Danish government advised to cut 58 business support schemes
Some 58 of 200 existing state support arrangements for businesses should be partly or fully cut, an expert advisory group has recommended to the government.
The cuts would save 2.3 billion kroner by 2030, according to estimations by the expert group, which handed over its recommendations to the government on Monday.
The coalition government pledged in its policy paper when it took office in late 2022 to save two billion kroner on business support money or erhvervsstøtte.
It subsequently appointed an expert group to look into the matter. That group has now recommended measures including revoking a tax exemption for work on board ships registered on the Danish Maritime Authority’s international ships register.
A number of subsidies can also be removed from export and investment schemes, it said.
Organisations including tourist board Wonderful Copenhagen as well as a foundation supporting vegan food, Plantebaserede Fødevarer, should also lose state support, the recommendations state.
Schemes which benefit climate goals are targeted to a lower degree in the recommendations.
The expert board’s report will now be discussed by the government and other parties in parliament, Business Minister Morten Bødskov said in a statement.
“The government is yet to form an opinion on the expert group’s recommendations. We will now read the report thoroughly and will in the near future summon the parliamentary parties for talks on the recommendations,” he said.
The Confederation of Danish Industry (DI) said the government should be cautious about cutting support for businesses but said a review of existing schemes was sensible.
“Bit it is important to stress that business subsidies are not a container from which you can pull unlimited resources and that consideration is needed when making adjustments, especially in relation to international competitiveness,” DI’s political director Emil Fannikke said in a comment to news wire Ritzau.
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The cuts would save 2.3 billion kroner by 2030, according to estimations by the expert group, which handed over its recommendations to the government on Monday.
The coalition government pledged in its policy paper when it took office in late 2022 to save two billion kroner on business support money or erhvervsstøtte.
It subsequently appointed an expert group to look into the matter. That group has now recommended measures including revoking a tax exemption for work on board ships registered on the Danish Maritime Authority’s international ships register.
A number of subsidies can also be removed from export and investment schemes, it said.
Organisations including tourist board Wonderful Copenhagen as well as a foundation supporting vegan food, Plantebaserede Fødevarer, should also lose state support, the recommendations state.
Schemes which benefit climate goals are targeted to a lower degree in the recommendations.
The expert board’s report will now be discussed by the government and other parties in parliament, Business Minister Morten Bødskov said in a statement.
“The government is yet to form an opinion on the expert group’s recommendations. We will now read the report thoroughly and will in the near future summon the parliamentary parties for talks on the recommendations,” he said.
The Confederation of Danish Industry (DI) said the government should be cautious about cutting support for businesses but said a review of existing schemes was sensible.
“Bit it is important to stress that business subsidies are not a container from which you can pull unlimited resources and that consideration is needed when making adjustments, especially in relation to international competitiveness,” DI’s political director Emil Fannikke said in a comment to news wire Ritzau.
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