
Next year’s Finance Bill in place
The government Monday reached agreement with almost all parties in the Folketing on the Finance Bill for next year. Quite unusually, all parties except the Red-Green Alliance are behind the agreement. “It’s a historic budget in the sense that I can’t remember so many parties ever participating,” Finance Minister Nicolai Wammen said. He emphasized that all parties in the agreement have included something in the agreement that is important to them.
The following new initiatives in the agreement come on top of what the government itself had proposed when it presented its budget proposal in August. Among other things, this included financing of green transition, billions for the health service, funding of vocational schools and many other things.
Environment
Several of the novelties in the agreement have to do with the environment and green transition: Among other things, the parties have agreed on an emergency package to improve the aquatic environment. The marine environment in Denmark, which is characterised by oxygen depletion due to nitrogen emissions, is in bad shape. Therefore, a new emergency package will push for nitrogen emissions to be reduced – among other things by speeding up the set-aside of low-lying soils in agriculture.
Welfare
In the area of welfare, there are also a handful of new initiatives in the agreement. Among other things, the parties have agreed to allocate a bag of money for “dignified care for the elderly”. Among other things, this money will be used to spread permanent teams of employees in elderly care.
Rural areas
A third area of focus in the agreement is rural areas. Here, money has been set aside for a grant to secondary schools and adult education centres in peripheral areas.
The October flooding has also been given its own point in the agreement. The parties have agreed to introduce a storm surge pool to help with recovery from the damage caused by the large amount of rain. A pool of DKK 125 million will be set aside as well as a pool from which municipalities can borrow money for recovery.
Furthermore, the parties have decided to increase the service deduction. This is the deduction you can get for expenses such as cleaning or gardening. From next year, the deduction will be increased by DKK 5,000.
The new initiatives in the agreement come on top of what the government itself had proposed when it presented its budget proposal in August. /DR.dk/