Pig language; Lost Citizenship; New banknotes
Last Week in Denmark (01.09-08.09) Episode 29 Year 4
Editor HQ
State of Denmark
There are around 5,000 pig farms in Denmark, which produce approximately 28 million pigs annually. In fact, Denmark is Europe’s fifth-largest pork producer. Pork makes up half of all agricultural exports. The national dish of Denmark contains pork. If in Norway, oil reigns supreme, then in Denmark, pork is king.
Now imagine that scientists would release a study showing that oil is bad for the environment (ohh wait, they already did that), how would Norway feel? Well, scientists have deciphered that pigs have language, and now the whole world can understand them. Will this be the start of the pig emancipation? The Ministry of Food is ready to listen. At 28 million nationally, the pigs outnumber all of us. Should we look for a new national dish in Denmark?
Who translated the pig language? A group of scientists from Copenhagen University found that pig language has 15,425 sounds. The scientists developed a sort of Google Translate program that can listen to the pig sounds and translate them into human words. Thanks to this program, the welfare of the pigs in the farms can now be measured, and it’s not looking very good for the farmers. Most likely, new legislation on animal welfare is on the way.
While pigs are getting emancipated, birds are disappearing from Denmark. 25% of the world’s birds have disappeared in the last 40 years. Some of the most common birds in Denmark, like the skylark, lost more than half of their population. Why? Agriculture became more efficient, and there has been less space for wild birds to roam. If you are interested in knowing more, you can watch this Danish documentary.
What can you do about it? If you own a garden, think about the wild birds in your design. Provide them with food, water, and shelter, and you have done your part.
Thank you for reading and sharing Last Week in Denmark! See you in Aarhus on September 14 for the “Welcome September” event.
P.S. - The rejsekort app is now open for everyone to use.
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Danish Politics HQ
Weekly political overview
A new political agreement gives police the right to use facial recognition on recorded video material. They can only use it to solve serious crimes. Why now? To stop the wave of “crime as a service,” where teenagers from Sweden are hired to commit crime in Denmark.
The Minister of Integration and Immigration is on an “inspiration trip” to Nauru (Oceania). The island has become famous for being Australia’s center for asylum seekers and it’s not always known for the best conditions. The Danish Minister of Immigration is intrigued by the idea of keeping asylum seekers out of the country while their case is being processed and would like to see if a similar model is possible for Denmark.
Updates from the political parties:
The integration and immigration spokesperson from Socialdemokratiet (Social Democrats) wants Denmark to reconsider its membership in the Human Rights Convention. Why? The Supreme Court said that plans to repatriate an eight-year-old boy from a Syrian prison camp without his mother is a violation of human rights. Only the boy has Danish citizenship.
Crisis in Moderaterne (Social Liberals). Again? The bane of newly formed parties is that they don’t have the chance to fully vet the people they put in front, so they often end up in unwanted scandals. What happened now? Some current and former employees of the party lodged a complaint with the Danish Working Environment Authority that the working environment is very poor and the management is “tyrannical.”
The crisis took another turn when an internal letter from the member of Parliament, Jeppe Søe, was leaked in the BT newspaper, where he described the party as a “sexist clown bus.” Unsurprisingly, two days later, he resigned from the party and will continue as an independent in the Parliament.
Why did he resign? He openly opposed the leadership plan from Lars Løkke Rasmussen to solve the poor working environment crisis and wanted an external investigation into the party.
How will the party solve the problem? Hire a professional psychologist and set up a whistleblower scheme.
Focus
Former Danish citizens who lost their citizenship between 1993 and 2015 because they received citizenship in another country can have their case reopened thanks to a ruling from the European Court of Justice. Denmark will not take the initiative, so the people in this situation need to start the proceedings for individual assessment.
This concerns people who lost their EU citizenship as a result of losing the Danish one. So, if you lost your Danish citizenship in favor of another EU citizenship, then this ruling doesn’t apply to you.
