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TODAY IN DENMARK

Today in Denmark: A roundup of the news on Monday

Storm caused fears of Børsen collapse, decision could be made over military service for women, record number of diabetes cases and more news from Denmark on Monday.

Published: 29 April 2024 08:02 CEST

Police closed area around Børsen amid fears of collapse 

Police cordoned off an area around the burnt-out old stock exchange Børsen in central Copenhagen on Sunday night, due to fears the damaged section of the building was about to collapse.

The closed area was opened again around 10pm, however.

Stormy weather in Copenhagen last night was the cause of concerns that scaffolding around the building could be toppled, thereby causing the building to fall. But the danger passed as the weather calmed, police said.

Vocabulary: stormskade – storm damage

Politicians set for talks over military service

Negotiations over whether to extend Denmark’s military service obligations to women are set to enter a key stage.

Two of the parties that are in the group that determines military spending are strongly against military service for women. This means that the government – which favours the change – cannot adopt the policy without breaking an existing parliamentary alliance on the area.

The two parties in question – Liberal Alliance and Denmark Democrats – are set to speak with Defence Minister Troels Lund Poulsen today in an attempt to reach a compromise.

Vocabulary: forligskreds – group of parliamentary parties that have signed formal deal to determine state spending and policy on a given area

Record number diagnosed with diabetes 

A total of 25,557 people were diagnosed with diabetes in Denmark last year, a record number, the diabetes charity Diabetesforeningen said in a press statement.

The increase is primarily attributed to type-2 diabetes diagnoses, with 24,650 type-2 cases compared to 907 of type 1.

Some 360,000 people in Denmark are currently living with diabetes, but that number is expected to reach 467,000 by 2030.

“This is partly because the population of Denmark is getting older and thereby gets more diseases,” Diabetesforeningen CEO Claus Richter said to newswire Ritzau.

“Additionally, not enough people are aware how much of a difference diet and exercise make in relation to preventing diabetes,” he said.

US troops to mount exercise on Danish Baltic island

US troops are planning to take part in a military exercise on the island of Bornholm next month, marking the third time in three years US soldiers have trained on Danish soil.

Denmark’s defence minister, Troels Lund Poulsen, revealed the planned exercise, which will take place between May 1st and May 7th in a briefing to the Danish parliament’s defence committee.

As part of the exercise, US troops will ship an unnamed weapons system to Bornholm Airport, and then set it up in a military exercise area, but would not then fire any shots or missiles. 

“The exercise has a military training aspect, but also sends a signal about the solidarity of the alliance, about American commitment to security in Europe and in our own immediate area,” Lund Poulsen said in the briefing.

 

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TODAY IN DENMARK

Today in Denmark: A roundup of the latest news on Tuesday

Copenhagen University breaks off talks with Gaza protesters, support for Liberal Party hits record low, Denmark could build new naval vessels by 2028, and other news from Denmark on Tuesday.

Published: 21 May 2024 08:45 CEST
Today in Denmark: A roundup of the latest news on Tuesday

Copenhagen University breaks off talks with Gaza protesters

The leadership of Copenhagen University has declared that it is “breaking off all further dialogue” with the students camping in the grounds in protest at Israel’s attack on the Gaza strip. “The university cannot and must not be taken hostage by individual groups,” they wrote in a press release. 

The university management did, however, agree to one of the students’ demands, saying it was “completely reasonable”, “that the university population has insight into what the university’s funds are invested in”.

It would, it said, “endeavor” to make its investment portfolio publicly available, and would endeavour not have investments that can be “considered as conflicting with Danish foreign policy”.

The protesters, calling themselves Students against the Occupation, have called on the university to “recognise and condemn the ongoing genocide”, as well as to reveal its investments. 

Danish vocabulary: fuldstændigt rimeligt – completely reasonable

Support for Denmark’s Liberal party hits record low in new poll 

Support for Denmark’s Liberal Party has hit the lowest level recorded since the polling company Voxmeter started carrying out political polls in 2001. 

Just 7.7 percent of respondents said they intended to vote for the party, showing the party’s support almost halved since the 2022 election, which it received 13.3 percent of the vote. In the run-up to the 2015 general election, the party received the support of 22 percent of voters in one Voxmeter poll.

The Liberals have been struggling in recent years, with the party’s former leader, Prime Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen, leaving and launching the rival Moderate party, and the party’s former immigration minister, Inger Støjberg, launching the Denmark Democrats after being expelled from the party. 

The libertarian Liberal Alliance party, as the only centre-right party in opposition, now has 16 percent of the vote. The Social Democrats were the largest party, with 20.9 percent, followed by the Socialist Left party with 13.7 percent.

Danish vocabulary: en meningsmåling – an opinion poll

Denmark could build a naval vessel as early as 2028 

Denmark could complete the construction of a new warship at Danish shipyards as early as 2028, Anne H Steffensen, chief executive of the trade body Danish Shipping, has told a press conference held to announce the conclusions of a new report on public private partnerships for defence in the maritime industry. 

“It will require huge investments if we are to build warships in Denmark, and the industry must be involved in the planning,” Steffensen said.

The report identified three shipyards which could be converted to construct naval vessels, Karstensen Shipyard in Skagen, which today builds up to six fishing trawlers a year, Orskov Yard in Frederikshavn, which repairs the Navy’s ships, and Fayard, the old Lindøværft on Funen, which is also a repair yard.

Many of the vessels in today’s Danish navy were built at Odense Steel Shipyard, part of the A.P. Moller – Maersk Group, which closed in 2012. 

Danish vocabulary: dank skibsbygningskapacitet – Danish ship building capacity

Denmark may bring in differentiated VAT: minister 

Denmark’s tax minister has said the goverment is considering moving Denmark to the European norm and bringing in differentiated VAT, where the government tries to steer consumption by having a higher sales tax on things the government wants people to buy less of, like sugar for example, and a lower sales tax on goods they want them to buy more of, like vegetables for fruit. 

“There is potential in looking at whether you can differentiate VAT on some goods that we would like people to buy more of. It could, for example, be fruit and vegetables,” Jeppe Bruus told the Politiken newspaper in an interview.

In Denmark, practically all goods are subject to 25 percent VAT, whereas in most European countries VAT is differentiated.

Danish vocabulary: differentieret moms – differentiated VAT 

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