Party leader admits to cocaine use, ex-staff from Kærshovedgård speak out, Ørsted plant opposed by Trump delivers power and more news from Denmark this Monday.
Party leader admits taking cocaine
Alex Vanopslagh, the leader of libertarian party Liberal Alliance, has admitted to taking cocaine while in his current role as party leader.
“Yes, I took cocaine in my early days as party leader,” Vanopslagh said in a Facebook post.
“It happened once or twice at most in a party setting, and naturally not while I was at work,” he said.
Vanopslagh also said he has changed his lifestyle since suffering from stress and taking sick leave in 2020. He has led Liberal Alliance since 2019, bringing the party back from a very poor election result that year to its current position as one of the strongest-polling parties on the right wing.
He has previously admitted to taking cocaine in his youth but not since he became Liberal Alliance leader.
Last week, he told broadcaster DR’s ‘Genstart’ podcast that he no longer thinks cocaine should be legalised and sold at pharmacies, after previously expressing support for the idea.
Former staff at deportation centre speak out about conditions
Seven former staff members at the Kærshovedgård deportation centre have spoken to newspaper Politiken about conditions at the facility.
Threats, violence, stabbings, prostitution and sexual assault all occurred regularly at the centre, the ex-staff members said. Kærshovedgård is used to house people with no residence rights in Denmark, including both persons with deportations related to criminal convictions and rejected asylum seekers without any criminal background.
Politiken’s sources are former Red Cross employees who worked at the health and social sections at the facility.
Centre residents with gang connections are increasingly exploiting people with physical and mental illnesses and addiction sufferers, according to the newspaper’s report.
One of the former employees, social worker Henriette Olesen, told Politiken that Kærshovedgård residents live in “appalling conditions.”
The Red Cross has 28 employees at the centre. As many as 30 staff from the NGO have either been let go, placed on sick leave or resigned during the last four years.
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Ørsted project halted by Trump begins delivering power
An offshore wind farm project, once halted by US President Donald Trump’s administration, has started delivering power to New England’s grid, Danish energy firm Ørsted said Saturday.
Built off the coast of Rhode Island, the 704 MW offshore wind farm Revolution Wind is expected to supply enough electricity to power more than 350,000 homes.
“The Revolution Wind project has started delivering power to New England’s electric grid, strengthening the region’s power supply and helping reduce costs for consumers,” Ørsted said in a statement reported by AFP.
Ørsted has a 50-percent stake in the joint venture Revolution Wind project alongside a renewables infrastructure developer that is part of the BlackRock investment group.
The project, along with four others, was put on hold in December when Washington announced that it was halting all major offshore wind power projects under construction in the United States, citing “national security” risks.
That order was then nullified by a US federal judge in January, allowing work to resume.
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Canada and Nordics announce deepening of defence ties
Canadian and Nordic leaders on Sunday announced that they would deepen collaboration, especially in the area of defence and Arctic security, a region where tensions are rising.
After a meeting in Oslo, the prime ministers of Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Finland, Iceland and Canada in a joint statement reaffirmed their commitment to cooperation “at a time characterized by heightened geopolitical tension, war and a multitude of crises”.
“With everything going on now, with a war going on in Ukraine, a United States unfortunately lifting up sanctions on Russia, a war in the Middle East, countries like ours have to stand together,” Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen told a press conference.