Today in Denmark: A round-up of the latest news on Wednesday

Partial lockdown of 38 municipalities comes into effect

The burger bar over the road from where I live in Copenhagen was as busy last night as I’ve seen it for months, a sign that people know they won’t be eating or drinking out again for the foreseeable future.

A partial lockdown begins today in 38 municipalities – Copenhagen, Aarhus, Odense and most of eastern Zealand. That means closed restaurants, bars and sports and cultural facilities, children sent home from school and increased working from home.

Full detail can be found in our earlier report.

READ ALSO:

• How will Denmark's partial lockdown affect Christmas celebrations?
• MAP: The parts of Denmark under partial lockdown in December
• These new restrictions apply to people living in Denmark's 38 lockdown municipalities

Children moved from Greenland 70 years ago given official apology

The government has formally apologised to the 22 Greenlanders who were moved to Denmark and cut off from their families in the 1950s in an attempt to bridge the cultural gap between the Scandinavian country and its colony.

In 1951, 22 children were chosen to be moved to mainland Denmark from Greenland, which was a Danish colony until 1953.

The children were deprived of contact with relatives and once they returned to Greenland they were not reunited with their parents but instead put in an orphanage. Many of them would never see their families again.

"We cannot change what happened. But we can take responsibility and apologise to those we should have cared for but failed to do," Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said in a statement.

We’ll have a full report later this morning.

Parliament approves green tax reform

A tax reform presented recently by the government, which seeks to promote green reform by businesses, has been voted through parliament.

The tax plan has been criticised for not including a tax on CO2 emissions, which had been argued for as a key tool that the government could have used to help achieve its CO2 reduction targets. Ministers said there was no easy way to quickly implement a CO2 tax.

READ ALSO: Denmark announces 'green tax reform' but omits sought-after CO2 levy

The bill enjoyed broad support in parliament, with the government and parties on both sides of the aisle voting it through. The Red Green Alliance (Enhedslisten), a left wing party which is normally an ally of the government, did not vote for the bill.

Tivoli cancels popular Christmas opening season

Amusement park Tivoli, where many people normally go in December to enjoy spectacular Christmas decorations and seasonal vibes, has chosen to close for the rest of the year as a result of the lockdown in Copenhagen, news wire Ritzau reports.

In a statement, the iconic theme park said it had understood the government’s advice “to see each other and meet in different ways as little as possible until infections are under control, especially in municipalities with tighter restrictions”, and had therefore chosen to curtail its Christmas opening season, which has been operating under a special booking system.

Although the lockdown does not require outside parks like Tivoli to completely close, all indoors areas would have had to be closed to the public, had the attraction remained open. 

Tivoli plans to open again for Easter on March 27th 2021.

Danish vocabulary:

• Undskyldning: apology
• Bred opbakning: cross-aisle support (for a parliamentary bill)
• Beslutning: decision