Monday Morning News & Notes

War warnings in Europe. Denmark braces for torrential rain.

Jan 22, 2024

⚡️Energy & Environment🍃

🇩🇰 ☔️ ⛄️

Here we go again. Many areas around Denmark have dealt with major flooding events at least twice in the last few months and it looks like they might have to again this week. While January began with frigid temperatures and a big dumping of snow, weather forecasts are now calling for warning temperatures and torrential rain this week.

The Danish Meteorological Institute says some areas of Denmark could get more than half a month’s rainfall over the first few days of this week. In North Jutland, the snowmelt will add to the water flow. The institute says all that water will pour into streams and waterways, which could then overflow their banks.

The first wave of intense rainfall will arrive late Sunday night and continue into the morning. Then more rain arrives on Tuesday, and on Wednesday rainfall will hit Jutland especially hard.

Central and Western Jutland are forecast to see between 30 and 50 millimeters of rain. In some areas, there is the potential for even more. Eastern and Northern Jutland could get 20 to 40 millimeters of rain along with 10 to 20 centimeters of snowfall, which will add to the meltwater.

For perspective, DMI says Denmark usually sees about 65 millimeters of rain on average for the entire month of January.

🇩🇰 🚂 vs 🚗

The cost of public transportation in Denmark is rising faster than the cost of traveling by car. Effective yesterday (Sunday) it is now more expensive to travel by train. The Danish national rail operator DSB has increased the cost of rail travel for those with a rejsekort (public transit travel card) by 11.6% for travel by rail on Fyn and in Jutland while cost rose 12.8% for travel on Sjælland. For people with pendlerkort (commuter cards) prices are up 5% for Fyn and Jutland and 11.2% for Sjælland.

According to Statistics Denmark, the cost of rail travel has increased by 35.5% in the last 15 years NOT including this most recent fare increase. On the other hand, costs to travel by car have risen 23% over the same period. Car costs include insurance, repair, oil, and gas, and they do not factor in electric vehicles, which are outselling gas and diesel vehicles in Denmark.

🇪🇺🇩🇰

The European Union has built a roadmap for making heavy vehicle transportation across the EU carbon neutral by 2050. In an agreement reached late last week, the EU will mandate that companies that heavy vehicle manufacturers must ensure by 2030 that the big rigs and other industrial vehicles they are churning out produce 45% less CO2 emissions. The target then moves to 65% reductions by 2035 and 90% reductions below 1990 levels by 2040 en route to reaching carbon neutrality by 2050.

The Danish government is not a fan of the new agreement as it had been lobbying for a complete phasing out of fossil fuel engines in all heavy vehicles by 2040.

🇩🇰

2024 has had the coldest start of any January in the last 14 years. Information from the Danish Meteorological Institute shows that the first 17 days of January have had the lowest average temperature since 2010. The average temperature for the month so far is -1.6 degrees. The coldest day was January 7, when temperatures in parts of the country hit -16.4 degrees.

Denmark has more work to do in phasing out the use of fossil fuels. The UN Climate Council is pressing European nations to move away from using coal, oil, and gas. According to the OECD, Denmark indirectly supports gas and diesel use with both direct and indirect subsidies, tax exemptions, or tax reductions to the tune of several billion kroner a year.

Nordic Waste, the company behind the environmental disaster unfolding in Randers, declared bankruptcy on Friday. The move caused shockwaves as municipal emergency response teams from Randers work around the clock to try and prevent hundreds of thousands of tonnes of toxic soil from sliding into a nearby waterway. Concerns are mounting that Nordic Waste will leave taxpayers holding a massive clean-up bill.

Randers Mayor Torben Hansen:

“I still expect the company's owners to take responsibility and pay for the preventative measures and the clean-up work we are currently doing. There is no doubt that they are the culprits.”

Environment Minister Magnus Heunicke said it would be a “complete lack of social responsibility” if Nordic Waste does not foot the bill.

“We will investigate all legal options for the financial responsibility to be placed where it should be, namely with the polluter.”

