Government proposes cutting back Danish classes for foreigners

High dropout rate has leaders considering less funding for immigrants to learn Danish

In its recently-released budget proposal, the government said it wanted to cut 200 million kroner from the funds available to language centres that teach Danish to adult foreigners. The proposed cuts amount to 15 percent of the total budget.

The government pointed to the high dropout rate as one of the reasons that the cuts should be made. About 30 percent of students who start Danish classes drop out before they finish, according to reports. [...]

Schmidt-Nielsen said that learning Danish is a vital skill for immigrants and that Enhedslisten would work to see the proposed cuts dropped from the government’s budget.

“It is extremely difficult to cope in Denmark if you do not speak the language,” she said.

More at The Copenhagen Post with comments

Strict Immigration Laws 'Save Denmark Billions'

Denmark's strict immigration laws have saved the country 6.7 billion euros, a government report has claimed. Even though Denmark already has some of the toughest immigration laws in Europe, right-wing populist politicians are now trying to make them even more restrictive.

Denmark's strict immigration laws have saved the country billions in benefits, a government report has claimed. The Integration Ministry report has now led to calls among right-wing populists to clamp down further on immigrants to increase the savings.
But the report has sparked outrage from opposition parties like the centrist Social Liberal Party, which dismissed it as undignified and discriminatory. The party's integration spokeswoman, Marianne Jelved, said: "A certain group of people is being denounced and being blamed for our deficit, being made into whipping boys." She added: "We cannot classify people depending on their value to the economy. That is degrading in a democracy that has a basic value of equality."
Still, the announcement has not come as surprise. The right-wing populist DPP, which has been working with the ruling center-right coalition government of Prime Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen since 2001, has in the past made its aims very clear: a complete halt to immigration into Denmark from non-Western countries. "A Somali who is no good for anything, that is simply not acceptable," said DPP leader Pia Kjærsgaard. Similarly, center-right liberal Prime Minister Rasmussen has also said anyone who would be a burden on Denmark is not welcome in the country.
Right-wing populists have even demanded a ban on satellite dishes so that TV stations like al-Jazeera and Al Arabiya cannot be beamed into Danish living rooms. There have also been suggestions to exempt migrants from the minimum wage -- supposedly to make it easier for foreigners to gain access to the labor market.
But things may soon get pushed even further. Elections are due to be held this fall, and the ruling parties apparently want to put forward even stricter rules, driven by the xenophobic rhetoric of the right-wing populists.
Some immigrants have already turned their back on Denmark voluntarily. Increasing numbers of Somalis are moving away, especially to the UK, the Jyllands Posten reported on Thursday, because of discrimination.

Read more at Der Spiegel

Australian kicked out of Denmark

Gustavus Aird Murray has been kicked out of Denmark on July 22nd, 2010 — despite being highly educated, well employed and a massive contributor to the Danish entrepreneurial community.
The reason? Government departments do not communicate, so no one knew exactly.... Gus appealed, and after waiting 8 months, for processing, his case was finalized on April 5th, 2011, at which time he was informed that his appeal had been declined and he now has to leave Denmark by the 1st of May, 2011.

Read more at Support Gus (including comments)

Denmark and Human Rights

Critics of Denmark's tightening rules on immigration and integration say the country is violating European norms, including human rights legislation. How much has Denmark's approach to these issues been transformed under pressure from a right-wing populist party?

There are new stricter requirements for would-be immigrants, and for those already in Denmark, who wish to marry a Dane. This is in addition to the already high minimum age of 24 for both the Danish and the foreign would-be spouse, proof of financial independence and an "active commitment to Danish society".
Anti-DPP protestors outside the Danish parliament Opponents of the new points system made their feelings known outside the Danish parliament

European and international bodies have pointed out that some of these laws and regulations could be in breach of human rights legislation.

Professor Margot Horspool, a specialist in European law at the British Institute of International and Comparative Law, says that the restrictions on marrying foreigners "almost certainly breach European Union law in respect of discrimination as to ethnic origin, and possibly as to age".
She also believes the rules may violate EU legal protection of "the right to family life".

Another tightening of the rules prohibits state-funded hostels for the homeless from accepting foreigners who do not have permanent residency status. Reports say that this has led to people freezing to death in the sub-zero winter temperatures.
This, suggests Professor Horspool, breaks EU legal commitments not to subject individuals to inhuman or degrading treatment, laws that amount to an "obligation on the member state to ensure that humans are not left out in the street to freeze or indeed to starve."

The Danish government denies that its laws breach human rights, and says the 24-year age restriction is to prevent forced marriages.

All this is part, say critics, of a decade-long transformation in Denmark's approach to immigration and integration, under pressure from the populist Danish People's party, the DPP.
The DPP is led by Pia Kjaersgaard, a former social worker in an old people's home. "We founded the party because of too many immigrants," she says.
She likes to present a homely, common sense image. "I am very powerful," she told me, "but I am also just a housewife and mother".
Denmark's Muslim population are the party's particular focus. There are many Muslims, its says, who are unwilling to integrate and hostile to "Danish values" such as free speech.

