DANISH VETERANS (2)

Denmark's recently acquired enthusiasm for war has had adverse consequences, notably a stream of veterans with long-term injuries. Some of those are physical, but many are psychological, the result of post-traumatic stress disorder and similar.

Under old rules, PTSD could only qualify as a work-related injury (thereby opening the way for compensation) if it was diagnosed within 6 months of the soldier's return from overseas duty. This was clearly not right; and in March a unanimous Parliament changed the rules, with retrospective effect. The time limit was abolished, thereby allowing some 400 veterans, who had originally been denied compensation, the right to have their cases reopened. Unfortunately, the Defence Ministry has decided to appeal against a number of awards given under the new law. The official reason is to bring clarity to the rules; seen from the outside, the impression given is one of pettiness and parsimony.

As I said in my earlier post, Denmark is not a country that is used to war. The decision to change a 150-year benign policy was wrong, in my view; at the very least, it was not thought through in its implications. Some of those chickens are now coming home to roost, with bad effects for society.

Walter Blotscher