Latest news with #MetteFrederiksen
Reuters
14 minutes ago
- General
- Reuters
Danish PM says Ukraine seems successful in defending itself
VILNIUS, June 2 (Reuters) - Ukraine's attack against several Russian air bases on Sunday shows that Kyiv is successful in defending itself, Denmark's Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said on Monday. "I think they (Ukraine) have the right to defend themselves and sometimes it includes pushing back so it seems that it has been successful," Frederiksen said when asked to comment on Ukraine's attack. Ukraine's domestic intelligence service, the SBU, acknowledged it carried out the attack, codenamed "Operation Spider's Web," planned for more than a year and a half. At a meeting of Nordic, Baltic and Eastern European leaders in the capital of Lithuania, Frederiksen on Monday also said it was crucial to focus on rearming Europe. "Russia is a threat to all of us and therefore we need to strengthen our Eastern flank... We have to push for a ceasefire still but at the same time we have to do what is needed at the battlefield in Ukraine so they can actually win this war," she said.
Yahoo
14 minutes ago
- General
- Yahoo
Danish PM says Ukraine seems successful in defending itself
VILNIUS (Reuters) -Ukraine's attack against several Russian air bases on Sunday shows that Kyiv is successful in defending itself, Denmark's Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said on Monday. "I think they (Ukraine) have the right to defend themselves and sometimes it includes pushing back so it seems that it has been successful," Frederiksen said when asked to comment on Ukraine's attack. Ukraine's domestic intelligence service, the SBU, acknowledged it carried out the attack, codenamed "Operation Spider's Web," planned for more than a year and a half. At a meeting of Nordic, Baltic and Eastern European leaders in the capital of Lithuania, Frederiksen on Monday also said it was crucial to focus on rearming Europe. "Russia is a threat to all of us and therefore we need to strengthen our Eastern flank... We have to push for a ceasefire still but at the same time we have to do what is needed at the battlefield in Ukraine so they can actually win this war," she said.
Time of India
3 days ago
- Business
- Time of India
Retirement in Europe: How long will we have to work?
Representative image (AI) On May 22, the Danish parliament passed legislation raising the retirement age. The law, approved by 81 lawmakers with 21 voting against, sets the retirement age at 70 for all citizens born after December 31, 1970. Currently, the retirement age in Denmark is 67. By 2030, it will rise to 68, and by 2035 to 69. Last year, 47-year-old Social Democratic Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen stated that she would be open to reviewing the system once the official retirement age reached 70. International comparisons show just how differently retirement ages are regulated. In some countries, people continue to work even longer than they are legally required to. Will Germany follow Denmark's lead? Germany's new government is still trying to figure out how to deal with the country's struggling statutory pensions system. At a party convention of the ruling Christian Democratic Union (CDU) in Stuttgart recently, Germany's new chancellor, Friedrich Merz, praised himself and his Social Democratic coalition partner for having "written many good things into the coalition agreement" — the key issue of how to shore up the finances of the chronically underfunded pension system, however, isn't among them. Merz warned that "the way things are today can only last for a few more years at most." For Bernd Raffelhüschen, a former government economic advisor, the Danish reform effort is worth emulating. "We should raise the retirement age to 70 quickly so we can still catch at least part of the baby boomer generation," the economist told the Augsburger Allgemeine newspaper recently, referring to the large cohort of people born at the end of the 1950s and early 60s, who are currently retiring in huge numbers. Raffelhüschen said that because 1 million Germans will be leaving the workforce every year until 2035, this would push pension contributions higher for younger generations. Beveridge vs. Bismarck Pension financing in Europe follows two main models named after their founders: the Bismarck model, based on social legislation introduced by German Chancellor Otto von Bismarck in the 19th century, and the Beveridge model, developed in the 1940s. The Beveridge system is a welfare model that provides universal coverage and is tax-funded. It was devised by British economist William Henry Beveridge, a member of the UK Liberals' parliamentary faction. The Bismarck model, on the other hand, is an insurance-based system in which both workers and employers pay into a fund. In simplified terms, it's a so-called pay-as-you-go system where the working population finances the pensions of retirees through their contributions. This is why comparing pension systems across Europe is difficult — even more so as many countries use hybrid models combining aspects of both. The specifics, often complex, also vary widely between nations. Demographics, and the benefits of working longer — or shorter Germany's Bismarck-based system is increasingly under strain due to demographic changes. As the population ages and the workforce shrinks, there are more retirees and fewer people to fund the social insurance schemes. At the same time, people are living longer due to rising life expectancy, which means they draw pensions