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TODAY IN DENMARK

Today in Denmark: a roundup of the news on Monday

Copenhagen bin men pause strike, three seized in Christiania 'Pusher Street', Denmark and Germany announce hydrogen pipeline, and Danish flight route to reopen with state backing. Here's some of the news on Monday.

Published: 27 March 2023 07:21 CEST
Today in Denmark: a roundup of the news on Monday
Garbage trucks parkets outside Amager Resource Centre (ARC), the new manager who garbage collectors in Copenhagen mounted a week long strike against last week. Photo: Mads Claus Rasmussen/Ritzau Scanpix

Copenhagen bin men restart work after week-long strike 

Garbage collectors in Copenhagen, Tårnby, Dragør and Frederiksberg returned to work on Monday after a week-long strike, in the hope of restarting negotiations with their future employer Amager Ressourcecenter (ARC): 

“Now we are extending a hand. We hope this will be well received by our employer and will lead to new negotiations,” the union spokesperson Ulrik Blessing told the B.T. newspaper at 05.45, adding that they would be “back at work in about an hour”. 

Garbage collectors have been on strike since Monday last week over working hours and other conditions under Amager Ressourcecenter, who will take over management of garbage collection in Copenhagen on May 1st. 

Danish vocab: at række hånden frem – to reach out a hand (in a gesture of conciliation). 

Police seize three man for selling cannabis in Copenhagen’s ‘Pusher Street’

Copenhagen police arrested three men on Saturday for selling cannabis on Pusher Street in the hippy enclave of Christiania, as they continue their efforts to stamp out the former open-air cannabis market. 

According to police, 875 people were arrested for selling cannabis in the first 11 months of 2022, more than in any other year over the past four years. 

“It is extremely unattractive to stand out there, and therefore a lot of new people come in who have no idea what it is all about. Many of them come from outside the catchment area, and some of them are peripherally associated with a criminal group,” Simon Hansen, a police spokesperson said. “It’s a bit easier for us to catch these people.” 

According to the Berlingske newspaper, around half of the stalls in the street are linked to various gangs and biker gangs, such as Satudarah, Bandidos, Hells Angels and Loyal To Familia, with the rest run by people living in Christiania. 

Danish vocab: anholdt – seized

Denmark and Germany announce plans for hydrogen pipeline

Germany and Denmark will work together to construct a pipeline to transport hydrogen between the two countries, ministers announced on Friday.

Danish climate minister Lars Aagaard and German counterpart, Minister for the Economy and Climate Robert Habeck, briefed press on Friday after signing a declaration which could see a hydrogen pipeline between the countries completed by 2028.

“A big thank you to Germany when it comes to questions of energy and climate,” Aagaard said.

“We have the same interests in so many areas. Today we are taking it one step further,” he continued.

The declaration means the countries will work on an underground hydrogen pipeline between the Danish region of West Jutland and northern Germany.

Danish vocab: brint – hydrogen

Danish domestic flight to reopen after airport gets state backing

A domestic flight connecting Copenhagen with the tiny Midtjyllands Airport is set to resume services around four months after it was cancelled.

he flight from Midtjyllands, formerly Karup, Airport to Copenhagen will resume from April 17th, Copenhagen Airport said in a statement.

Four daily departures, operated by the Danish Air Transport (DAT) airline, will connect the two airports from Monday to Thursday, while there will be afternoon departures only on Fridays.

DAT also operated the route until its prior closure in December 2022. The majority of passengers who used the service were commuters, and its closure meant that most of the airport’s staff faced the loss of their jobs.

Danish vocab: flyrute – flight route

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TODAY IN DENMARK

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

Denmark announces new defence package for Ukraine, subsidies to museums boosted, economy growing faster than expected and other news from Denmark on Friday.

Published: 17 May 2024 07:06 CEST
Today in Denmark: A roundup of the latest news on Friday

Denmark donates billions to Ukraine for air defence and ammunition

Denmark has agreed to donate 5.6 billion kroner to Ukraine, in its 18th donation package to the country to help it repel Russia’s invasion.