🇩🇰 🇸🇪

The Danish island of Bornholm is joining forces with the Swedish islands of Gotland and Åland to work together on the green energy transition. All three Baltic islands have plans of becoming ‘energy islands’ and decided it was more advantageous to collaborate instead of working each in their own silo. Offshore wind energy farms are a key part of the island’s green energy plan.

The mayors of the three islands will sign the agreement today on the Swedish island of Åland.

🇳🇴

An Oslo court has upheld a case against the Norwegian government by climate groups Greenpeace and Nature & Youth. The environmental groups had sued the government claiming that the permits for extraction operations at three oil and gas fields in the North Sea were illegal. Norwegian national broadcaster NRK says the judge sided with their argument that the Norwegian Ministry of Energy had not investigated the global environmental consequences of the projects before they were approved. The news agency reports that it is not clear if the ruling means that oil and gas extraction at the three fields has to stop, or not.

🇫🇮

Finland’s efforts to drastically reduce the use of plastic bags have hit a bit of a snag. Overall use of plastic bags has fallen across Finland since 2017. In 2016 the Finnish Ministry of Environment reached a deal with the Finnish Trade Union to reduce plastic bag use to no more than 40 used by each person in Finland per year. However, despite a 38% decline in plastic bags used for fruits and vegetables, plastic shopping bag use has only dropped by about 9%. And since 2020 plastic bag use has actually increased a little.

An interim assessment by the Environment Ministry has found that per person per year plastic bag use in Finland is at 55, with the 2025 target looming.

Finnish Trade Union Leading Expert Marja Ola spoke to Yle:

"The reduction in the use of plastic bags progressed in a model way until 2020, but the COVID epidemic changed consumer behavior. The companies in the trade strive to reach the goal of 40 bags per consumer according to the EU directive. Compared to the current situation, 15 bags less annually per citizen is an ambitious goal to be achieved in a couple of years.”

A communications effort targeting plastic bag use is coming as are “other measures” in order to reach the 2025 target.

Finland is no longer dependent on Russian nuclear fuel for its Loviisa nuclear power plant. The state-owned power facility has used up all of its stocks of Russian-supplied material and is now switching to fuel from Western sources.

🇮🇹 🇩🇰

Much to the fury of motorists the Italian city of Bologna has introduced a speed limit of 30 kilometers an hour across its entire city center. The city lowered the speed limit in a bid to reduce traffic congestion and to lower noise and air pollution.

The city of Odense in Denmark introduced a similar low-speed limit in its center last year.

🇪🇺

Inflation in the Euro area rose slightly in December to 2.9%, up from November’s 2.4%. Across the European Union, it also edged up slightly to 3.4%.

Denmark had the lowest inflation rate at 0.4% followed by Italy and Belgium (both 0.5%). While the Czech Republic had the highest at 7.6%.

Inflation fell in 15 countries, treaded water in one, and rose in 11.

🦠COVID🦠

🌍 🦠

COVID hospitalizations and deaths increased across the globe according to the latest monthly update from the World Health Organization. The WHO took great pains in its latest pandemic assessment to underscore how difficult it is to assess with any degree of accuracy the actual global infection picture.

“During this 28-day period, only 45% (106 of 234) of countries reported at least one case to WHO. It is important to note that this statistic does not reflect the actual number of countries where cases exist. Data presented in this report are therefore incomplete and should be interpreted considering these limitations. As many countries discontinue COVID-specific reporting and integrate it into respiratory disease surveillance, WHO will use all available sources to continue monitoring the COVID epidemiological situation, especially data on morbidity and impact on health systems. COVID remains a major threat, and WHO urges Member States to maintain, not dismantle, their established COVID infrastructure.”

In its latest 28-day reporting period, which ended on January 7, the number of new weekly coronavirus deaths increased by 26%. That translates to another 8,700 lives lost.

The WHO says 1.1 million new infections were also reported but it added those numbers are underreported and the real case numbers are likely anywhere from two to 19 times higher than that.

