Municipalities to meet over budget excesses

Mayors from municipalities across Denmark are scheduled to meet today to discuss spending in local authorities in 2022, broadcaster DR reports.

A number of municipalities are currently overspending according to the broadcaster, meaning that they are in breach of their budget agreements with Ministry of the Interior and Housing.

This means potentially difficult discussions, since overspending in some municipalities forces others to make cutbacks so that the local authorities don’t exceed their collective budget.

New national nature parks on way with 23 candidates 

Over 200 potential new national nature parks have been narrowed down to a list of 23, from which a final 10 will be taken, the environment ministry says in a statement released yesterday evening.

Public meetings and further study of the locations will take place before a final decision is made.

The national nature parks are intended to boost wild nature that grows on its own terms, and differ from regular national parks, which can be used for farming to a certain extent.

Mayors in some areas have rejected the opportunity to have their national parks redefined as national nature parks because they want to retain existing use of parts of the land, according to reports this week.

Conservative parties want free choice for parental leave, reject “earmarking”

A new agreement between trade unions and employer representation, announced earlier this week, could pave the way for reforms to Denmark’s state parental leave provisions.

The agreement sets out “earmarked” and equal leave for each parent, a break from the current system which provides for a number of weeks which can be shared between the two parents.

You can read more about the differences between the existing and proposed systems in our explainer.

The proposals have elicited a divided response, with backers saying they promote equality and critics saying they interfere with childcare decisions in the private sphere.

Conservative parties have now largely come out against earmarking leave for each parent, DR reports, meaning that parties on the left will likely be required to vote through any bill which might provide for it.

Parliament is scheduled to negotiate earmarked parental leave during the autumn, with a new directive likely to be implemented on January 1st 2022.

Nurses in Aalborg continue week of wildcat strikes

Nurses at Aalborg University Hospital this morning became the latest to continue protests over government-enforced pay and working conditions.

Echoing action taken elsewhere in Denmark throughout this week and last, around 200 nurses walked out between 7:45am and 8:45am, broadcaster TV2 reported.

The action – a so-called wildcat strike, breaking union-employer terms – took place at the behest of a number of nurses at the hospital, who issued a call for it via social media.

The strikes have continued this week in the face of a decision by a labour court last week to order the nurses back to work and ‘normalise’ the situation after the wildcat strikes against a government-imposed collective bargaining agreement. Sanctioned strikes by thousands of nurses took place throughout the summer, prior to the government intervention.

You can read more on the dispute here:

EXPLAINED: Why has the government intervened in Denmark’s nurses strike?