That was the backdrop when Finance Minister Nicolai Wammen (S) at a press conference on Monday presented the government’s proposal for a “tight and subdued” social budget for the coming year.
The government will in particular focus on the welfare area. This must be done with initiatives that – in a year of local elections – must bind city and country better together.
DKK 1.2 billion is set aside for negotiations with other parties and DKK 4 billion for the continued handling of the corona.
– We have managed financially through the corona crisis. Everyday life can gradually begin to return. There are industries and companies that are hard hit. But when we look at the overall picture for the Danish economy, things are going really well, said Nicolai Wammen.
According to the Minister of Finance, a sharp increase in the Danish economy of 3.8 per cent of gross domestic product is expected this year. The highest since before the financial crisis.
Even though the government is now firmly packing away the corona-era spending pants, according to economists, that is not enough.
– In our optics, the Wammen should give the brake a slightly harder pressure – simply because the warning lights are flashing. Both in the labor market and in the housing market, the threat of overheating is quite real, says Søren Kristensen, chief economist at Sydbank.
In Arbejdernes Landsbank, chief economist Jeppe Juul Borre is calling for, among other things, a showdown with the housing job board, as the craftsmen are already extremely busy.
– If you ask if a sufficient tempo is pulled out, the answer is actually a no, he says in a comment.
If you look at the effect of the Finance Act on the economy, you have to go all the way back to Poul Schlüter’s potato cure in the 1980s to find the equivalent of narrow-mindedness.
Unlike the potato cure, however, it is not new initiatives from the government that are leading to the slowdown. It is primarily the outgrowth of various corona schemes.
Government support parties are not impressed.
– We are not definite opponents of what we have seen now. But we think it is unambitious, says SF’s finance spokeswoman, Lisbeth Bech-Nielsen.
Among other things, SF calls for better welfare for pregnant women and children and young people, as well as a focus on clean drinking water and a class ceiling of 24 pupils in primary school.
The Radicals want to spend money on primary school, climate efforts and more research.
– Too many children are frustrated and do not learn enough. We must strengthen this so that people can have a meaningful and good life, says the party’s finance spokesman, Andreas Steenberg.
He also calls for a stronger climate effort.
The Unity List also hopes that the party can pressure the government to, among other things, spend more money on reductions in CO2 emissions than the government itself proposes.
– The government completely overlooks the green transition, says political spokesman Mai Villadsen.
The Liberal Party blames the government for not being ambitious enough.
– Too little is being done to secure the future of the Danish economy with more hands and set in motion the green transition. The Liberal Party wants to increase employment and invest in the climate, says chairman Jakob Ellemann-Jensen.
The Conservatives’ chairman, Søren Pape Poulsen, points out that more elderly people are coming and that the bill for our welfare society is rising.
– If we are to be able to afford good welfare in the future, our companies must therefore make more money. But right now, many companies are saying no to orders because there is not enough manpower, he says.
Source: The Nordic Page