Among the individual countries, the most COVID fatalities were all in European nations, Italy with 1,016 lives lost (-21%), Russia had 679 deaths (+45%), Poland saw 543 more fatalities (+229%), Sweden lost 446 more lives (-47%), and Greece suffered 322 deaths (+79%).

Of the just 53 countries reporting hospital numbers to the WHO, there were 173,547 new coronavirus-related admissions (+32%). And of the 42 countries reporting intensive care data, there were 1,966 new admissions (+3%). Again this is just a partial picture due to the lack of countries reporting any hospital numbers.

Among the just 22 countries that provided consistent hospital numbers, eight saw admissions rise by 20% or more. They are Indonesia (+797%), Malta (+276%), Brunei Darussalam(+265%), Malaysia (+125%), Greece (+68%), Singapore (+52%), the United States of America (+51%), and Ireland (+40%). Looking at pure admission numbers the United States had by FAR the most infection-related hospital admissions (128,073) than any other country in the world.

Among the 18 countries that supplied consistent ICU admissions data, eight reported an increase of 20% or more. They are Indonesia (+811%), Malaysia (+800%), Singapore(+103%), Estonia (+80%), Ireland (+54%), Netherlands (+40%), Greece (+36%), and the Czech Republic (+25%). Based on patient numbers Italy (464) had the most intensive care admissions of any country.

🇩🇰

The COVID wave that swept across Denmark this winter is in decline according to the head of the Statens Serum Institute. Henrik Ullum says his agency estimates that a huge chunk of the Danish population had a COVID infection this winter.

“The SARS-CoV-2 waste water signal this winter was comparable to the peak in February 2022. Applying sero-surveys it was estimated that approximately 2/3 of the population was infected in the early 2022 Omicron wave. We therefore assume that more than half of the population has been infected this winter.”

Ullum says the infection wave did result in a “significant number of hospitalizations”. However, he added that infection-related admissions during this winter wave were still lower than during the height of the Omicron variant wave in early 2022.

He says the BA.2.86 variant and its sub-variant JN.1 drove this winter’s infection wave

“The present decline in transmission is neither caused by good weather nor decreased societal activity. It is therefore assumed that increased population immunity against JN.1. is the driver of the decrease.”

Denmark had the highest rate of COVID vaccinations among all of the Nordics over the fall and winter, although vaccine uptake still dropped year over year. Ullum says SSI pegs the XBB.1.5 variant-specific booster dose as being highly effective. The agency estimates it gives 75% protection against severe infection resulting in hospitalization or death.

The COVID pandemic continues to have a myriad of impacts in Denmark. Svøm Danmark, the Danish swimming organization, says the number of young swimmers actively training and competing has dropped by around 30%. The organization blames COVID restrictions during the first two years of the pandemic, which included the closure of all the swimming pools in the country. The swimming group says the closures chased young people out of the pools and so far they haven’t come back.

🇨🇦

As was the case in Denmark a year ago, Canada is seeing record numbers of Strep A infections. The epidemic has been a factor in claiming the lives of four children under the age of ten in B.C. and another six in Ontario. The B.C. Centre for Disease Control says the number of Strep A infections in the province has tripled over the winter.

🇺🇦/ 🇷🇺 War

NATO

People across the 31 NATO member nations should be prepared in the event of an all-out war with Russia sometime in the next 20 years. That is according to comments from the Chair of the NATO Military Committee Lieutenant Admiral Rob Bauer.

“The tectonic plates of power are shifting and as a result, we face the most dangerous world in decades. We have to realize it’s not a given that we are in peace. And that’s why we (NATO) are preparing for a conflict with Russia.”

Bauer added that while a direct confrontation and any armed clashes with Russia have been avoided there are concerns that the West hasn’t come to terms with the fact that war is a distinct possibility. He adds that a war of that scale would require a large-scale mobilization of civilians and industry across NATO countries.