for more years. This puts mounting pressure on pay-as-you-go pension funds, with the result that either contributions must keep rising, or pension benefits may stagnate, failing to keep up with inflation. Alternatively, the overall pension level may have to drop Of course, a shorter working life and earlier retirement are appealing for most people as they can leave work before their physical capabilities decline and use the final third of their lives for meaningful activities or more time with family. There are also economic benefits, as more leisure time creates more opportunities to spend money, thus stimulating consumer demand and the broader economy. But working longer can also have advantages. Many people feel fit and engaged well into their 60s so that they may enjoy continuing to work, pass on their knowledge, and value interaction with younger colleagues. Employers benefit from retaining experienced staff and established routines, which may also help to mitigate the skilled labor shortage in Germany. Retiring a personal decision Looking at international statistics reveals that legal retirement age rarely aligns with when people actually stop working. In most cases, people retire earlier because their bodies can't keep up, or in creative professions, because of burnout. In a few countries like New Zealand, Japan, Sweden, or Greece, people often work beyond the official retirement age. Whether they do so voluntarily is unclear. The reasons are often too personal to be captured by statistics.\ The so-called gross replacement rate — the ratio of pension benefits to the final salary — plays a major role in people's decisions. If that gap is too wide, some workers can't afford to retire. The threat of old-age poverty could be reduced if pensions were high enough to provide financial security after a long career. But that would require money that the pension system currently lacks. On the other hand, raising contribution levels too much would limit workers' ability to save privately for retirement.
Time of India
5 days ago
- Politics
- Time of India
9 EU states urge migration law rethink at Europe's top court
Image: AP The push for more restrictive migration policies from some European governments has pivoted toward Europe's top human rights court. Spearheaded by Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and her Danish counterpart, Mette Frederiksen, nine European Union member states have penned an open letter calling for a reinterpretation of the European Convention on Human Rights to make it easier to "expel foreign national criminals." The leaders' exact demands are unclear. The signatories say their goal is to "launch a new and open-minded conversation" rather than elicit quick legal changes. But the move in itself is controversial, sparking questions about judicial independence in Europe and the legal architecture designed to protect human rights. What is the European Convention on Human Rights? The convention is an international treaty that was drafted and signed some 75 years ago in the aftermath of World War II. It spells out fundamental rights and freedoms for signatory states, such as the prohibition of torture, the right to a fair trial and freedom of expression. In the 1960s, it was updated to ban the death penalty. The convention forms the legal backbone of the Council of Europe, the continent's top human rights body. The organization is older than the European Union, and includes most of the continent's countries — it comprised 47 states until Russia was expelled in 2022 over its full-scale invasion of Ukraine. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like Has Honda Done It Again? The New Honda CR-V is Finally Here. TheFactualist Undo Individuals who believe their rights under the convention have been violated can sue their government at the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg, after exhausting all national legal pathways. Recent high-profile cases at the court include orders to ground migrant deportation flights bound for Rwanda from the UK over the African country's track record on rights, and older Swiss women asking the court to order their government to take more action against climate change. 'More freedom to decide' In the open letter dated May 22, nine European states call for "more room" to "decide on when to expel criminal foreign nationals" and "more freedom" to track "criminal foreigners who cannot be deported." The states also say they "need to be able to take effective steps" against "hostile states" that are "instrumentalizing migrants." "The world has changed fundamentally since many of our ideas were conceived," they write. "We now live in a globalized world where people migrate across borders on a completely different scale." "We believe that the development in the court's interpretation has, in some cases, limited our ability to make political decisions in our own democracies," the letter reads. The leaders note that their group — which also includes the leaders of Austria, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Belgium, Estonia and the Czech Republic — spans the width of Europe's political spectrum. While Italy's Meloni hails from the hard right, her Danish counterpart is a prominent figure from the EU's centre-left. "We know that this is a sensitive discussion. Although our aim is to safeguard our democracies, we will likely be accused of the opposite," they write. 