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WHAT CHANGES IN DENMARK

Everything that changes in Denmark in June 2024

With EU elections and the 175th anniversary of the constitution, June this year is a bit busier than normal. Here's what you need to know about what's going on.

Published: 23 May 2024 16:28 CEST
Updated: 1 June 2024 08:26 CEST

Everything that changes in Denmark in June 2024

The Sankt Hans fire in the Copenhagen satellite town of Køge. Photo: Mads Claus Rasmussen/Ritzau Scanpix

EU elections on June 9th

Danish citizens and EU citizens living in Denmark will vote in EU elections on Sunday, June 9th, although early voting has been possible at postal voting locations across the country since April 28th.

To vote on election day, you must appear in person at the polling place listed on your election card. Polling stations will be open between 9am and 8pm.

READ ALSO: Can Denmark residents vote in the European elections?

Bigger than usual celebrations as Denmark celebrates 175 years of its constitution

This year, King Frederik X and Queen Mary will take part in the 175th anniversary celebrations of the Danish constitution. The constitution was signed by King Frederik VII back in 1849.

The celebrations will start with a service at Holmens Kirke church, and continue with an event in the Landstingssalen room at the Christiansborg Palace, the seat of the Danish parliament.

Søren Gade, the chair of the parliament, Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen and the President of Denmark’s Supreme Court, Jens Peter Christensen, will all hold speeches.

For the general public, Denmark’s public broadcaster DR has teamed up with the parliament to host a Constitution Festival at DR Byen, its headquarters in Copenhagen, with music, group singing, speeches and panel discussions starting from 9am.

Denmark’s Education Minister Mattias Tesfaye will be present, as will Emma Holten, the Danish-Swedish human rights activist and celebrity debater, and Knud Romer, the novelist and advertising executive.

Danish PM to attend inaugural Global Peace Summit

Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen is set to attend the first Global Peace Summit in Bürgenstock, Switzerland, on June 15th and 16th, working for peace in Ukraine alongside US President Joe Biden.

Denmark’s Nationalbanken ends citizen input into new notes

Until June 2nd, you can leave your mark on Denmark’s future banknotes by taking part in the Nationalbanken’s survey and giving your opinion on the new notes. Here’s the press release and here’s the survey.

New strech of M4 Metro line opens in Copenhagen

On June 22nd, King Frederik X, Transport Minister Thomas Danielsen and Copenhagen’s Lord Mayor, Sophie Hæstorp Andersen, will open the extension to the M4 Metro line to København Syd station in Valby, at an all-day celebration in Mozarts Plads featuring popular stars Peter AG, Peter Sommer, Katinka, Carl Emil Petersen, and JJ Paulo.

The day will see five new stations open on the Copenhagen Metro — Havneholmen, Enghave Brygge, Sluseholmen, Mozarts Plads and København Syd — linking Copenhagen Central Station to Valby in southern Copenhagen.

The new line will allow people to travel from Copenhagen South in Valby to the Rådhuspladsen in central Copenhagen in anout 10 minutes and to get from Copenhagen South to Frederiksberg at the other end of the M4 line in about 17 minutes

You can buy your DSB travel pass from June 4th

The popular summer ticket scheme from the Danish train company DSB is back for the fifth year in a row. The rejsepas (travel pass), gives the holder free access to all public transport in Denmark for eight consecutive days between June 29th and August 11th.

It will be released for sale on June 4th and available to buy until August 3rd.

The pass can be used on all DSB trains, as well as on Arriva buses and trains, on the Copenhagen Metro and S-train, on the Letbane in Aarhus and Odense, and on local rail services.

It will cost 399 kroner for adults, meaning one rail journey between Jutland and Copenhagen is likely to see its costs covered.

Adult travellers can bring two children under 12 with them for free. The pass costs 199 kroner for children aged 12-15 or otherwise not travelling under an adult ticket.

Get ready for Denmark’s music festival season

The NorthSide festival in Aarhus kickstarts Denmark’s summer festival season on 6th-8th June, followed shortly afterwards by the Heartland festival at Egeskov on the island of Funen, both from June 13th to June 14th.

For lovers of hard rock and metal the Copenhell festival from June 19th to June 22nd is not to be missed.