Russia is increasingly putting its economy on a wartime footing while Europe is rushing to revitalize and rearm its militaries while also trying to maintain a flow of weapons and ammunition to Ukraine. Russia is throwing tens of thousands of lives away in a bloody war of attrition in Ukraine. Russian allies like North Korea and Iran, and possibly China, have delivered huge quantities of ammunition, drones, and other military equipment to Russia even as Western countries have struggled to keep a flow of arms and ammunition to Ukraine.

“We need to be readier across the whole spectrum. You have to have a system in place to find more people if it comes to war, whether it does or not. Then you talk mobilization, reservists, or conscription."

The warning comes after similar words of caution to people in Sweden by the country’s defense minister, something Bauer called the right move.

🇳🇴

“We are running out of time.”

Norway’s Chief of Defense says that there is a very narrow window for Norway to be prepared for war with Russia.

Chief of Defense Eirik Kristoffersen spoke to Dagbladet:

“Norway only has a few years to build up a defense that can better meet an aggressive Russia. There is a window now that will perhaps last for one, two, maybe three years, where we have to invest even more in a secure defense. But we are short on time. I just want to clarify that. It is important for us to face an uncertain and unpredictable world with a strong national defense.”

Kristoffersen validates his concerns by pointing out that Russia has turned its economy onto a war footing with weapons factories now working around the clock. That combined with its allies Iran and North Korea sending weapons and ammunition means Russia is rearming much faster than NATO anticipated it would just a year ago.

He says that Norway needs a major investment in air defenses and missiles, especially long-range weaponry.

“So for Norway, it means, as for many other NATO countries, that more investment must be made in air defense. It also means that we have to have more in stock, both when it comes to ammunition and spare parts.”

He also emphasizes that military support for Ukraine must continue although he calls it a necessary risk and also a dilemma as Ukraine eats up domestic supplies of ammunition and weapons across Europe.

“But it is very important that we support Ukraine with what Ukraine needs, for as long as it takes. This is a calculated risk. If the danger was imminent of an attack on Norway right now, then we could not have given so many weapons. But that is not the case.”

Like his Swedish counterpart, Kristoffersen says that responsibility to prepare for war extend to the entire country including businesses and individuals. He advises Norwegians stock up on emergency supplies and ensure that they have at least three days of food and water on hand.

NATO 🇸🇪

Sweden might not be in NATO yet but it will join the 31 other countries that make up the military alliance for its largest military exercise held in Europe since the Cold War. This week around 90,000 soldiers will begin to take part in the exercise dubbed “Steadfast Defender 2024.’ The exercise will run until May. NATO says the exercise will “simulate an emerging conflict scenario against a near-peer adversary.”

🇸🇪

Sweden continues to hope for the best while preparing for the worst. As the country throws billions into weapons procurement and ammunition production it is also looking for ways to beef up its army. It is reassessing conscription requirements and now plans to include the duty to be part of the country’s ‘total defense’ in information supplied to new arrivals. Total defense is a term used in Sweden to describe all of the activities needed to prepare the country for war and includes both military and civil defense. In the event of war everyone in Sweden can be called up for military or civil defense regardless of their citizenship.

Employment and Immigration Minister Johan Pehrson told Radio Sweden that it is crucial that ‘total defense’ obligations are included in a course about Swedish society that newcomers must take.

🇱🇹🇱🇻🇪🇪/ 🇷🇺

While Sweden, Norway, and NATO warn about war and urge preparations the Baltic states are a few steps ahead. Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia have agreed on plans to jointly create a defensive line against a potential Russian invasion. The plans include the creation of a network of some 600 concrete bunkers and other defensive measures along their shared border with Russia.

🇪🇺🇩🇪🇺🇦

Amid finger-pointing that some European countries are failing to provide Ukraine with as much arms and ammunition as they should, the European Union is conducting an audit to see who is sending what to Ukraine and how much has actually been delivered. This is reported by the Financial Times citing sources. The Kiel Institute for the World Economy estimates that new military aid to Ukraine has fallen by 87% year over year, which is proving detrimental to the Ukrainian war effort.