'No judiciary should face political pressure' The Council of Europe's secretary-general appeared unimpressed in a statement he released in response. "Debate is healthy, but politicizing the court is not. In a society governed by the rule of law, no judiciary should face political pressure," Alain Berset said on Saturday. "Institutions that protect fundamental rights cannot bend to political cycles. If they do, we risk eroding the very stability they were built to ensure. "The court must not be weaponized — neither against governments, nor by them," he added. A political act? Basak Cali, a professor focused on international human rights law at the University of Oxford, said the letter was "not a legal way of participating in discussions." "It's more of a political act," she told DW over the phone. "It's not very legally clear in the letter what they would like to change," she said, adding that the court already "exercises deference to states" in cases related to migration. "They kind of say that the court should agree with them when it has cases in the future. But the point is that that's not how courts work," she said. Pointing finger at court is 'simplistic' Alberto-Horst Neidhardt, a senior migration researcher with the European Policy Centre, said the European Court of Human Rights is not the primary driver of problems EU states face when trying to deport criminals. "Neither European law nor the convention prevent them from expelling persons who pose a security threat," he explained. "It has to do with lack of cooperation between member states. It has to do with legal hope loopholes in the framework. It has to do with lack of cooperation by third countries that oftentimes do not want individuals who pose a security threat back on their territory," he told DW. "It's a bit simplistic to just point the finger to the court." Even if the nine states succeeded in sparking a reassessment of the court, they remain bound by other EU and UN rules on migrant rights. "This stays as a legal fact, regardless of these kinds of letters," said legal scholar Cali. Migration: Europe's political hot potato Though the number of people arriving illegally in Europe has decreased, migration policy remains a fiercely debated issue in the EU — one on which elections can be won or lost. The issue has also contributed toward a rightward political shift in much of Europe. "All the statistics suggest that we are seeing a reduction in irregular arrivals. In some member states, including Germany, we've seen a reduction of first-time asylum applications … Yet the political rhetoric remains very hostile," Neidhardt said. He sees the Italo-Danish push as the latest step in a broader bid to address some voters' concerns. "All these actions may somehow send, in the short term, a political message that is welcome," Neidhardt said. But in the longer term, he added, the new letter and similar moves will keep migration as a top talking point and will be unlikely to shift opinion away from the extremes and toward the political centre. "Most likely, they will continue voting for the parties who are somehow sponsoring the most radical solutions to what individuals perceive to be a problem," he said of voters.
Newsweek
5 days ago
- Politics
- Newsweek
Trump's Greenland Bid Poses Global Dangers, Says the Woman Facing Him Down
Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources. U.S. President Donald Trump's push to prise Greenland away from Denmark poses global dangers as growing security challenges imperil the world order, Denmark's prime minister told Newsweek. Leader of one of Europe's smaller countries, Mette Frederiksen has been thrust into an unexpected confrontation with the world's most powerful president over the giant Arctic island, which she says must decide its own fate. Earlier this month, Trump said he would not rule out the use of force to acquire Greenland on the grounds it is critical for U.S. and world security. "I have tried to de-escalate the situation, because in this world, with a very aggressive Russia, with a closer cooperation between Iran, North Korea and Russia, helped by China, I will do what I can to ensure that nothing goes wrong between allies and good friends and partners. But at the same time, we have to stick to the most important values and principles," Frederiksen said in an exclusive interview at her office in Copenhagen's Christiansborg Palace. Denmark's Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen told Newsweek she "will do what I can to ensure that nothing goes wrong between allies and good friends and partners." Denmark's Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen told Newsweek she "will do what I can to ensure that nothing goes wrong between allies and good friends and partners." Kasper Loftgaard for Newsweek Greenland is an autonomous territory within the Kingdom of Denmark, a member of NATO. While opinion polls in January showed the vast majority of Greenlanders sought independence from Denmark, even more were opposed to it joining the United States. NATO at Stake "I'm pretty sure that there is a big interest in the U.S., especially from the president, when it comes to Greenland. I'm also listening when officials and representatives from the government are saying that, 'of course, we will not do anything by force,'" she said. "We have to believe that. Because a situation where an ally attacks another ally would be very, very wrong, and it will challenge not only the relationship to the Kingdom of Denmark, but the transatlantic relationship and that would be, I think, very dangerous for all of us." Denmark was very ready to help step up security for Greenland and the Arctic in conjunction with NATO allies, she said, but