The population of Denmark in 2017 was 5.7 million people, with the majority living in urban areas. The economy of Denmark is largely based on services and industry, with a GDP of $324 billion and an above average per capita income. Denmark is a member of the United Nations, European Union (EU), Council of Europe (CoE) and NATO. It has close ties to many countries throughout Europe as well as the United States and Russia. In terms of politics, it is a unitary parliamentary constitutional monarchy with Queen Margrethe II as its head of state. The Prime Minister is Lars Løkke Rasmussen who leads the Venstre which has been in power since 2015. See militarynous for Denmark military and defense.
Yearbook 2017
Denmark. Also in 2017, the political debate was largely about immigration and refugees. The Social Democrats (S) approached the bourgeois government’s support party of the Danish People’s Party (DF) in both the immigration issue and tax and distribution policy, and it was speculated in future government cooperation between the two. S and DF made several joint plays. Among other things, they demanded that the EU’s principle of free movement be restricted so that foreign guest workers should not reduce wages and working conditions in Denmark. They also criticized what they called welfare tourism, where foreigners receive Danish grants. See ABBREVIATIONFINDER for frequently used acronyms and abbreviations related to as well as country profile of Denmark.
According to Countryaah.com, both party leaders Mette Frederiksen (S) and Kristian Thulesen Dahl (DF) urged their local politicians abroad to cooperate more after this fall’s municipal elections. The approach between DF and S was seen as a serious challenge for Prime Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen’s government with Venstre, the Conservative People’s Party and the Liberal Alliance.
Vente’s Minister for Immigration and Integration Inger Støjberg was questioned when she celebrated her austerity in immigration and asylum policy with cake decorated with the number 50. She was also criticized for her urging the Danes to contact the authorities about pizzeria employees do not speak Danish and can be suspected of staying in the country illegally. Several parties accused Støjberg of encouraging a denomination society, and on social media followed a stream of “notifications” about pizzas, but then for their good pizzas.
Prime Minister Løkke Rasmussen visited the former Danish Caribbean during the year to mark the centenary of the end of Danish colonial history, a disgraceful chapter in the history of Denmark according to Løkke Rasmussen. The islands of Saint Croix, Saint John and Saint Thomas (now the US territory of the Virgin Islands) were sold to the United States in 1917, after a dark history with the Danish slave trade. Løkke Rasmussen recalled that many of Copenhagen’s most beautiful buildings were erected with wealth created with slave labor.
In May, the government published a list of religious leaders who are prohibited from entering Denmark because they are considered to undermine Danish laws and values and support other legal beliefs. The Minister of Integration describes them as hate ministers who, among other things, call for violence against women and children. The list included five radical Muslims, including from Saudi Arabia, and a Christian pastor from the United States who burned the Qur’an.
In June, the Folketing tightened the penalty for begging, a business that has been banned in Denmark ever since. The minimum sentence was increased from seven to 14 days in prison for so-called insecurity begging at pedestrian streets, stations, supermarkets or in public transport. Every time a beggar is arrested by the police, the sentence is extended, which is a maximum of six months imprisonment.
In June, the government decided that the national tax authority should be closed down in 2018 and replaced with a new tax system consisting of seven different authorities. The reason is several scandals involving billions of scams, incorrect real estate appraisals and an IT system that has not worked. According to the prime minister, the Danes’ patience with the tax authority was over.
After several years of weak economic growth, the forecast improved during the year to a 2% increase in GDP. Unemployment was on the decline, and the construction industry was finding it difficult to find labor.
The government’s financial plan for large tax cuts until 2025 received criticism from the support party DF, who said that if Denmark can afford tax cuts they should go to low-income earners and not high-income earners. According to the OECD, Denmark has the world’s highest tax rate of 46.6% of GDP.
The Danish court announced in September that Queen Margrethe’s husband Prince Henrik was suffering from dementia.
2005 Re-election of VKO
Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen had scheduled new elections for implementation in mid-January 2005. This date was postponed for 3 weeks due to the Southeast Asian tsunami disaster. The electronic media decided that conducting the election as a “presidential election” with just two candidates would have the greatest entertainment value. It did not quite reflect the over 10 parties running for the election and ultimately lost both candidates as V went back 4 seats and SD 5 seats. In addition, the election campaign was marked by superficial politics and electoral insult to such an extent that the candidates of the parties on several occasions could not remember which political proposals originated from their party and which originated from the opponents.