“This is quite a large package: we are currently the country which provides the largest military support to Ukraine pro rata,” Denmark’s foreign minister, Lars Løkke Rasmussen, told the Ritzau newswire. .

Around 2.4 billion kroner is set earmarket for improving Ukraine’s air defences and part will go towards developing Ukraine’s new fleet of F-16 fighter planes, some of which Denmark has given. It is not yet known when Denmark’s planes will be sent to Ukraine. 

“Everyone knows that Ukraine is in desperate straits for better air defences. We have nothing, but we have the resources. We have included that in this package,” Rasmussen said. 

Danish vocabulary: luftforsvar – air defences

Denmark to boost subsidies to museums in new cross-party deal 

Denmark’s government has struck a deal with opposition parties to increase the annual subiduy to museums in the country by 75 million kroner a year, pushing the annual grant to 565.7 million from 2025. 

Under the news subsidy system, museums will be divided into five categories, which will determine how big its basic grant will be. A new national museum board will be set up to assess whether museums will be among those eligible for subsidy or be stripped of state recognition. 

To be categorised as a state-recognised museum, museums must have an annual income of at least 4m kroner and at least 10,000 annual visitors, although this is reduced to 3m kroner and 8,000 visitors for museums on Denmark’s smaller islands. 

The deal was struck between the three government parties and all other parties in government apart from the Alternative and Nye Borgerlige parties. 

Danish vocabulary: museumsnævn – board of museums 

Denmark’s economy growing faster than expected 

Denmark’s economy is growing faster than the government expected, inflation is falling faster, and employment is holding up better, Denmark’s economy minister, Stephanie Lose, said at a press conference announcing the government’s Økonomisk Redegørelse, or financial statement, for May.

“In the past two years, the pharmaceutical industry in particular has driven growth in the Danish economy, while there has been stagnation or decline in large parts of the rest of the economy,” she said. “In the coming years, other industries again look set to contribute to growth. Added to this is the reopening of the Tyra field in the North Sea, which also contributes to growth in GDP.” 

The government has increased its expectation for Denmark’s growth rate since its last statement in December, with it now expecting 2.7 percent growth in 2024, up from the 1.4 percent it expected for the year in December. 

The government has significantly upgraded its expectations of what will happen to the price of domestic property this year. It now expects prices to increase by an average of 3.2 percent in 2024 and 3 percent in 2025, a rise of two percentage points on the 1.2 percent rise for 2024 it expected when it made its last forecast in December. 

Danish vocabulary: forventningen – the expectation

Denmark joins countries calling for asylum centres outside EU

Denmark is one of 15 EU member states who have sent a joint letter to the European Commission demanding a further tightening of the bloc’s asylum policy, which will make it easier to transfer undocumented migrants to third countries, such as Rwanda, including when they are rescued at sea.

The letter, sent to the European Commission on Thursday, comes less than a month before European Parliament elections, in which far-right anti-immigration parties are forecast to make gains.

The letter asks the European Union’s executive arm to “propose new ways and solutions to prevent irregular migration to Europe”.

The group includes Italy and Greece, which receive a substantial number of the people making the perilous journey across the Mediterranean Sea to reach the EU — many seeking to escape poverty, war or persecution, according to the International Organization for Migration.

Denmark’s former government sought to open an asylum reception centre in a third country, with the then immigration minister Mattias Tesfaye visiting Rwanda. But the current govermment has pledged to try and establish centres in a third country through the EU. 

They want the EU to toughen up its recently adopted asylum pact, which introduces tighter controls on those seeking to enter the 27-nation bloc.
That reform includes speedier vetting of people arriving without documents, new border detention centres and faster deportation for rejected asylum applicants.

The 15 proposed in their letter the introduction of “mechanisms… aimed at detecting, intercepting — or in cases of distress, rescuing — migrants on the high seas and bringing them to a predetermined place of safety in a partner country outside the EU, where durable solutions for those migrants could be found”.

Danish vocabulary: modtagecenter – reception centre

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