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TODAY IN DENMARK

Today in Denmark: A roundup of the news on Thursday

Firefighters work to shore up burnt-out walls of old Stock Exchange, Great Belt Bridge traffic disruptions, world’s tallest wind turbine goes up in West Jutland and more news from Denmark on Thursday.

Today in Denmark: A roundup of the news on Thursday
Danish Chamber of Commerce director Brian Mikkelsen with the top of the fallen Børsen Dragon Spire. Photo: Ida Marie Odgaard/Ritzau Scanpix

Fire services at Børsen taking things ‘one day at a time’ 

Firefighters still working to put out the remnants of the devastating blaze at Copenhagen’s old stock exchange Børsen say they are working on improving the stability of the centuries-old building’s outer walls.

“It’s very complicated work because the entire roof section of the scaffolding is now in a large pile with the copper roof, storey partitions, contents of the building and so on,” senior firefighter Frederik Ryber told broadcaster DR.

READ ALSO: IN PICS: What will it take to rebuild Copenhagen’s old stock exchange building?

The walls need to be stabilised before work to clear damage from the building can continue on Thursday.

Around 10 firefighters have continued to extinguish small fires and monitor for any outbreaks overnight as the fire services remain present as long as they are needed.

“We are taking it a day at a time,” Ryber said.

Vocabulary: stillads – scaffolding

Great Belt Bridge reopens after short traffic closure

The Great Belt Bridge between Zealand and Funen was briefly closed early this morning but traffic is now again crossing normally, operator Sund & Bælt said in a post on social media X.

The delay was caused by “diversion of traffic” and follows similar disruptions throughout this week with maintenance work ongoing on the crossing.

Drivers using the bridge during the night and early hours particular may see delays.

Vocabulary: vedligholdelse – maintenance

World’s tallest wind turbine erected in West Jutland

Yesterday saw a world record broken in West Jutlnd town Thyborøn as Vestas completed the installation of the world’s tallest land wind turbine, DR writes.

After the turbine machinery was affixed to the tower yesterday afternoon, the 15 megawatt construction reached a height of 266 meters – taller than the Great Belt Bridge.

Project leader Jens Jørgen Birch said there had been “no protests at all” from local residents opposing the turbine.

“It’s also now the fourth time we’ve erected wind turbines in the area,” he told DR.

Vocabulary: verdensrekord – world record

Public servants offered incentives to speed up mink compensation claims

Officials are to be offered a financial incentive as the government attempts to speed up mink fur farmers’ compensation cases, Minister of Transport Thomas Danielsen says.

Public servants who Work for at least 18 months in the government departments in the towns of Viborg, Aalborg, Vejle and Skanderborg, where the cases are bwing processed, can get paid an extra 5,000 kroner per month, Danielsen told DR.

READ ALSO: Denmark ejects mink breeders from compensation committees

“This should be seen as a temporary task to be completed,” Danielsen said

The transport minister is on the case because the so-called “Minksekretariat”, which is processing state compensation for the government’s 2020 decision to temporarily ban mink fur farming, comes under the Danish Civil Aviation and Railway Authority (Trafikstyrelsen).

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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.

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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