US defence deal in spotlight again, raised alert for energy sector, weekend weather and more news from Denmark this Friday.
Opposition protests closed-door hearing on US defence deal
A contentious agreement to permit US troops on Danish soil is causing fresh disputes in Denmark’s parliament, as left-wing parties denounce the government’s move to hold a closed parliamentary hearing on the deal.
The proposed hearing – scheduled to assess the legal and constitutional implications of the US-Denmark defence cooperation agreement – is to be held behind closed doors, sparking outcry from opposition parties and transparency advocates.
“It’s a consequential proposal, and it’s clear the government wants to obscure the process,” independent MP Theresa Scavenius told the Ritzau newswire. “That is deeply problematic.”
We’ll have more detail on this story in a separate article on our website this morning.
READ ALSO: Denmark ‘can end’ US defence agreement if Washington leaves Nato
Energy sector told to intensify surveillance and emergency readiness
The level of alert for Denmark’s oil and district heating sectors has been raised amid heightened threat assessments, Ritzau reports.
This means companies must now take steps to better protect their facilities in order to safeguard security and ensure stable supply, the Danish Energy Agency (Energistyrelsen) said in a statement.
Specific measures include stricter requirements to access facilities and increased surveillance.
The agency’s director, Kristoffer Böttzauw, stressed the importance of protecting Denmark’s energy infrastructure.
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“We know the energy sector is a target for malicious attacks, and our first priority must be protecting against current threats,” he said.
The decision to raise the alert level follows assessments from the Danish police and military intelligence services, PET and FE.
Weekend weather: Sun, clouds and warm temperatures
Jutland and Funen will see the best of the sunshine this weekend, while cloudier weather is expected further east, according to the Danish Meteorological Institute’s (DMI) forecasts.
The spring sun will face increasing cloud cover moving in from the east over the coming days, DMI meteorologist Klaus Larsen told news wire Ritzau.
“Friday will start out fairly cloudy in many places, with mist and fog across parts of Jutland in the morning,” he said.
“It should clear up during the late morning, so I expect we’ll see some or even quite a bit of sunshine.”
Temperatures on Friday are expected to range from 15 to 19 degrees Celsius across most of the country, though Bornholm and coastal areas with onshore winds will likely be three to four degrees cooler.
Clouds will push further west across Denmark on Saturday. “The weather system will bring showers to Bornholm and move westward,” Larsen said.
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“Eastern parts of the country can expect longer spells of cloud with the odd shower across Zealand, while Jutland is in for a dry and sunny day,” he said.
Saturday’s temperatures could reach up to 20 degrees, and the same goes for Sunday, which is forecast to start out sunny across the country.
MobilePay app set to enable money transfers across Europe
MobilePay users in Denmark could be able to send funds to the three southern European countries and Poland by next summer.
The company has joined a project with several other European money transfer platforms aimed at allowing the platforms to connect to each other across borders.
That could mean that a MobilePay user in Denmark may be able to send money to, for example, a user of Spanish payment app Bizum in the same way they currently send funds to other MobilePay users.