In the last 25 years, the Ministry of Equality has been moved 15 times. It started in 1999 in the Ministry of Urban Affairs and Housing. Since then it has been together with the Ministry of Social Affairs, Ministry of Welfare, Ministry of Employment, Ministry of Climate and Energy, Ministry of Church, Ministry of Integration, Ministry of Education, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Fisheries, Ministry of Food, Ministry of Transport, and Ministry of Digitalization. Today, it is within the Ministry of Environment. It has never gotten the chance to be an independent ministry. In a way, you start to understand the decline of equality in Denmark, considering the ministry never gets the respect and attention it deserves.
Danish Economics HQ
Weekly economics overview
Rebranding of the Danish banknotes from 2028. In case anyone will still be using physical money in four years, they will be able to see new designs on the banknotes. The design is inspired by the sea, and the four people chosen to be on the 50, 100, 200, and 500 DKK banknotes are Inge Lehmann, Tycho Brahe, HC Andersen, and Arnarulunnguaq, respectively.
This is the first time a Greenlandic figure will appear on a Danish banknote.
More than 2,000 IKEA customers had money withdrawn from their cards without buying anything. The company says it was a human error and that it is working hard to send the money back. The Consumer Council expects a fine from the Data Protection Agency, as the company has stored personal data about customers for too long.
Focus
Several airports, airlines, and industry organizations part of the Aviation Climate Partnership criticize the “Green Domestic Route” proposal. The government wants a green flight route within Denmark by 2025 but has proposed an inefficient and costly option.
The government proposed “drop-to-drop” model means that the green fuel must be transported and refueled separately on the planes. This implies direct fueling of the planes from trucks, meaning that passengers will have to be taken by bus to the planes.
The Aviation Climate Partnership proposes the “mass balance” model where green fuels are mixed with regular jet fuel at the airport. This way the planes will be able to be fueled from the airport’s own storage.
There are two types of green fuel for aviation: (a) The first type is mainly based on used cooking oil. Issue? Small quantities. (b) The second type is e-fuel, produced with hydrogen, carbon dioxide, and electricity. Issue? Not available on the market yet.
As the green fuel based on used cooking oil is the only one approved in the European Union, Denmark will have to import an incredible amount of used cooking oil to be able to fuel the “Green Domestic Route” next year.
Entrepreneurship Corner
"𝗛𝗼𝘄 𝗗𝗼𝗲𝘀 𝗮 𝗕𝗮𝗻𝗸 𝗧𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗸? 𝗧𝗶𝗽𝘀 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗢𝗽𝗲𝗻𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗮 𝗕𝘂𝘀𝗶𝗻𝗲𝘀𝘀 𝗕𝗮𝗻𝗸 𝗔𝗰𝗰𝗼𝘂𝗻𝘁 𝗶𝗻 𝗗𝗲𝗻𝗺𝗮𝗿𝗸" - online course provided by We Are Entrepreneurs. September 12 (17:00-18:00). Sign up here.
!!! If you have an interesting business idea with an innovative angle, you should consider joining the Beyond Beta Accelerator!!! A great way to further develop your business idea surrounded by professionals from various fields. Sign up here. (free)
Tip of the week! You can open a business bank account in any European Union country for your company in Denmark. You can connect your company’s NemKonto with a foreign bank account. For example, Revolut Business is free to open and costs only 85 DKK per month.
Daily Life in Denmark HQ
Weekly overview
Men who are exposed to air pollution have an increased risk of infertility. A new study shows that for every increase in air pollution by 5 micrograms of particles per cubic meter, the risk of male infertility increases by as much as 44%. This means that a man who lives in Copenhagen has a 44% higher risk for infertility compared to a man living in the suburbs of Aalborg.
The study also shows that noise pollution contributes to reduced fertility for women by up to 13% for every 10 decibel increase. Road noise can lead to increased stress and impaired sleep, which can affect women's ability to conceive.
Young girls who use snus will most likely develop asthma later in life. A recent study shows that the effects of snus are worse than initially believed (throat cancer, gum disease). The lungs are also not spared, especially for teenage girls.