Then, for the weekend of June 27th-29th, the festivities move back across the Great Belt Bridge for the Tinderbox Festival in Odense on Funen.

The month of music then culminates with Denmark’s oldest and largest music festival, Roskilde, between June 29th and July 6th, although arguably all the biggest days are in July.

READ MORE: Five music festivals happening in Denmark this summer

Politicians to meet on Bornholm for giant political festival

Music festivals aren’t the only type of festival happening in Denmark.

Between June 13th and June 15th, the leaders of Denmark’s political parties will take to the stage at the Folkemøde political festival on the island of Bornholm, which every year draws 50,000 attendees, many of them just ordinary citizens interested in politics.

The festival is held in the picturesque town of Allinge on the island’s north coast and anyone can attend the events without requiring a ticket.

The best way to get to Bornholm from Copenhagen is to take the train from Copenhagen to Ystad in Sweden, and then get the Bornholm ferry.

School’s out for summer

Denmark’s primary and lower secondary schools break up for the summer on Friday, June 28th for a full seven weeks.

The semesters for Copenhagen University, Aarhus University, and the University of Southern Denmark all officially end on June 30th, but as the 29th and 30th fall on the weekend, their last day is effectively the same as for schools.

For Danish youths graduating from upper secondary school, the last two weeks of term, starting from about June 14th, will be a blur of alcohol consumption and raucous outdoor partying, as they participate in the traditional studenterkørsel, which involves groups of students hiring trucks which they brightly decorate before using them to tour around town partying.

READ ALSO: Why do Danish school leavers wear white caps?

Get ready for this year’s Sankt Hans Aften bonfires

Sankt Hans Aften, when people sing in chorus before lighting a giant bonfire and eating and drinking late into the light summer night, is one of the absolute highlights of the Danish calendar.

The celebration always takes place on the evening of June 23rd, with Sankt Hans day being the following day, June 24th. It is therefore slightly after actual midsummer, which is the solstice on June 21st. This year it falls on a Sunday so celebrations may start earlier and perhaps go on later than in a normal year.

You can find our article on the best places to celebrate here, and we’ll update it in the weeks leading up to the big event.

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KEY POINTS: What changes about life in Denmark in July 2024?

Summer holidays begin!

Most schools in Denmark break up for the summer on June 28th, making July 1st the first day of the summer holidays.

Of the five standard weeks or (normally 25 days) of paid vacation covered by the Holiday Act, the “main holiday period” begins on May 1st and ends on September 30th. During this time, three weeks’ consecutive vacation may be taken out of the five weeks.

For those in full or part-time employment who are covered by the Danish Holiday Act (Ferieloven), most will take three weeks off in July, starting on July 1st, July 8th, or July 15th.

Many taking three weeks off in a row, sometimes coinciding with the school holidays (although others break it up).

This is why you may hear Danish colleagues who work full time wishing each other a “good summer holiday” on June 28th as if it’s the end of the school term.

New law making spousal reunion easier

From July 1st, those bringing a foreign spouse to Denmark will have the amount they need to deposit in a bank account accessible by their local municipality halved from 114,000 kroner to 57,000 kroner (both 2024 level), as part of a package of measures on family reunification.

The new lower requirement will require for all residency permit decisions made for foreign spouses after July 1st, and will apply at the time of decision rather than the time of application.

The new law will also change the Danish language requirement for the partner with an existing right to live in Denmark (normally because they are Danish citizens), so that the requirement will be “considered fulfilled” if the resident has spent five years or more in full-time employment or been self-employed in a job that has “significantly involved communication in Danish”.

Finally, the bill will bring in a new opholdsordning or “residence scheme” which will allow returning Danes to bring their families with them based on the same rules which are currently applied to foreign nationals granted work permits in Denmark.

The Danish Agency for International Recruitment and Integration (Styrelsen for International Rekruttering og Integration, SIRI) told The Local that in May that it intended to launch a new application page and application form for returning Danes, with details published on the nyidanmark.dk website at the end of June.

New law on recording working hours

From July 1st, all Danish employers are required to introduce a working hours registration system that makes it possible to measure the daily working hours of each individual employee.

