The collection of news from Denmark of the years 2011 to 2021, published at Nordicreporter.com.
Divorce in Denmark: do a course first
Published on : by Marcel Burger
Almost half of the Danish marriages fail. Divorcing is easy, but for those with children the Danish government now requires a test to give marriage another change.
It was a piece of cake to divorce in Denmark. You sent a letter to the authorities, scribble a signature underneath and then you were done. But no more. From now on, couples with children must first take a compulsory test to give marriage another chance. This will give them six months to think about whether it is smart to divorce, the Danish government argues, making clear that children should always remain in focus.
Parents often chose what’s best for them in a divorce, but it are the children who can suffer the most – especially if they are forgotten. | © 2019 Marcel Burger, nordicreporter.com. Post based on my radio chat on VRT Radio 1, on 9 April 2019, in the show Nieuwe feiten, with show host Lieven Vandenhaute
Denmark: All Immigrants in Separate Classes
Published on : by Marcel Burger
All immigrants in separate classes. This kind of segregation is the solution to keep schools diverse, a principal of a school in Aarhus, Denmark, argues. His reason: there will be no whites (sorry, native Danes?) left otherwise. This rather special action has caused a small storm inside Denmark and abroad. I chatted about it today in the news program Nieuwe feiten, on VRT Belgian Radio 1, 00:24:45 minutes into the broadcast.
Denmark has grown by 63 acres
Published on : by Marcel Burger
Denmark is growing, without spending money or launching a military operation. 63 acres of land has been added to the country, by 11 islands as a gift from mother Nature.
Sea flow and cluttering of sand, e.g. after storms, have a bigger effect on the surface of Denmark than the rise of sea water levels, it seems. The new islands stick about half a meter above the water. Most of them are small, but one has grown to 36 acres.
For the time being nobody is allowed to set foot on the new lands, as the Danish government hopes to attract as much natural birdlife to the islands as possible. | © 2011 Marcel Burger, nordicreporter.com. Post based on radio chat by Marcel burger in Nieuwe feiten on Belgian Radio 1, on 11 March 2019, with show host Lieven Vandenhaute.
Danes Fill Budget Gap with Beer and Ketchup
Published on : by Marcel Burger
From 2012 on the Danish government plans to levy more taxes on popular products such as beer, sweets, soft drinks, chocolate, cigarettes, and from 2013 also on jam and ketchup.
Danish Finance Minister Bjarne Corydon presented the state budget on Thursday. He hopes to fill the state treasury with additional surcharges of at least ten euro cents per product for beer and wine alone will help the state gain about EUR 95 million. The other ‘non-useful foods’ should bring in about EUR 97 million euro more next year.
Last summer the previous Danish government introduced a ‘fat surcharge’ of more than 2 euros per kilo on, among other things, butter, officially for better health of the 5.5 million Danes. Copenhagen is eagerly looking for ways to find money to stay financially afloat.
Earlier, the Danish defence minister suggested that Dutch, German and Norwegian fighter planes should take care of the air defence of the Scandinavian country. | © 2011 Marcel Burger for ANP News Agency (original in Dutch, 3 November 2011, previously unpublished)
Denmark Wants NATO Air Cover As It Has No Money To Fly
Published on : by Marcel Burger
Dutch, German and Norwegian fighter planes must protect Danish airspace, so that Denmark itself can get its financial affairs in order.
Danish Defence Minister Nick Haekkerup on Saturday in an interview with the Danish newspaper Politiken. “Just as we arrange the air defence of the Baltic states today, our NATO neighbours can do it for Denmark in the future.”
Copenhagen will decide on a successor to the country’s current thirty F-16 fighter jets in 2018. Like the Netherlands, the Danes eye the Joint Strike Fighter, but currently Denmark has no money for the purchase of an estimated EUR 1.5 to 2 billion for about twenty new aircraft. | © 2011 Marcel Burger for ANP News Agency (original published in Dutch on 15 October 2011)
Drinking Water Copenhagen Contaminated
Published on : by Marcel Burger
More than a month after the heaviest rainfall in 400 years, the Danish capital Copenhagen is still struggling with the aftermath. Since Friday, the municipal council urgently advices all residents in the centre and surrounding districts to boil their drinking water before use, including for cooking and brushing teeth.
The urgent advice applies to about half of Copenhagen’s nearly 1.2 million inhabitants plus 96,000 citizens in the neighbouring municipality of Frederiksberg. Drinking water may have been contaminated when sewage mixed with drinking water during floods.
Tests found too high concentrations of malignant e.coli bacteria. They can cause intestinal infections.
The Danish branch organization of insurance companies expects the total damage from the flooding to exceed 350 million euros. This does not take into account new claims from last week, when some parts of Copenhagen were again decimetres under water after heavy rain. | © 2011 Marcel Burger for ANP News Agency (original published in Dutch on 19 August 2011)
UPDATE 20 August 2011: The alarm for unsafe drinking water in the Danish capital Copenhagen was was downgraded on Saturday afternoon to a small part of the city centre and the Nörrebro district.
As a result, 40,000 residents are still urgently advised to boil their drinking water before use, including when preparing a meal or brushing teeth.
On Friday, 600,000 to 700,000 people, parliament, government offices, hospitals, almost all hotels, cafes and restaurants in Copenhagen and neighbouring Frederiksberg were warned after the drinking water company found high concentrations of malignant e.coli bacteria in tests. They can cause intestinal infections.
After new measurements on Saturday, the contamination seems to be less than one watering point. Experts think a possible cause is the mixing of sewage with drinking water after major floods in Copenhagen in early July. Many supermarkets expect a high demand for bottled water in the near future. | © 2011 Marcel Burger for ANP News Agency (original published in Dutch on 20 August 2011)
Danish Private School Part of Extremist Network
Published on : by Marcel Burger
A private school in Danish Århus has ties to ultra-right and the secret ORG network that since the 1980s has allegedly been trying to “cleanse” Denmark of foreigners and “traitors” who help foreigners.
Danish media reported this on Friday. The school leader denies she is part of any underground resistance, but admits, according to the quality newspaper Politiken, that she knows people within the right-wing extremist Den Danske Forening (DDF) and that a well-known extremist “as one of the many” may have helped with setting up the school. The name of the school leader is in internal documents of the extremist network ORG, which Politiken has gotten its hands on.
The Århus Privatskole has about two hundred students and its website focuses on Danish history, culture and Christian Danish values. | © 2011 Marcel Burger for ANP News Agency (originally in Dutch on 12 August 2011, previously unpublished)
Dutch Car First at Reinstated Danish Border Controls
Published on : by Marcel Burger
A Dutch woman was the first motorist to be halted at the German border by Danish customs officers on Tuesday morning, at the reintroduced border controls.
Danish media reported this on Tuesday. The driver had to open the trunk under the watchful eye of two customs officers, a dozen film cameras and dozens of journalists. The Danish border guards checked the chips and dog biscuits present, but then the Dutch were allowed to continue driving.
The Danish government says it wants to fight crime in the country with the new random border controls. Thirty customs officers operate at the German border on Tuesday, twenty colleagues check the ferry and fixed connections with Sweden. | © 2011 Marcel Burger for ANP News Agency (original published in Dutch on 5 July 2011)