2005 in Denmark

Events

8 January - Denmark is hit the storm Erwin, the most powerful storm since the 1999 storm Anatol. Some areas are flooded as the wind causes very high seawater levels, but overall the damage is limited.
15 January - The Copenhagen Opera House is opened.
18 January - Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen calls for parlamentary elections, scheduled for 8 February.
8 February - 2005 Danish parliamentary election: The coalition of the Liberal Party and the Conservative People's Party is reelected. The Danish Social Liberal Party almost doubles their seats from 9 to 17, while the Liberal Party loses 4 and the Social Democrats loses 5. Following their failure to gain enough votes, Mogens Lykketoft steps down as leader of the Social Democrats, Holger K. Nielsen steps down as leader of the Socialist People's Party, and Mimi Jakobsen steps down as leader of the Centre Democrats. The Centre Democrats and the Christian Democrats fail to get above the 2-percent limit, the Centre Democrats for the second time in a row.
18 February - Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen presents his updated cabinet.
03 March - At 19.17 the 3500-ton freighter, M/V Karen Danielsen, crashes into the Western bridge of the Great Belt Bridge, 800m from Funen. All traffic across the bridge is closed, efficiently separating Denmark in two.
04 March
- - The Great Belt Bridge is reopened shortly after midnight after the freighter M/V Karen Danielsen was pulled free, and inspectors found no structural damage to the bridge.
- - The coldest day so far in Denmark this year. -20.2 degrees Celsius measured on Tune Airport near Roskilde. This is also the coldest day in the month of March since 1987. Source DMI.
12 April - The Social Democrats elect a new leader to replace Mogens Lykketoft who resigned after losing the 2005 Danish parliamentary election. Helle Thorning-Schmidt is elected ahead of Frank Jensen with 24,261 votes (53%) against 21,348 votes (47%).
28 April - Villy Søvndal is elected as the new leader of the Socialist People's Party.
8 June - An arson attack burns Minister for Refugees, Immigrants and Integration Rikke Hvilshøj's car and part of her house.
7 July - Security in Denmark is stepped up after the 7 July 2005 London bombings. The London attack is seen as connected to threaths which Al Queda had made against the countries supporting USA in the occupation of Iraq, to which both the United Kingdom and Denmark contributed.
October 15 - Crown Princess Mary of Denmark gives birth to a healthy boy, expected to be named Prince Christian of Denmark. As the first child of Crown Prince Frederik of Denmark the boy is expected to become king one day. Prior to the birth there had been some speculation as to what would happen if the child was a girl; the Danish constitution says that any younger boys would be above this girl in the line of succession, while the present-day consensus in Denmark is that the girl should become Queen. There had been a good deal of speculation that this birth of a baby girl would be an opportunity to change the constitution with regard to both the line of succession and a number of other areas like human rights; but as the child was a boy this is no longer relevant.
October 27 - The police arrests 4 persons suspected to be part of an Islamic extremist terrorist cell planning suicide attacks. The arrests are reported to be connected to other arrests made in Bosnia; weapons and explosives have been found in Sarajevo [1]. The following day two more Danes were arrested in Denmark [2].
November 15 - Elections are held at the muncipality and region levels.
November 16 - First snow of winter, after an unusually warm autumn.

Arts and literature

Sports

Awards given at the Sport 2005 show in Herning on December 28:

Sportsname of the year: Tom Kristensen, motoring (winner of Le Mans 7 times)
Footballer of the yeat: Christian Poulsen, FC Schalke 04
Goal of the year in the Superliga: Álvaro Santos, FC København - October 26 against SønderjyskE
B.T.'s Gold: Michael Maze, table tennis
The Ragnhild award: Jan Pytlick, handball (national women's team coach)

Awards given at the Football Party 2005 in Århus on December 6:

Female footballer of the year: Merete Pedersen, Calcio Torres
Talent of the year: Daniel Agger, Brøndby IF
Superliga profile of the year: Michael Gravgaard, FC København
1st Division profile of the year: Henrik Toft, Vejle Boldklub
2nd Division West profile of the year: Rene Svendsen, Hobro IK
2nd Division East profile of the year: Gilberto Macena, Holbæk IF
Team of the year: GK: Jesper Christiansen, FCK ; DF: Michael Gravgaard, FCK - Daniel Agger, BIF - Lars Jacobsen, FCK - Allan K. Jepsen, AaB ; MF: Thomas Kahlenberg, Auxerre - Christian Poulsen, Schalke - Martin Retov, BIF ; FW: Søren Larsen, Schalke - Jon Dahl Tomassen, Stuttgart - Morten Rasmussen, AGF

Deaths

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