MAN vs the city
Motor producer MAN Diesel says it may be forced to move many of its 2,000 jobs in Denmark to its home market in Germany. MAN, whose Danish headquarters are located on the Copenhagen waterfront, says the city’s plans to convert much of the disused industrial area to residential and recreational areas threaten its ability to carry out research, development and testing on the site. “If the city presents us with tougher air quality requirements, we could be forced to relocate,” said Thomas S Knudsen, MAN Diesel's managing director. MAN Diesel said the city has in the past accommodated its wishes and required that new housing not be built within 150 metres of the company’s testing facilities, but that the City Council's plans for development were increasingly squeezing it out. – Børsen
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Possible Metro construction delay after pullout rumours
Plans by one of the two Italian construction companies to pull out of Copenhagen’s Metro City Ring extension risk delaying completion of the 17-station underground line.Tecnimont, which has been responsible for much of the project’s technical design, did not indicate why it wishes to sell its operations to Salini, the other Italian firm involved in the construction. But Bent Flyvberg, a professor at Oxford University, predicted the move would cost both time and money. Anne-Grete Foss, an executive with Metroselskabet, which manages the Metro, said neither company had officially mentioned anything about such a deal, but said the project was advanced to a stage beyond which Tecnimont’s withdrawal would have significant influence. – Berlingske Business
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Efforts to prevent teen suicide in Greenland
Public health officials say they are prepared to launch initiatives to help Greenland reduce its suicide rate. The self-governing territory has a suicide rate of 108 per 100,000 residents, ten times higher than in Denmark, and one of the highest in the world. The efforts will pay particular attention to preventing young people from taking their own lives. Lawmakers in Greenland and academics involved with the programme said the figures have remained unchanged for years. They expressed concern that the country’s “youngest were dying”, and said the plan would train professionals working with children to identify individuals who may be considering suicide. Greenland’s high rate of suicide among children stems from high rates of alcohol abuse among adults and sexual abuse. – Kristeligt Dagblad
Secret tax hunt underway
Tax authority Skat has reportedly launched the second phase of an international tax hunt seeking to identify unreported transfers to foreign banks. Skat is said to have been granted permission by regulators to ask five banks to hand over all information about transfers to 64 known tax havens over a four-year period starting in 2009. A similar effort reviewing seven trillion kroner worth of transactions for the period 2005-2009 netted Skat 1.2 billion kroner in unpaid taxes. – Jyllands-Posten
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Permanent secretaries, total silence
Despite their increasing political role, the permanent secretaries of governmental ministries remain unwilling to speak with the press. In a request to conduct interviews with the 20 permanent secretaries, who are the ministries’ highest-ranking civil servants, 16 declined. The remaining four did not answer. Most declined stating that they did not participate in interviews “as a matter of principle”. Professor Ove Kaj Pedersen said the rejections were at odds with the common practice among permanent secretaries to participate in interviews for academic projects or in connection with research for books. – Information
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Agricultural exports booming
The nation’s agricultural businesses set a new record for exports during the first six months of the year, according to data released by lobby group Landbrug & Fødevarer. Exports grew 9.4 percent to 78 billion kroner, and the organisation expects exports to surpass a record 160 billion kroner for the year. The growth comes on the back of expanding exports of agriculture-related products – which also include agricultural machinery – to Asia. Among the most significant exports were dairy products, meat and luxury items, such as fur. Exports to Europe were also strong. – Erhverv & Økonomi
