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Today’s front pages – Monday, Feb 11

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February 11th, 2013


This article is more than 11 years old.

The Copenhagen Post’s daily digest of what the Danish dailies are reporting on their front pages

Finance minister to crack down on state companies

State-owned companies worth more than 400 billion kroner will be given clear demands and goals, according to the finance minister, Bjarne Corydon (Socialdemokraterne). Rail operators DSB, energy providers DONG and lottery firm Danske Spil will all face more government oversight, with precise and limited spectrums for manoeuvring. Corydon also told Børsen newspaper that the government would look into which state-owned companies are vital for society and which are not and can therefore be sold. – Børsen

Tax returns loaded with errors

A new report indicates that there were errors in 40 percent of personal tax returns and that taxpayers try to deduct all sorts of items on their returns. The control report from tax authority Skat showed that there were serious mistakes in 400 out of every 1,000 self-reported tax returns and that taxpayers have falsely attempted to deduct 20 million kroner from their taxes. Razor blades, DVDs, tooth brushes, soap and jazz club memberships were among the items Danes tried to deduct. – Politiken

Foundation of energy agreement crumbling

Polluting the climate has become so cheap that the financial underpinning of last year’s massive energy agreement is crumbling away. The energy agreement from last year predicted a CO2-quota price of 139 kroner per tonne in 2013, which was expected to rise to 213 kroner per tonne by 2020. But the financial crisis has dropped the quota to just 30 kroner per tonne and analysts from the Swiss bank UBS indicated that the price could drop to zero by 2020, creating an extra 12.5 billion kroner energy bill for Danish taxpayers. – Berlingske

Bankruptcy victims face long pay wait

Almost 21,000 Danish workers in 2012 were forced to wait an average of nine weeks to receive their wages after their employers went bankrupt. A number of labour unions have hit out at Lønmodtagernes Garantifond, the insurance fund that assists workers in case of bankruptcy, saying that it is too slow in paying people’s wages. The long waiting times without access to unemployment benefits or social security forced many of the bankruptcy victims to take a loan, forgo paying their bills or sell off assets in order to stay off the streets. – Jyllands-Posten


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A survey carried out by Megafon for TV2 has found that 71 percent of parents have handed over children to daycare in spite of them being sick.

Moreover, 21 percent of those surveyed admitted to medicating their kids with paracetamol, such as Panodil, before sending them to school.

The FOLA parents’ organisation is shocked by the findings.

“I think it is absolutely crazy. It simply cannot be that a child goes to school sick and plays with lots of other children. Then we are faced with the fact that they will infect the whole institution,” said FOLA chair Signe Nielsen.

Pill pushers
At the Børnehuset daycare institution in Silkeborg a meeting was called where parents were implored not to bring their sick children to school.

At Børnehuset there are fears that parents prefer to pack their kids off with a pill without informing teachers.

“We occasionally have children who that they have had a pill for breakfast,” said headteacher Susanne Bødker. “You might think that it is a Panodil more than a vitamin pill, if it is a child who has just been sick, for example.”

Parents sick and tired
Parents, when confronted, often cite pressure at work as a reason for not being able to stay at home with their children.

Many declare that they simply cannot take another day off, as they are afraid of being fired.

Allan Randrup Thomsen, a professor of virology at KU, has heavily criticised the parents’ actions, describing the current situation as a “vicious circle”.

“It promotes the spread of viruses, and it adds momentum to a cycle where parents are pressured by high levels of sick-leave. If they then choose to send the children to daycare while they are still recovering, they keep the epidemic going in daycares, and this in turn puts a greater burden on the parents.”