The oxygen depletion crisis in coastal Danish waters gets worse. It is an area three times larger than at the same time in 2023. Last year it ended with the greatest loss of oxygen in 21 years. What does it mean? The end of life in the water. No fish, plant, or benthic animal can survive without oxygen.
Free influenza and COVID vaccination for people over 65 years old. If you are in that age group, you should receive an invitation on your eBOKS with the location where you can get vaccinated. Unlike previous years, children aged 2 to 6 years old are not included in the free vaccination program.
The government plans to end subsidies for Greek and Latin classes in gymnasiums. Today, a school can get 500,000 DKK to finance the salary for a Greek or Latin teacher if at least seven students choose classical languages as part of their graduation exams. In the future, they might have to find those funds themselves, so most likely the option to study classical languages will be removed.
The Danish language is becoming more Anglicized. In the past decade, the frequency of English words in Danish sentences has increased tenfold. In fact, Danish adopted 15,000 English words and expressions. This is not the first time the Danish language adopts words from other cultures. 20% of the vocabulary is borrowed words from other cultures, mainly German and French.
Four-day school week - experiment in Slagelse municipality. Five schools from Slagelse introduced the four-day school week. On the fifth day, students can choose to do whatever they want. It can be an internship with a car mechanic, learning a new skill, or simply resting at home.
The best-selling cookbook in Denmark is “Frøken Jensens Kogebog” published in 1901. The book is responsible for establishing the notion of a common national food culture in Denmark.
International Community in Denmark HQ
New column writers on our website, lwid.dk
Rasna Kaur Mistry made her debut with the column, “From London to Denmark via Covid: A Mother’s Musings" Read the first issue here.
Excerpt from the column:
“To look into the future, we need to examine Denmark’s history. According to research, including studies from “Statistics Denmark,” as early as the 1920/30s, Denmark opened public kindergartens because they recognized the importance of early childhood education. While many other countries did the same, Denmark significantly expanded its family policies after World War II, unlike most other countries. This investment into Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) has made Denmark a global benchmark for its comprehensive and inclusive approach to ECCE.”
Message from our reader, Mourad K. - regarding conditions to obtain Danish citizenship
One of the conditions is not having received a speeding fine of 3,000 DKK or more during and before the application processing period. The applicant will not be able to obtain Danish citizenship until 4.5 years have passed from the fine settlement.
I do not think it is fair that one speeding ticket should prevent applicants from obtaining Danish citizenship, as long as this happened by mistake and/or only once.
Speeding fines today are not limited only to non-Danish citizens. This kind of immigration policy has nothing to do with whether you are a good citizen or not, as long as it’s not a usual practice by the car driver.
If you, or people you know, are facing similar situations, please share this petition with your network (Danish citizens only) who agree with the statement to sign it.
Announcement Board
K7 Week: Are you between 18-27 years old? Then from Monday, September 9 until September 15, you can get free access to more than 200 museums and exhibition venues across Denmark. Just turn up at the museum or the venue and bring your personal K7 card.
Esbjerg, September 10, 10:00-15:00: Workshop by Nanna Hauch from Expat Hero – She will dive into culture shock and offer her insights into navigating cultural differences, cultural integration, and her takes on the emotional and psychological impacts of life abroad and encounters with the Danish culture. Limited amount of spots.
Esbjerg, September 12, 17:00-19:00: Raising Children in Denmark – Learn about the culture, the expectations, and the code of conduct related to children and the upbringing of children in Denmark with Nadia El-Gendi from “På Tværs”.
Aarhus, September 14, 10:00-15:00: Aarhus City Welcome 2024 – Meet 40+ organizations, associations, and authorities, listen to inspiring talks about life in Denmark, and get the best tips and advice from fellow internationals.
International media about Denmark HQ
Denmark reports cases of bluetongue disease that can be fatal to sheep but is harmless to humans (AP News).
Greta Thunberg arrested at pro-Palestinian protest in Denmark (Le Monde).
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