Weekly political overview
New regulations regarding winter tires in Sweden and Germany. If you plan to drive in the winter vacation to or through our neighboring countries, ensure you have the right type of winter tires on. The tires need to have the snowflake symbol on them. In Sweden, you need to have them on between December 1 and March 31, while in Germany, whenever there are winter conditions on the road. There is no requirement for winter tires in Denmark.
The Council of Europe urges Denmark to implement the national action plan against racism. One of the measures is to hire more people with a minority background in academic institutions and law enforcement authorities.
Paul Watson, the ex-Greenpeace whale activist, will continue his stay in the Greenlandic prison. Japan is pressuring Denmark to extradite him, while many world leaders and celebrities (including the leader of France, Macron) are against that.
Social media networks, shopping platforms, and gaming sites are banned from schools in Copenhagen. Today, the firewall is already blocking websites with harmful content, and soon it will be updated to also block social media, shopping, and gaming.
The employment and integration mayor of Copenhagen wants to nationalize the parking spaces in front of the Russian embassy. To be more exact, he wants the 23 parking spots to be made public so that people in Copenhagen can park there. The matter is now discussed with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Proposals from political parties
- Alternativet (Greens) wants to introduce a new transport deduction for bicycle commuters. 3 DKK per kilometer for a distance of two to 24 km between your home and workplace. Dansk Industri (Employer’s Association) supports the idea and also asks for tax-free employer-paid bicycles.
- DF (Nationalist Conservatives) wants Denmark to end its agreement with Sweden and Norway, through which it is easier for a Swede/Norwegian to obtain Danish citizenship and vice versa. Why? The Swedes/Norwegians of today no longer culturally mirror the Danes due to their massive immigration intakes.
Focus
Winds of change in Europe, as the rhetoric towards immigration is getting tougher and we are getting a step closer to “Fortress Europe.” The latest EU summit of the state leaders has shown a different attitude towards immigration from outside the European Union. The EU leaders are ready to support repatriation measures, asylum reception centers outside of the Union territory and even supported Poland’s wish to put a freeze on asylum requests. This would have been unimaginable a couple of years ago.
