PRESS RELEASE
Denmark: Parliamentary Majority
Wants Angelides-Style
Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission
Feb. 22, 2011 (EIRNS)—This release was issued today by the Lyndon LaRouche Political Action Committee (LaRouche PAC)
As mass movements grow of people around the world who express their refusal to allow their future to be taken away from them because of the disastrous economic collapse, there was a very important development in Denmark. On Monday, February 21, 2011, Denmark's national Danish Radio station announced that there is now a majority in the Danish parliament which supports convening an independent financial inquiry commission, consisting of parties not in the government coalition, with the addition of the votes of the Danish People's Party. This now paves the way for a full Danish inquiry, hopefully patterned on the U.S. Congress' Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission, led by Democratic Senator Phil Angelides, which issued its report on January 27, 2011.
This breaking news development occurred in the wake of the collapse of Denmark's ninth largest bank, Amagerbank, amidst the scandal this created. Coincidentally, The Schiller Institute in Denmark, the Danish branch of the LaRouche political movement, delivered its new 60,000-run campaign newspaper, to each parliamentarian, a few days before, the which banner headline calls for a Danish Angelides Commission. There, the chairman of the Schiller Institute in Denmark, Tom Gillesberg wrote, "We in Denmark need a financial inquiry like the Angelides Commission, which can reveal and document the deep incompetence that the politicians, financial world, and the state authorities have exhibited in their handling of the financial crisis of the recent years."
The U.S. financial inquiry commission was also mentioned in the article entitled, "Politicians will turn the financial crisis upside down," from the Danish labor movement's weekly newsletter A4, the source for the Danish Radio story:
"During the past years, in the U.S. and several EU countries, economists have turned the financial crisis upside down to find answers concerning how a new crisis can be avoided. At home, the government has so far refused to unravel the causes of financial crisis. It now emerges, however, that there is a political majority behind getting an independent review of the financial crisis in Denmark.... Several countries have already completed their unraveling of the financial crisis. The studies that have attracted the most attention are from the hardest-hit countries like Ireland and Iceland, but also France, Norway, England and Holland have turned the causes of financial crisis upside down. In January, the U.S. commission on the financial crisis finally issued its report."
As a result of the crash of Amagerbank, the 9th largest bank in Denmark, the government will lose at least 1.2 billion dollars which the state put into the bank just three months ago. On January 28, ten days before the collapse of Amagerbank, and one day after the issuance of the Angelides Commission report, the Schiller Institute in Denmark testified before the Danish parliament's European Committee, beginning with the conclusions from, and importance of, the Angelides report. This testimony was also televised on the Parliament's TV channel. The Schiller Institute in Denmark is well known in the parliament for its numerous testimonies based on the American economist and statesman Lyndon LaRouche's warnings about the accelerating financial collapse, and proposals for recovery, including reinstating Glass-Steagall bank legislation.
The Social Democratic Party and the Socialist People's Party have previously announced their support for a financial crisis commission. In his statement to A4, the financial spokesman for the Social Democrats, Morten Boedskov expressed his intentions for the breadth of the commission's mandate.
"We have witnessed major financial crises in Denmark in the 80s, 90s, and more recently with the [current] financial crisis. Every time we have seen heavy exposure in the real estate markets, immensely creative financial products, bank managements approving high-risk investments, and a state financial supervisory institution, which has lagged behind. We simply do not want to see it again for a fourth time. That is why a commission is necessary."
The two government parties, as well as the bank association, are against convening a commission.
The Schiller Institute in Denmark will intensify the pressure for a Danish Angelides Commission and Glass-Steagall legislation, by distributing its newspaper, and leading the debate. The circulation of a LaRouchePAC video on the subject is bringing international attention to this development, and is spreading the momentum for Angelides commissions around the world, needed to pave the way for crucial Glass-Steagall legislation.
In Denmark, contact: Michelle Rasmussen.
