Danish Communists Protest Granting Government Aid to Companies Operating from Tax Havens

Members of the Communist Party in Denmark organised protests at 16 locations across the country last week against the government allocating parts of the COVID-19 relief package to companies operating from tax havens. Protests were reported in Copenhagen, Nørrebro, Østerbro, Amager, Aalborg, Holbæk, Odense, Aarhus and Kalundborg, among other cities. The sites of the protests were mainly in front of the facilities of beneficiary companies, such as Lagkagehuset, BabySam, Synoptik, Sportmaster and the BC Hospitality Group.

Arbejderen reported that the protests organized between June 9-13, and the campaign against the government’s move struck a powerful chord in Danish society. As per a report by TV2, “no less than 247 companies wholly or partly owned by tax havens have received money from the Danish government’s aid package for pay compensation.”

Jan Mathisen, chairman of the Communist Party of Copenhagen, said that “groups including BC Hospitality Group also receive money from the corona relief packages while also owning the company in tax havens.”

“Allan Agerholm, director of the BC Hospitality Group, was one of the first to criticize the aid packages for not being comprehensive enough and demanding more. But the billions from the relief packages should not go to companies trying to avoid paying taxes in Denmark,” Mathisen added. 

The Danish government led by prime minister Mette Frederiksen had earlier passed several economic relief packages for all businesses in the country with a CVR number – including fully foreign-owned companies.