar events, the opposition is united as never before. This time, public anger is broad-based and resolute. The protests did not start in middle-class and affluent suburbs, but rather in Petare, Venezuela’s and South America’s biggest slum.
The international community faces a critical decision: whether to tolerate a demonstrably illegitimate government that is causing mass migration, or to help find a peaceful solution.
How can you help?
Follow Maria Corina Machado and Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia on social media.
Share posts raising awareness about the crisis in Venezuela.
Consider supporting organizations providing aid and medical supplies in Venezuela.(please get in touch with Manuel for more details)
Join or organize peaceful protests and events to show solidarity with the Venezuelan people.
Encourage members of the Danish Parliament to support policies that address the crisis. This can be sanctions on the Maduro regime, humanitarian aid, or asylum for refugees.
Announcement Board
Odense, August 4, 14:00-16:00: If you’d like to brush up on your Danish skills, you can join a picnic organised by International Community Odense and chat with a mixed group of internationals and Danes.
Online, August 22, 17:00-19:00: Are you planning for or about to have a baby? Then you might want to join this webinar about pregnancy and childbirth in Denmark. You will get insights into the general Danish national health system and the options you have, as well as the registrations to have in mind in relation to the birth of your child.
International media about Denmark HQ
Ozempic's biggest side effect: Turning Denmark into a 'pharmastate'? (NPR)
My Scandinavian summer: a campervan trip across Denmark and southern Sweden (Guardian)
A greener getaway? Danish capital tests climate reward scheme for tourists (AP News)
Thanks a lot!
Just watch out, when you advertise sanctions. The American sanctions towards Venezuela are the major reason for inflation and migration. Increasing sanctions might only strenghten the government, which you deem illegitimate.