Today in Denmark: A roundup of the news on Tuesday
More parental leave if you have twins, controversial MP takes ‘self-paid’ leave and police find car with possible connection to kidnapping case. Here are the news headlines from Denmark on Tuesday.
New budget gives additional parental leave to parents of twins
Parents of twins (and triplets, quadruplets and son on) get extra parental leave under the terms of the budget for this year, which was presented yesterday.
A full 26 weeks’ extra leave will be granted to parents of twins, who currently receive the same amount of leave as parents with a single newborn. For more about how the Danish parental leave system works read here.
The additional leave does not come into effect immediately, however. Employment Minister Ane Halsboe-Jørgensen said in a government press statement that the model would be drafted in full “later this year”.
Controversial MP takes ‘self-paid’ leave from parliament
Jon Stephensen, a member of parliament with coalition partner the Moderates, is to take a ‘self-paid’ period of leave, party leader Lars Løkke Rasmussen confirmed last night via a video posted on Facebook.
That comes after inappropriate messages sent by Stephensen to a 19-year-old female member of the party’s youth wing were revealed by broadcaster TV2 on Sunday. He was earlier at the centre of controversy about his time as director of a theatre in Copenhagen, Aveny-T, where he was reported to have abused his power and behaved inappropriately.
Rasmussen said that expelling Stephensen from the party would be an overreaction at the current time, but also stated that “there is no doubt that this correspondence is over the lines we draw in the Moderates”.
A decision will be made on Stephensen’s long-term future at the end of the parliamentary year in October, he said.
Police seize car with possible connection to seven-year-old case
Police have confiscated a Hyundai i30 car in Slovakia which may be linked to the disappearance and death of 17-year-old Emilie Meng in the town of Korsør in 2016, according to newspaper BT.
The car is reported to have been owned by the suspect in the recent kidnapping of a 13-year-old girl, who was found by police in Korsør the day after her disappearance earlier this month. The suspect, a 32-year-old man, owned the car from 2016-2021 according to registration papers.
The South Zealand, Lolland and Falster Police have been looking for a Hyundai i30 of the same description in connection with the Emilie Meng case. No connection between the car and its driver and the case was ever confirmed, but police said at the time they wanted to speak to the driver, who never contacted them.
No comment has been made by police on the reported finding of the car.
Government criticised for failure to reduce PFAS contamination
Environment Minister Magnus Heunicke has pledged a "service check" after two ministries were criticised by the state auditor over PFAS contamination and management going back to 2007.
Heunicke acknowledged in a statement yesterday that too little had been done to limit PFAS contamination in Denmark, after newspaper Politiken reported that the national auditor Rigsrevisionen, which reports to the Danish parliament, has issued robust criticism of both ministries.
“We must be completely sure that we have corrected all the errors in authorities’ management of PFAS,” the minister said.
“We are therefore now initiating a wide-ranging service check of the relevant environmental authorities that have dealings with PFAS,” he said.
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New budget gives additional parental leave to parents of twins
Parents of twins (and triplets, quadruplets and son on) get extra parental leave under the terms of the budget for this year, which was presented yesterday.
A full 26 weeks’ extra leave will be granted to parents of twins, who currently receive the same amount of leave as parents with a single newborn. For more about how the Danish parental leave system works read here.
The additional leave does not come into effect immediately, however. Employment Minister Ane Halsboe-Jørgensen said in a government press statement that the model would be drafted in full “later this year”.
Controversial MP takes ‘self-paid’ leave from parliament
Jon Stephensen, a member of parliament with coalition partner the Moderates, is to take a ‘self-paid’ period of leave, party leader Lars Løkke Rasmussen confirmed last night via a video posted on Facebook.
That comes after inappropriate messages sent by Stephensen to a 19-year-old female member of the party’s youth wing were revealed by broadcaster TV2 on Sunday. He was earlier at the centre of controversy about his time as director of a theatre in Copenhagen, Aveny-T, where he was reported to have abused his power and behaved inappropriately.
Rasmussen said that expelling Stephensen from the party would be an overreaction at the current time, but also stated that “there is no doubt that this correspondence is over the lines we draw in the Moderates”.
A decision will be made on Stephensen’s long-term future at the end of the parliamentary year in October, he said.
Police seize car with possible connection to seven-year-old case
Police have confiscated a Hyundai i30 car in Slovakia which may be linked to the disappearance and death of 17-year-old Emilie Meng in the town of Korsør in 2016, according to newspaper BT.
The car is reported to have been owned by the suspect in the recent kidnapping of a 13-year-old girl, who was found by police in Korsør the day after her disappearance earlier this month. The suspect, a 32-year-old man, owned the car from 2016-2021 according to registration papers.
The South Zealand, Lolland and Falster Police have been looking for a Hyundai i30 of the same description in connection with the Emilie Meng case. No connection between the car and its driver and the case was ever confirmed, but police said at the time they wanted to speak to the driver, who never contacted them.
No comment has been made by police on the reported finding of the car.
Government criticised for failure to reduce PFAS contamination
Environment Minister Magnus Heunicke has pledged a "service check" after two ministries were criticised by the state auditor over PFAS contamination and management going back to 2007.
Heunicke acknowledged in a statement yesterday that too little had been done to limit PFAS contamination in Denmark, after newspaper Politiken reported that the national auditor Rigsrevisionen, which reports to the Danish parliament, has issued robust criticism of both ministries.
“We must be completely sure that we have corrected all the errors in authorities’ management of PFAS,” the minister said.
“We are therefore now initiating a wide-ranging service check of the relevant environmental authorities that have dealings with PFAS,” he said.
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