The requirement implements a 2019 judgement of the EU Court, with Denmark’s version built on an agreement reached on June 30th last year between the Confederation of Danish Employers, the Danish Trade Union Confederation, and Denmark’s white collar union, the Danish Confederation of Professional Associations.

Under the new law, workers will only need to register deviations from agreed or scheduled working hours, but will have to open the app or web page if they, say, pop out to the dentist or stay late to finish a presentation.

Under the law, employers are required to keep these records for five years.

Employees empowered to set their own schedule — so called self-organisers — are exempt from the law, but as the law states that such people should be able to reorganise their own working time “in its entirety” and that this power should be enshrined in their contracts. This is only expected to apply to the most senior tier of executives.

End to compulsory bank account work permit rule

Foreign workers who receive a work permit under the “researcher” scheme and four so-called “fast track” schemes will no longer be obliged to open and receive payment in a Danish bank account, ending one of the most irrititating bureaucratic hurdles for foreigners coming to work in Denmark.

The exemption will apply to those granted work permits under the “researcher” scheme and also to the “pay limit”, “education”, “researcher” and “short-term” tracks of the fast-track scheme.

To be eligible for a fast-track permit, foreigners need to hired by a so-called “certified” company, typically a mid-sized and large company that hires internationally quite regularly.

For employees still covered by the bank account requirement, the government has meanwhile extended the time limit for setting up a Danish bank account from 90 days to 180 days.

Update to Positive List

The Positive List is a list of professions for which immigration authorities can issue work permits because Denmark is experiencing a shortage of qualified professionals in those fields.

People who are offered a job included in the Positive List can apply for a Danish residence and work permit based on the Positive List Scheme. An educational background in the relevant field is required.

The Positive List Scheme is one of a number of business schemes used to grant work permits for non-EU and EEA nationals who are unable to move to Denmark under the EU’s right to free movement.

The list is updated twice a year, on January 1st and July 1st.

The updated lists can be viewed on the website of the Danish Agency for International Recruitment and Integration (SIRI).

Tax declaration deadlines for businesses and self-employed people

If you are a business owner in Denmark you must register your results for 2023 by June 30th, with self-employed people having until July 1st. Find more details on the Tax Agency’s website here.

Custody hearing for Pole who assaulted Danish PM

The custody of the 39-year-old Polish man suspected of punching Frederiksen on June 7th as she walked in central Copenhagen runs out on July 4th, meaning it needs to be extended in a new court hearing.

The man, who was arrested immediately after the incident, has denied responsibility and says he has no recollection of what happened.

New Copenhagen Metro lines open

Officially opened by King Frederik X on June 22nd, five new stations have extended Copenhagen’s M4 Metro line and can now be used by passengers.

The new stations — Havneholmen, Enghave Brygge, Sluseholmen, Mozarts Plads and Copenhagen South — link Copenhagen Central Station to southern suburb Valby.

The total metro network now consists of 44 stations spread over 43 kilometres of track.

Vig Festival

The Vig music festival will be held between July 10th and July 13th in the northwestern part of Zealand, with Infernal, Gobs, Zar Paulo, Mads Christian, ISSE, Gabriel Jacobsen, and Rasmus Seebach all on the bill.

Tickets: A one-day ticket costs between 925 kroner and 1,025 kroner depending on the day you attend. Children up to the age of 11 can enter for free, as long as they are accompanied by a paying adult.

A full festival three-day ticket costs between 1,375 kroner and 1,825 kroner, depending how early/late you buy. A full festival family ticket for one adult (18+) plus a child aged 12-15, costs 2,125 kroner.

Copenhagen Jazz Festival (and Aarhus and Aero)

The streets of Copenhagen will hum with the groovy sound of summer jazz as the latest edition of the Copenhagen Jazz Festival begins on July 5th and continues for ten days until July 15th.

The annual festival is unique in that it does not have a specific location, but is played out in parks, on squares and in bars (and, of course, jazz clubs) across the capital. The size of the venues ranges equally from intimate and spontaneous to major concert halls.

Over 1,200 concerts are scheduled to take place across 120 venues and you can check out the programme on the event’s website.

For those of you who really cannot get enough jazz, there’s also the International Jazz Festival in Aarhus from July 13th to july 20th and the Ærø Jazz Festival on one of the idyllic islands south of Funen from July 31st to August 3rd.

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