A small majority of Danes favour adopting the euro in place of Denmark's crown, but a referendum would turn out to be an extremely tight race. A poll taken in September indicated that 38.4 percent of Danes said they would adopt the euro while 37.8 percent were against.
Adoption of the Euro was rejected by the Danish government in 2000 on the back of a referendum however it would seem people have warmed towards the European currency at the end of last year when the financial crisis deepened and consumers found their wallets hit by high interest rates.
That pressure has eased as the Danish central bank began cutting its key interest rate from 5.50 percent in November 2008. The lending rate now stands at 1.35 percent. The bank's monetary policy aims to keep the crown steady within a narrow band to the euro.
Denmark's centre-right government has said a vote before 2011 is not on the cards even though the governing coalition partners favour the euro. Denmark has opt-outs from European Union co-operation in the areas of monetary policy, defence, justice and home affairs.
The Danish government wishes to eliminate all the exemptions, and has said it will hold a referendum on them when the time is right and when it would be certain to prevail.
Showing posts with label Danish. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Danish. Show all posts
Thursday, 24 September 2009
Thursday, 10 September 2009
Danish PM in India on climate change.
Danish Prime Minister Lars Loekke Rasmussen visits India on Thursday in a bid to speed up negotiations on a climate deal ahead of a key summit in Copenhagen in December.
Rasmussen's three-day trip will include meetings with his Indian counterpart Manmohan Singh and the UN's top climate scientist Rajendra Pachauri, who is chairman of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).
India, the world's third-biggest polluter, fears the fight against global warming will hamper its economic development and has insisted that wealthy, developed nations take responsibility for the consequences of climate change.
Like China, it refuses to commit to detailed carbon dioxide reductions in any international treaty. World leaders will meet in Denmark in December to negotiate a new international accord on fighting climate change after the Kyoto Protocol requirements expire in 2012.
On Tuesday, at the start of the Nordic Climate Solutions conference gathering decision-makers and businessmen in Copenhagen, Rasmussen said the negotiations were progressing slowly "in all areas."
"It's very difficult because these are not just issues concerning the climate," but also the economy and technology, he said.
"Take the example of India, where I will meet the Indian prime minister who wants to gives his population of one billion some prosperity and who therefore doesn't want to commit to restrictive reductions unless the world brings new technology to his country," Rasmussen said.
The Danish leader will also hold talks on foreign policy and the economy, his office said in a statement. Denmark and India are due to sign a cooperation accord on the environment during Rasmussen's visit.
Rasmussen's three-day trip will include meetings with his Indian counterpart Manmohan Singh and the UN's top climate scientist Rajendra Pachauri, who is chairman of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).
India, the world's third-biggest polluter, fears the fight against global warming will hamper its economic development and has insisted that wealthy, developed nations take responsibility for the consequences of climate change.
Like China, it refuses to commit to detailed carbon dioxide reductions in any international treaty. World leaders will meet in Denmark in December to negotiate a new international accord on fighting climate change after the Kyoto Protocol requirements expire in 2012.
On Tuesday, at the start of the Nordic Climate Solutions conference gathering decision-makers and businessmen in Copenhagen, Rasmussen said the negotiations were progressing slowly "in all areas."
"It's very difficult because these are not just issues concerning the climate," but also the economy and technology, he said.
"Take the example of India, where I will meet the Indian prime minister who wants to gives his population of one billion some prosperity and who therefore doesn't want to commit to restrictive reductions unless the world brings new technology to his country," Rasmussen said.
The Danish leader will also hold talks on foreign policy and the economy, his office said in a statement. Denmark and India are due to sign a cooperation accord on the environment during Rasmussen's visit.
Friday, 4 September 2009
Nordic giant to buy Danish bank
Swedish bank Nordea has signed a contract to buy Denmark's Fionia Bank for 121m euros ($173m; £107m) from the Danish state.
The Stockholm-based bank said the deal includes 400 staff at 29 branches. The agreement is subject to approval by the Danish authorities, which took control of Fionia following the global financial meltdown in February.
The deal should give an investment return by 2011, said Nordea, the Nordic region's biggest financial group.
"We have captured a unique opportunity," added the bank. "By acquiring Fionia we continue our growth in Denmark... to the benefit of both Fionia's and Nordea's customers and our shareholders."
Nordea has managed to avoid much of the fallout from US "toxic assets".
Since the Danish state took over control of Fionia it has injected $169m into the bank to meet solvency requirements.
The Stockholm-based bank said the deal includes 400 staff at 29 branches. The agreement is subject to approval by the Danish authorities, which took control of Fionia following the global financial meltdown in February.
The deal should give an investment return by 2011, said Nordea, the Nordic region's biggest financial group.
"We have captured a unique opportunity," added the bank. "By acquiring Fionia we continue our growth in Denmark... to the benefit of both Fionia's and Nordea's customers and our shareholders."
Nordea has managed to avoid much of the fallout from US "toxic assets".
Since the Danish state took over control of Fionia it has injected $169m into the bank to meet solvency requirements.
Thursday, 13 August 2009
Danish-owned wind blade factories in Britain closed after protests
A Danish-owned wind turbine firm closed two factories in Britain Wednesday with the loss of 425 jobs following a two-week 'occupation' by angry workers.
Vestas Wind Systems said it had ceased blade production activities at its sites on the Isle of Wight and in Southampton, southern England, because of lack of demand.
The Danish firm obtained a court order last week to remove six workers who had occupied the Isle of Wight plant for over two weeks to delay its closure.
The decision to close the plants had been 'very difficult,' Ole Borup Jakobsen, president of Vestas Blades, said.