The results of the audit are expected to be presented at the EU Leaders Summit on February 1.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz has criticized other EU countries for falling short of providing enough military aid for Ukraine.

🇪🇺🇺🇦

The European Union made a pledge to Ukraine last year that it would supply it with one million artillery shells per year but it has had a tough time getting production up and running in order to meet that goal. However, it looks like those speed bumps have been dealt with as the EU Commissioner for the Internal Market Thierry Breton says 1.4 million shells will be churned out for Ukraine by the end of this year. He says the EU expects ammunition production across European countries to reach the one million shells per year mark by this March or April.

🇱🇹🇺🇦

Lithuania’s Foreign Affairs Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis continues his blunt talk on the need for more support for Ukraine.

“If we support Ukraine “for as long as it takes”, but we don’t give them the equipment that they need, "it’s" going to take a long time. Instead, let’s get serious about our collective security and give Ukraine whatever victory takes, now.”

As an example, he puts the spotlight on Poland, which has been spending huge amounts of money to procure new weaponry, tanks, missile systems, and lots more for its own army, to what the world collectively has supplied to Ukraine.

“Poland is a similar size to Ukraine and has a similar population. Poland thinks more than 1000 tanks and hundreds of HIMARS are necessary to defend Poland. So why do we ask Ukrainians to liberate territory with less than a tenth of that? Remember that Poland is a NATO member and can count on backup from the armies of other NATO members. Ukraine cannot. “Whatever victory takes” is much, much more than we have given.”

🇳🇴

The Norwegian government is spending big bucks to significantly increase ammunition production. Norway will spend two billion Norwegian kroner (about $256 million Cdn) to ramp up production mainly for artillery shells. This is on top of one billion kroner already allocated.

Ammunition is increasingly in short supply across EU countries as the war in Ukraine depletes local ammunition stores.

Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre:

“The war in Ukraine leads to a spur in demand for ammunition. The government will increase the financial support for the Norwegian defense industry in order to ramp up ammunition production. One billion NOK will be allocated to specific projects at Nammo, and another one billion NOK will be provided to other projects within the Norwegian defense industry.”

Nammo is a Norwegian ammunition manufacturer.

Over the past year, the Norwegian government has placed several substantial ammunition contracts in order to feed the war machine in Ukraine and replace shrinking domestic stockpiles.

Defence Minister Bjørn Arild Gram:

“Enhancing the capacity in the defense industry is important, both for Ukraine and for our own security. We are now contributing to a significant increase in production capacity at Nammo to meet the needs of Norway, allies, and Ukraine.”

🇩🇰/ 🇷🇺

Scandinavian airliner SAS is launching an investigation into whether its planes were using Russian fuel. An investigation by Danwatch and Ekstra Bladet reported that a Russian-owned oil refinery in India has been helping to skirt sanctions by taking in Russian oil and gas and then turning it around and shipping it to Denmark and the rest of Europe.

In response SAS is demanding its fuel suppliers explain where their fuel is coming from and if they have helped circumvent sanctions on Russian oil and gas.

SAS Press Manager Alexandra Lindgren:

“SAS does not accept trade with sanctioned parties or products, and we demand that our suppliers comply with the sanctions that have been adopted.”

🇩🇰

Sweden isn’t the only Nordic nation looking to increase its army. Neighbouring Denmark is also pouring money into defense spending and looking at ways to add to the ranks of its armed forces. Like Sweden, Denmark is also reevaluating conscription. Currently, it is only reassessing the numbers of men that can be inducted into the army but there are calls for conscription to apply equally to women.

Major General Jette Albinus, the first woman in the Danish Armed Forces to reach the rank of General, spoke to Politiken:

“In the end, it is of course up to the politicians. But my personal opinion is that if we have conscription, it must apply to both sexes. We need the defense to be a mirror of society, and I think conscription can help us with that if it includes both sexes. Then we get a reflection of society all the way up in our structure, which we don't have today. It will also give women greater legitimacy in the armed forces.”

