New fees on non-EU parcels from next year, Denmark to take over presidency of Nordic Council and more news from Denmark on Friday.
Parcels from outside EU set to become more expensive on Sunday
This summer, the EU introduced a tariff for parcels from outside the EU of three euros per parcel valued below 150 euros.
From Sunday, November 1st, an additional handling fee will also come into force, of two euros per parcel, Denmark’s Customs Agency said in a press statement.
That means that a parcel costing below 150 euros arriving from outside the EU will cost a combined five euros in fees.
Danish vocabulary: håndteringsgebyr – handling fee
Temperatures set to be warm this weekend before rain hits on Sunday
We have a mild autumn weekend in store for us over the next few days, warmer than usual for this time of year, with some clouds and rain expected towards the end of the weekend, according to Erik Hansen, on-duty meteorologist at Danish weather agency DMI.
“There’s a chance for some sunshine, but otherwise it will be cloudy before a small rain front passes over the country on Sunday,” he told the Ritzau newswire.
Friday started with fog and clouds across much of the country, although the sun could break through the clouds in some areas.
“Probably more in northeastern areas and especially on Bornholm,” he said.
“It will also be mild. Temperatures will be between 11 and 14 degrees,” he said, adding that there could be some wind in areas.
Those temperatures are around five degrees hotter than usual for this time of year, he said, adding that the weather is unusually mild.
Danish vocabulary: lun – warm
Health minister wants Rigshospitalet to be able to always welcome organs
In the Today in Denmark yesterday we wrote about reports that Copenhagen’s Rigshospitalet was unable to accept a total of ten donated livers in the past year due to a lack of capacity.
Health Minister Ida Auken said in a comment to news wire Ritzau that she is “shocked” and finds it “deeply unsatisfactory” that this has happened.
She added that she expects “the Capital Region and Rigshospitalet to adapt so that Rigshospitalet can as a general rule accept and handle donated organs at all hours of the day, all year round”.
“We don’t know yet what consequences these refused organs have had for affected patients, but in all circumstances it is deeply unsatisfactory that patients have not been able to get a liver transplant because the hospital has not had capacity to accept the organs offered.
The hospital said that it is “not unusual” to have to turn away livers for children, telling the Sundhedsmonitor medical newspaper that this is due to the fact that staff capable of carrying out liver transplants on children are not available at all hours of the day.
Rigshospitalet is the only hospital in Denmark which offers liver transplants. The Danish health authority Sundhedsstyrelsen told public broadcaster DR that the situation is due to the fact that the hospital recently fired three surgeons, with two more surgeons leaving the hospital for other reasons.
The hospital’s vice director Jannick Brennum told Ritzau that the hospital has made an agreement with Oslo University Hospital for assistance in liver transplants for children and is working to build collaboration across the nordic region in this area. He added that when organs are rejected, it’s usually because the surgeon capable of carrying out a transplantation is busy with a different transplantation.
Danish vocabulary: levertransplantationer – liver transplants
Denmark to take over Nordic Council presidency from next year
Denmark, Greenland and the Faroe Islands, or in other words the Danish Realm, will take over the presidency of the Nordic Council from next year, the official political collaboration between Nordic parliaments, according to a press statement from the Danish parliament.
The new president will be Lars-Christian Brask, from the right-wing Liberal Alliance party. He was elected during the council’s most recent session in Helsinki on Thursday. Brask has been chair of Denmark’s delegation to the Nordic Council since 2023.
He told Ritzau that he, as president, “leads the parliamentary part of the Nordic region”.
“Just like in the Danish parliament, we make proposals that are voted through and sent to the Council of Ministers, who implement them,” he said.
Denmark will hold the presidency for the whole of 2027, passing it on to one of the other five Nordic countries the year after.
The Nordic Council is made up of Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Iceland and Finland.
As part of the Danish Realm, Greenland and the Faroe Islands will share the vice president post next year, splitting it six months each. This will be the first time all three countries have shared the presidency between them.
Danish vocabulary: Rigsfællesskabet – the Danish Realm
With reporting from Ritzau