'Nonetheless, this commercial decision was absolutely necessary to secure Vestas's competitiveness and create a regional balance between production and the demand for wind turbines,' he added.
Vestas Wind Systems said it had ceased blade production activities at its sites on the Isle of Wight and in Southampton, southern England, because of lack of demand.
The Danish firm obtained a court order last week to remove six workers who had occupied the Isle of Wight plant for over two weeks to delay its closure.
The decision to close the plants had been 'very difficult,' Ole Borup Jakobsen, president of Vestas Blades, said.
'Nonetheless, this commercial decision was absolutely necessary to secure Vestas's competitiveness and create a regional balance between production and the demand for wind turbines,' he added.
Thursday, 6 August 2009
Men with livelier, more plentiful sperm live longer
Healthier sperm may mean longer life, according to a study that followed more than 40,000 Danish men for up to 40 years.
Dr. Tina Kold Jensen, who was involved in the study, said: "No matter what you look at, the risk of dying is decreased if you have a good semen quality compared to low; the poorer the semen quality, the higher the risk of dying."
While the findings shouldn't scare men whose semen quality isn't tip-top, they do suggest that these men should be checked out for other illnesses, especially testicular cancer, said Jensen, of the University of Southern Denmark in Odense.
Male infertility has become increasingly common over the past 50 years, Jensen and her team point out in the American Journal of Epidemiology, and some investigators have suggested that abnormal development of male reproductive organs in the womb could be responsible. This "fetal origins hypothesis" has also been tied to widespread illnesses in later life like heart disease and diabetes, they add.
To test the hypothesis that semen quality might therefore be related to illness and death, the researchers looked at men who had been referred to the Copenhagen Sperm Analysis Laboratory between 1963 and 2001, following them through the end of 2001 or until they died. They restricted their analysis to 43,277 men with viable sperm in their semen.
Dr. Tina Kold Jensen, who was involved in the study, said: "No matter what you look at, the risk of dying is decreased if you have a good semen quality compared to low; the poorer the semen quality, the higher the risk of dying."
While the findings shouldn't scare men whose semen quality isn't tip-top, they do suggest that these men should be checked out for other illnesses, especially testicular cancer, said Jensen, of the University of Southern Denmark in Odense.
Male infertility has become increasingly common over the past 50 years, Jensen and her team point out in the American Journal of Epidemiology, and some investigators have suggested that abnormal development of male reproductive organs in the womb could be responsible. This "fetal origins hypothesis" has also been tied to widespread illnesses in later life like heart disease and diabetes, they add.
To test the hypothesis that semen quality might therefore be related to illness and death, the researchers looked at men who had been referred to the Copenhagen Sperm Analysis Laboratory between 1963 and 2001, following them through the end of 2001 or until they died. They restricted their analysis to 43,277 men with viable sperm in their semen.
Friday, 17 July 2009
Danes to bring home the online poker bacon with launch of a new Danish website
Denmark gave the world Hans Christian Andersen, Scarlett Johansson, and bacon. And now, MansionPoker is giving something back.
Following the successful launch of the brand in Spanish, German, French, Swedish, Russian, Dutch and Italian, MansionPoker has just launched their Danish online poker website, giving Danish-speaking poker players the opportunity to enjoy some of the finest quality, functionality, promotions and rewards available in the world of online poker.
And as if international studies hadn’t already shown that Denmark is the happiest country in the world, the site will give the Danes even more reason to smile, with double poker points awarded for any real money online poker games played between the promotional hours.
Following the successful launch of the brand in Spanish, German, French, Swedish, Russian, Dutch and Italian, MansionPoker has just launched their Danish online poker website, giving Danish-speaking poker players the opportunity to enjoy some of the finest quality, functionality, promotions and rewards available in the world of online poker.
And as if international studies hadn’t already shown that Denmark is the happiest country in the world, the site will give the Danes even more reason to smile, with double poker points awarded for any real money online poker games played between the promotional hours.
Wednesday, 6 May 2009
Danish Culture
Should Danish culture become more international?
Citing a report by Kristen Bjørnkjær for the Danish daily news website Information.dk, euro|topics presents the arguments for opening up the country that nurtured the talents of Olafur Eliasson, among many other artists. After gaining power, Denmark’s conservative government has gone for the open approach by announcing that Danish culture should show the influences of interacting with foreign cultures beyond the country’s borders.
“The funds that flew into individual communities so far have mainly gone to projects that encompass international cooperation,” writes Bjørnkjær. “This is why the communities are wracking their brains for ideas that integrate foreign artists. . . . Danish painters are moving to Berlin, films are exported, books translated.” But according to Bjørnkjær, the state could do much more than simply promote this development.
Citing Mark Lorentzen of the Copenhagen Business School, Bjørnkjær points to a fundamental problem: “The Danish ministry of culture sees culture as a way of making money.”
Citing a report by Kristen Bjørnkjær for the Danish daily news website Information.dk, euro|topics presents the arguments for opening up the country that nurtured the talents of Olafur Eliasson, among many other artists. After gaining power, Denmark’s conservative government has gone for the open approach by announcing that Danish culture should show the influences of interacting with foreign cultures beyond the country’s borders.
“The funds that flew into individual communities so far have mainly gone to projects that encompass international cooperation,” writes Bjørnkjær. “This is why the communities are wracking their brains for ideas that integrate foreign artists. . . . Danish painters are moving to Berlin, films are exported, books translated.” But according to Bjørnkjær, the state could do much more than simply promote this development.
Citing Mark Lorentzen of the Copenhagen Business School, Bjørnkjær points to a fundamental problem: “The Danish ministry of culture sees culture as a way of making money.”
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