Politiken also received a written response from Defense Minister Troels Lund Poulsen, in which he says that he has not decided whether there should also be conscription for women, but that everyone has agreed that conscription as a whole needs to be expanded.

🇭🇺/ 🇸🇪

Hungary continues to be the toothless barking dog in the shadow of Turkey’s continued efforts to stall a ratification vote on Sweden’s NATO membership. Hungary is the only other NATO member nation that has to rectify the ascension protocols. Pro-Russian Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, who had said many times he supports Sweden’s NATO membership even as his parliament continues to put off the vote, now seems to be shifting position again. His Chief of Staff told reporters that Sweden has given the impression that joining NATO is not a priority and it hasn’t boosted confidence in Hungary to consider it suitable for membership in the alliance. Sweden’s Prime Minister was urged to make contact with Hungary.

These claims are of course patently ridiculous and NATO and 29 of its 31 member nations have, many times, said loudly and clearly that Sweden has fulfilled every membership criteria.

Hungary has made previous efforts to try and mimic Turkey’s approach to try and use the situation to its own advantage. Unlike Turkey, NATO and Sweden have totally ignored the Hungarian yapping.

🇷🇺

Russian President Vladimir Putin continues to alarm neighbouring countries especially those that it used to occupy in its not-to-distant past. Late last week Putin signed an order granting funding for the search, registration, and protection of Russian state property. The rub is that the order applies to not only present-day Russia but also the territories of the Soviet Union and the Russian Empire that pre-dates it. Meaning that it, from Putin’s perspective, could include present-day Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, parts of Finland, and even Poland, not to mention Ukraine, Belarus, and other formerly Russian countries.

It is unclear if this is the beginning of some kind of effort to claim properties and buildings across those countries as “Russian property” or if it is an order issued just to feed the Russian propaganda machine.

A major fire broke out on Sunday at a Russian Natural Gas terminal in the port city of Ust-Luga, which is on the Baltic coast across the water from Finland and just 50 kilometers from the border with Estonia.

Oblast (Russian term for an administrative region) Governor Aleksandr Drozdenko posted a video on his Telegram profile showing a huge fire. He said the fire is at the Novatek gas terminal and that all employees have been evacuated.

It is unclear how the fire was started but Ukraine has been launching drone attacks on Russian oil and gas depots including one near St. Petersburg, which isn’t far away from Ust-Luga.

Russia’s slide back to the Soviet life of old continues. We rarely get a peek into how Western sanctions and Russian President Vladimir Putin’s decisions are actually impacting Russians. But food prices are one aspect the government can’t keep a tight lid on and those prices have skyrocketed. The price of bananas, oranges, tomatoes, and eggs have all risen sharply. Russian statistics agency Rosstat says the price of eggs has increased by 42% over the last 12 months. Prices are so high that some stores in Russia have begun selling eggs individually.

The high food prices have resulted in some severe belt-tightening for many Russians and is a flashback to days of living behind the iron curtain when food shortages were commonplace.

Soaring food prices have become a central focus in Russian media and prompted an extremely rare apology from Putin himself.

🇫🇮/ 🇷🇺

More than 160 undocumented immigrants that have arrived in Finland from Russia have disappeared according to Finnish news agency IIta Sanomat. So far, 16 of them have turned up in other EU countries to file asylum claims. Finnish authorities believe other immigrants have done the same thing. To date, the Netherlands, Belgium, Norway, France, Sweden, Germany, and Switzerland have made an official request that Finland take the asylum seekers back.

Since the beginning of August, and before Finland closed its land borders with Russia, 1,323 illegal immigrants arrived from Russia. Of those, Finnish authorities have made decisions on about 50 asylum claims with most being denied, terminated, or withdrawn.

