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Steht Später Die Headline COUNTRY RE PORT Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung e.V. DENMARK ELISABETH BAUER KAI GLÄSER February 2018 Denmark debates stricter regula- tions for asylum Links www.kas.de/nordische Leading Social Democrats are questioning the right of asylum Similar to Germany, the Danish debate uting refugees, which it stopped in 2017. about how to treat asylum seekers and Frederiksen justified her proposal by outlin- the legitimacy of the right of asylum has ing that Denmark and its 5.7 Million citizens intensified since the migration crisis’ have reached their limit in hosting refugees peak. A proposal by the social democrats and that the latter have drastically changed (Sozialdemokraterne) caught the public the Danish population: “ in 1980 one per- off guard and led to a fierce discussion cent of the population was of non-Danish drawing either support or outright con- descent, today it is eighty percent” said the demnation. politician at the paper’s presentation in Co- penhagen. The right of Asylum for those whose prose- cution is motivated politically still prevails in Political landscape is divided over pro- Europe. Since 2015 stricter asylum regula- posal tions are on the agenda and nationalist con- servatives and right-wing populists are try- Other political parties’ reactions were di- ing to use the momentum to tighten the verse. The right-wing populist and anti- rules amid facing widespread resistance es- immigrant Danish people’s party (Dansk pecially among left-wing parties. This makes Folkeparti) welcomed the proposal and the proposal by Mette Frederiksen the more stressed that they hoped for a quick imple- surprising given her social democratic alle- mentation. Other parties were more reluc- giance. In a recently published paper about tant to agree or outright opposed. A migration-policy, she advocates to virtually spokesperson of the liberal-conservative disband the right of asylum. She proposes a party Venstre, whose leader is the current system which would move the application Danish Prime Minister Lars Løkke Rasmus- process for non-westerners into remote sen, pointed out that the majority of the places outside Danish territory to be able to Northern-African states are too instable to control non-western immigration more ef- host such camps. Moreover, he doubted fectively. whether stable states in the region would be willing to accept such a proposal. Smaller Danish refugee-camps in Africa to process and left-leaning parties criticized the pro- applications for asylum posal for being unhuman, unrealistic and lacking solidarity, as the problems would According to her proposal, asylum-seekers simply be exported to Northern-Africa. Fur- should apply for asylum in refugee camps thermore, the issue of legality of such pro- outside the EU which are organized and paid posal in the context of international law has for by Denmark, and remain there if asylum yet to be determined. is granted. Therefore making it impossible to apply for asylum in Denmark or stay in Speculations on the bigger goal in full Denmark thereafter. In return, Germany’s swing Norther neighbour offered to restart the ap- plication of the UNHCR’s quote for distrib- 2 Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung e.V. While discussing the idea of the proposal, Number of illegal immigrants at Danish which exhibits similar characteristics like the border rises DENMARK rigorous Australian migration policy, others ELISABETH BAUER see a bigger goal by suggesting such move. A more rigorous asylum-policy in the Nordic KAI GLÄSER Considering the parliamentary elections in countries led to a recently increased migra- one and a half years, many regard the pro- tion across the Danish-German border. An- February 2018 posal as a way to cosy up to the Danish swering a request by the German Newspa- People’s party, which currently represents per “Welt”, the German ministry for domes- Links the second largest group in the parliament, tic affairs confirmed that the number of illic- www.kas.de/nordische propping up the minority government of it border crossings from Scandinavia has Venstre, Liberal Alliance, and the conserva- increased in 2017 by 35% in comparison to tive people’s party (Konservative Folkepar- the year before. The number includes the ti). Some speculate that Mette Frederiksen entries by land or sees from Denmark, Fin- is considering a coalition with the Dansk land, Sweden, and Norway. According to the Folkeparti after the next election, making German federal police, the 2700 immigrants herself a top-contender for the job of the were mostly from Iraq, Afghanistan, or Syr- Prime Minister. Already in June she draw ia and saw their asylum-requests turned attention by appearing publicly with the down in the Nordic countries. People’s party’s head Kristian Thulesen pre- senting a joint EU-plan designed to curtail Conclusion or stop the “stampede of low-wage workers” from Eastern Europe. Ever since rumours The Danish political landscape takes another are being spread that a closer cooperation shift to the right following the social demo- between the People’s Party and the social crats’ proposal to a more anti-immigration democrats, who are the parliament’s largest policy. Following a continuous shift of con- group, is imminent. servative parties towards the Danish Peo- ple’s party, it appears the first party of the More than 60 aggravations of immigration left has done the same. Regardless of big- policies ger ambitions, the Dansk Folkeparti can al- ready count this as a victory. After influenc- The social democrat’s proposal, regardless ing the public debate for some time already, of the bigger motivations, fits in the king- it could significantly extent its influence in dom’s political landscape, which repeatedly the near future and maybe be directly in- concentrated on asylum policy over the last volved in the government. In case of that months and years. Since the height of the happening, the social democrats’ proposal refugee-crisis, the government (partly with to virtually abolish the right of asylum has a the consent of the Social democrats) passed realistic chance to be implemented into law. over 60 amendments of the right of asylum, Whether such move would be practically aiming to make Denmark less attractive for possible while also be in line with interna- asylum-seekers. Among other measures, tional law remains to be seen. the government abolished family- reunification, cut state funding for refugees and introduced tighter checks at its land and see borders. Looking at the asylum- requests, the policy appears to be paying off. While 21,000 asylum-seekers arrived in 2015, only 3,500 applied for asylum in 2017. One of the reasons for this develop- ment is the dependency of the minority- governments on the Danish people’s party. Only a few weeks ago Rasmussen’s admin- istration announced further aggravations to immigration policies. .
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