Morning Briefing – Friday, May 31

admin    May 31st, 2013

Share

The Copenhagen Post’s daily digest of what the Danish press is reporting

Solar panel scanal withers green image

The scandal over an expensive loophole in solar panel legislation that ended with an official reprimand for the climate minister, Morten Lidegaard (Radikale), yesterday could wind up having a wider impact by tarnishing the country's reputation as a green-energy leader. The energy authorities, Energistyrelsen, speculated that the loophole will lead to an increased green-energy consumer tariff, which would dissuade consumers from adopting green-energy technologies. – Berlingske

Cannabis dealers want to pay taxes

Cannabis dealers from the around 30 booths that sell their wares on Pusher Street in Christiania have supported efforts to legalise cannabis by announcing that they would be more than happy to pay taxes on the sale of the drug. Mayor Frank Jensen (Socialdemokraterne) responded by telling them to quit their illegal activity and to get an honest job. – Politiken

Call to privatise police work

Political party Liberal Alliance (LA) has proposed privatising some of the work that is traditionally handled by the police authorities. Among the areas the party would like to see privatised are prisoner transport, burglary investigations, escorting deportees back to their home countries and speed control. Venstre, parliament's largest party, supported the idea, while the PM's Socialdemokraterne and the police were sceptical. – Jyllands-Posten

Ten banks close to collapse

Ten banks are in serious danger of cracking, according to a study of 79 banks in Denmark, Greenland and the Faroe Islands conducted Niro Invest. The ten, including Vestjysk Bank, Alm. Brand Bank, Vordingborg Bank and Totalbanken, find themselves in trouble after a series of bad investments and other losses. – Børsen

Rising Chinese interest in Denmark

Financial institutions and lawyers said they’ve noticed signficantly more interest from Chinese companies looking to buy or invest in Danish companies. They predicted there would be a major announcement involving a Chinese investor and a Danish company some time this year, most likely within the green energy and technology industry. – TV2 News

Improvements to electric travel card

A lack of co-ordination between regional and national transit authorities has lawmakers pushing for improvements to the Rejsekort electronic travel card system. In one example of the lack of co-ordination, a trip from Holbæk to Copenhagen costs 48 kroner with a standard DSB ticket, but 70 kroner with the Rejsekort. The lack of co-ordination has resulted in a massive number of complaints since the Rejsekort was first rolled out in 2007 – Ingeniøren

Danes thrash Germans in final test

The Danish under-19 football team beat Germany 4-1 yesterday in Brøndby in their final test before they head to Portugal to attempt to qualify for this summer’s European Championship. Pierre Emile Højbjerg (Bayern Munich) scored twice while Kenneth Zohore (Fiorentina) and Yussuf Poulsen (Lyngby) added one each. Denmark play the Czech Republic on June 4, Bulgaria on June 6 and hosts Portugal on June 9. – Tipsbladet