An investigation by Finland’s national broadcaster has found that more than 20 companies across the country exported technology and what it called dual-use items to Russia that could be used for military applications. Parsing customs documents the Yle MOT investigative reporting unit found the companies were mostly owned by people with Russian backgrounds who operate businesses in logistics and freight forwarding. Some of the companies would export to Russia by way of a third country like Uzbekistan. Others had links directly to Russia’s military agencies or its spy agency FSB. One of the Russian companies that were buying from a Finnish supplier even published a thank you letter on its website praising their “good cooperation”.

Yle says at least four of the companies it identified are under police investigation. The owner of another company, a French resident living in Finland, is under arrest for shipping components used in drones to Russia.

The Finnish investigation says that last year more than 600 investigations were initiated by Finnish Customs into companies suspected of breaching sanctions.

The number of passengers arriving in Finland by plane has increased but has still not returned to pre-pandemic levels. Finland’s national airport operator Finavia says that about 18.3 million people flew into, or through, Finnish airports last year. That is a 19% increase year over year. About 80% of arriving passengers came via international flights. Finnish Lapland seemed especially popular where there were a record 1.5 million visitors, a 20% increase from 2022.

The war in Ukraine and a ban on all air traffic from Russian airspace and airliners also put a dent in Finnish air traffic numbers. The ban not only put a halt to air traffic between Finland and neighbouring Russia but it also impacted flights to and from Asian destinations that would have otherwise flown through Russian airspace.

🇸🇰/ 🇺🇦

Slovakia’s pro-Russia Prime Minister Robert Fico is blasting neighbouring Ukraine claiming it is not a sovereign state but rather under U.S. control. Fico stopped all military aid from Slovakia to Ukraine in the first few days after taking power. Fico also said he would veto any effort to include Ukraine in NATO claiming that it would lead to World War III.

Odds & Ends

🇩🇰

The number of first-time home buyers has dropped in Denmark for the first time since 2014. According to Statistics Denmark, 41,600 people bought a home for the first time last year. Of those, the average age of the buyer was 35.4 years old. The agency says most of those sales were in the country’s rural municipalities and in most cases (59%) they bought the home with someone else.

The Danish national railway operator paid out a massive amount of money to compensate people for delays last year. 2022 was not a stellar year for DSB as it was plagued with problems due largely to huge track upgrade and maintenance projects. The company says it shelled out 40 million Danish kroner (about $7.8 million Cdn) for rail passengers who were registered for the Travel Time Guarantee scheme. That is a 64% increase in travel compensation year over year.

Denmark has sent in an official application to include the white cliffs of Møns Klint on UNESCO’s World Heritage list. The government expects a response to its application by next year.

🇫🇷

There were 678,000 births registered in France last year, the lowest number of new babies in any given year going back to World War II. Year over year that is a 7% decline and it is 20% fewer babies than in 2020.

🇩🇰The Week Ahead Round Up🇩🇰

There is a general post-holiday season hibernation in Denmark but with next month’s ferie week looming things will change. Until then…..

Tuesday, January 23

The Danish Men’s National Handball team plays its last match in the intermediate round at the Men’s EHF Euro 2024 championships in Germany. Denmark will face Slovenia.

The match begins at 6:00 p.m. in Munich.

Ahead of the Academy Awards being handed out in March, nominees in each of the categories will be revealed in a ceremony today. Several Danish films are on the shortlist including Mads Mikkelsen’s Bastarden for Best International Film. A Danish film called Apolonia is also up for Best Documentary.

The nominees will be announced at 2:30 p.m. (local time) from Los Angeles.

Thursday, January 25

The DR Koncerthus in Copenhagen plays host to Melodi Grand Prix 2024, the Danish version of the Eurovision Song Contest. On Thursday the eight artists that will take part will be announced. They will all be available at a press conference at the Koncerthus, which begins at 9:30 a.m.

The actual Grand Prix takes place February 17.

If you love the Danish tradition of vinterbading then you will want to head to Skagen today. The tip of Denmark will host the four-day long ‘Skagen VinterbaderFestival’. There will be “extensive entertainment” and vinterbaders can also take advantage of saunas placed along Skagen’s beaches.

The event runs until January 28.

You can find more information HERE.

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