could not accept the principle of big states taking over other parts of the world or another country's territory. A situation where an ally attacks another ally would be very, very wrong "It's not only a question about Denmark and Greenland and the Kingdom of Denmark. We cannot agree with U.S. on this point, because then we will undermine the world order that we have built up since the Second World War." The tussle over Greenland came as a shock to Frederiksen, a 47-year-old Social Democrat who has been prime minister since 2019 and grew up in an era of gratitude to the United States for both the help it gave Europe in World War II and the role it had played in the NATO security alliance. Frederiksen chose her words carefully. She paused occasionally to pick from the carrot and cucumber sticks placed alongside the coffee and tea on the meeting room table as healthy snacks. "When you are a true believer in the transatlantic alliance, and by the way, always have been a very good ally to the U.S., it has been quite a surprise to listen to the words coming from the U.S.," she said. Trade Wars The tariffs imposed by Trump on Europe to try to redress trade imbalances have been another source of friction. As a member of the European Union, Denmark does not hold separate trade negotiations with the United States. "I think a trade war will be a problem, not only for Europe, but for everybody, and therefore everything we're doing is to avoid it," Frederiksen said. "What I'm trying to say to our American friends and colleagues is that there are so many challenges globally. At the moment, things are moving in the wrong direction." I don't think it's fair to ask somebody else to come and defend you if you're not willing to do it yourself Now it was time to rearm Europe, Frederiksen said: not because the United States could not be trusted, but because Europe had been failing to do enough to defend itself—a theme echoed by officials in the Trump administration who say Europe funded its welfare states as U.S. taxpayers paid for its security umbrella. "It has been a mistake that after the end of the Cold War that we reduced our military budgets in a big part of Europe. It was a mistake, and maybe one of the most important things right now is to agree that it will never happen again," she said. "We have to be able to defend ourselves, to deter Russia, and I don't think it's fair to ask somebody else to come and defend you if you're not willing to do it yourself." Ukraine War Relative to its economic might, Denmark has been one of the biggest financial supporters of Ukraine since the Russian invasion in 2022. Frederiksen said it would be "a disaster" if Russia won the war. If European countries thought the strains on the relationship with the United States should push them toward China, it would be the "wrong answer," she said. Prime Minister Frederiksen speaks with Newsweek's Matthew Tostevin. Prime Minister Frederiksen speaks with Newsweek's Matthew Tostevin. Kasper Loftgaard for Newsweek "The answer is building a strong Europe and a strong Europe that is open minded and able to work, of course, globally, with different partners, including China," she said. "To make a strategic choice now, less U.S., more China will be, I think, not the right way forward." One area on which Frederiksen and Trump may share common ground is immigration. Denmark adopted one of the toughest asylum policies in Europe with broad political support in the face of surging arrivals of people from the Middle East and Africa, some with radical Islamist ideologies. While it curbed inward immigration, Denmark now faces the challenge of deporting migrants who have committed crimes. In doing so, it has come against rulings from the European Court of Human Rights based on the European Convention on Human Rights. Immigration Court Challenge "The court has, of course, the right to be a court, but not to be an activist or not to take decisions. And I think the balance has tipped so we need to be in political and therefore democratic control with the legislation," she said. "Europe is not able to welcome everybody, and maybe most important now, we have to be sure that we can get rid of people again if they don't behave well. It's not a human right to enter Denmark and do a rape and stay." Alongside her Italian counterpart Giorgia Meloni, Frederiksen is now spearheading a push to get the court to make it easier to deport foreign criminals. Climate Ambitions Given the multiple global security challenges, Frederiksen voiced concern that climate change could end up being sidelined. Denmark has become a leader in green energy—particularly from the winds that all too often bluster the flat land pinned between the North Sea and the Baltic. Trump, meanwhile, has voiced skepticism over climate change and declared a national energy emergency in order to ramp up production of coal, oil and gas, which emit the carbon dioxide that many scientists say is causing global temperatures to rise. "I have this feeling that climate change, the green transition renewables, you know, there's not the focus that just was there a few years ago," she said. "But I really think we have to keep our ambitions of the green transition very, very high." Frederiksen said of energy that "we have to keep our ambitions of the green transition very, very high." Frederiksen said of energy that "we have to keep our ambitions of the green transition very, very high." Kasper Loftgaard for Newsweek Read the full interview in the June 20-27 issue of Newsweek, out on June 13 and online from June 11.