Despite V’s decline, the VKO alliance retained its 94 seats in the Parliament. SD went back 5, which caused Chairman Lykketoft to resign that evening. RV, on the other hand, almost doubled its mandate from 9 to 17. It was interpreted as bourgeois “decent” voices switching to RV in protest of the VKO government’s refugee and immigrant hostile policies and in protest of its threats to the welfare state.
Following an internal process, SD won a new chair in April following a poll – the first in the party’s history – Helle Thorning-Schmidth. This gave the party a significant boost in the polls in the following weeks, but after a few months it had returned to the same support as in the election.
To compensate for jet lag before the G-8 meeting in Scotland, 6-7. July 2005 US President George W. Bush slept in Denmark. North Zealand where he was supposed to sleep was militarized, police from all over the country were taken to and motorway traffic interrupted. The price of the accommodation is a state secret. 88% of Danes stated in surveys to disagree with US foreign policy.
In October 2005, the Constitutional Committee sued the Danish state at the Eastern Lands Court for breach of the Constitution in its declaration of war against Iraq in March 2003. The court spent 12-16 months to decide the litigation – that is, whether the applicants can be considered a party to the lawsuit. Just a month after the subpoena was filed in the High Court, 1,500 Danes had signed up as “bi-interveners” – ie. support claimants. The lawsuit was further strengthened when the parents of a killed Danish soldier in Iraq in November joined the circle of plaintiffs against the Danish government. The court ended up dismissing the case. That the Danish state starts a war on a basis that is revealed as a vertical lie is not something Danish citizens should be interested residents
Up until the municipal elections in November 2005, both V and A had declared that it was their goal each to conquer half of the mayoral posts in the new 98 municipalities. V got the biggest bang as the party had to settle for 36 municipalities instead of 49. In return, 45 conquered. However, the party did not achieve its ambition to occupy the mayor posts in the country’s 4 largest cities, as Anker Boye had to vacate the mayor’s seat in Odense.
History of Copenhagen 1728-1914
After the fire in 1728, Copenhagen was quickly rebuilt; at the same time, Christiansborg replaced the obsolete residence castle. In 1749, Frederiksstaden was founded, which developed into a distinguished residential area around Amalienborg. In addition, the navy’s facility on Holmen was expanded. All this created great employment, not least for foreign craftsmen and artists. Copenhagen consolidated its position as the country’s cultural center with the establishment of the Royal Theater and the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts.
Copenhagen profited in the second half of the 1700’s, of Denmark’s neutrality during the European Great Power Wars, which gave the city an important position in the transit trade between the overseas countries and the Baltic Sea region. Copenhagen also had production of textiles, porcelain and sugar.
In 1794, Christiansborg was destroyed by fire, and the following year a new major fire ravaged the city. During the reconstruction, the classic Copenhagen was created: Højbro Plads arose, Nytorv and Gammeltorv were merged, and several streets expanded. In 1801 the Battle of the Nest followed, and in 1807 the British bombing of Copenhagen with the loss of the fleet. After the English wars and the cession of Norway in 1814, the recession prevailed, and Copenhagen was weakened against the provincial cities. In return, the capital’s art and cultural life experienced a golden age.
1840-1914
Around 1840, an economic recovery set in with population growth, demand and production. Industry and commerce gained ground, stimulated by the development of the banking system. In 1847 the railway to Roskilde was built; at the same time, steamship routes were established to provincial ports and abroad. The Copenhagen bourgeoisie played a central role when democracy prevailed with the Constitution in 1849. During the continued industrialization, the workers organized themselves professionally and politically.
When the military significance of the violence was played out approx. 1850, the building restrictions on the fortress grounds lapsed. Nørrebro and Vesterbro were built up, from the 1880’s densely and high, as a result of the strong immigration from the province. The settlements of Østerbro and Amagerbro followed later, but this was less compact. Copenhagen’s population increased from 120,000 in 1840 to 400,000 in 1901/02, when Brønshøj, Valby and Sundbyerne were incorporated and thus tripled the municipality’s area.
After 1886, Vestvolden and sea forts were built to defend the growing capital. The harbor was expanded in 1894 with Frihavnen, later also with Sydhavnen. Copenhagen got a gasworks in 1857, a waterworks in 1859 and a power plant in 1892. The tramways were electrified in 1897, and at the same time the city got a modern sewer system.
By 1914, Copenhagen had changed from being a city of violence, military and administrative city with craftsmanship as the leading production, and where housing and business were mixed together, to appear more like a widespread industrial city with geographical division of business and housing. The new town hall from 1905 and the main railway station from 1911 drew the city center to the west.