Read more at BBC

Denmark's gang war

A bloody gang war between bikers and youths of immigrant origin has shattered Copenhagen's customary calm, prompting officials into threatening draconian legislation.
The latest street violence was sparked in August 2008 when a young Turkish man was killed, supposedly by a member of the Hells Angels group.
Since then, the conflict has left dozens dead or wounded - some innocent bystanders.
Not everyone agrees that the violence is part of a turf war over organised crime. Some see race and the so-called 'integration problem' as the chief cause.
Khaled Ramadan, an academic, artist and journalist, says that second and third generation immigrants are feeling frustrated by the Danish establishment.

There are concerns that the long-simmering feud will fuel existing anti-immigrant sentiment in a country where limiting immigration has become a cornerstone of government policy.
Immigrants account for about eight per cent of Denmark's 5.5 million people. Of these, there are an estimated 270,000 Muslims.
Many arrived in the 1970s from Turkey, Pakistan and Morocco to work in Denmark. In the 1980s and 1990s the majority of Muslim arrivals were refugees and asylum seekers from Lebanon, Bosnia, Iraq and Somalia.
Following the 9/11 attacks and the Madrid and London bombings, many immigrants feel that Islamophobia and racism is on the rise across Europe.
Denmark seems to have taken a turn to the right. Neo-Nazi groups have emerged with new slogans, such as "Denmark for Danes" and "close the borders", and many immigrants say they no longer feel welcome in Denmark.

More at Al Jazeera with video (23:29 minutes)

Denmark is vision of multiculturalism's failings

No country adopted multiculturalism and ethnic tolerance with the enthusiasm and idealism of Denmark.
Some countries had little choice but to accept an influx of people with different and conflicting values and mores. When its African colonies gained independence, and when Algeria broke away after a bitter war, France became home to millions of displaced Arabs.

During the 1970s, no country was as welcoming as Denmark to newcomers. Danes had no obligation to encourage outsiders -but it did. Perhaps Denmark was influenced by its gallant record of standing up to the Nazi occupation in the Second World War -- not with guns and bombs, but by its response to the order that all Jews be rounded up and sent to a concentration camp.
In defiance, an enterprising and heroic underground network spirited 7,200 Jews out of Denmark, mostly on fishing vessels, to safety in Sweden, a national action that spoke volumes.
Subsequently, Denmark's socialist government has tried to look after every citizen. Regarding immigrants, it sought to avoid mistakes of other countries, and ensure that newcomers could integrate and blend with Danes and feel comfortable.
Denmark's crime rate was one of the lowest in Europe; its education system was excellent and available to all; its humanitarianism beyond repute. Denmark's history of pillaging Vikings succumbed to generous welfare to immigrants, plus housing and other amenities that it hoped would set an example for the world in multicultural inclusiveness.
To a great degree it worked. But not with Muslims, who chose not to integrate, but to live in self-chosen ghettos where Danish liberalism and tolerance were seen as decadent and offensive.

Muslims want Sharia law in Denmark. Forced marriages exist (promising newborn daughters to male cousins in the home country); Muslims who convert to Christianity are threatened with death; women are forced to cover their faces, fearing male vengeance.
Anti-Israel marches turn into anti-Jewish protests.
Like other European countries opposition is growing against multiculturalism -- now seen as a failure.

Read more at St. Thomas Times-Journal

In Denmark, observers Jacob Mchangama and Christopher Arzrouni warn against the excessive use and misuse of human rights. Originally envisioned as a core of rights ensuring political and individual liberty, today human rights are increasingly used for the opposite purpose: To claim other people’s resources, property etc.

The Danish writer Carsten Ringsmose was a speaker at a conference at the University of Odense on the immigration-related topic of “Recognition and integration.” He outlined the projected population growth for the Islamic world, and stated that if recent prognoses are correct, the Islamic world will witness a population growth more than the equivalent of all EU member countries combined within just a few decades. One of the other speakers suggested that this population boom could be solved through migration to the West, which would mean that Denmark, with a present population of 5.4 million inhabitants, would have to accept perhaps 9.5 million predominantly Muslim immigrants within the coming two generations. The man who suggested this, accompanied by segments of the audience, laughed when Mr. Ringsmose suggested that this simply wasn’t doable.

From here

Danish plan to cut immigrants' pay

A bitter political row has erupted in Denmark over proposals by a member of the ruling party to slash the minimum wage for immigrant workers by half to help them gain a foothold in the jobs market.
The controversial plan has been put forward by Karsten Lauritzen, the immigration spokesman for Prime Minister Lars Rasmussen's Venstre liberal party, which rules in a coalition with the conservatives.
"Denmark's high minimum wage acts as a barrier which prevents immigrants from getting jobs. If we want to get them out of the ghettos we will have to pay them less," Mr Lauritzen told the Berlingske Tidene newspaper,

Mr Lauritzen has proposed paying immigrant workers around 50 Danish Krone (€6.50) an hour for the first six months, compared to the country's average minimum wage of 100 Krone per hour, arguing that a two-tier wage system would help them into jobs that might then lead to regular employment.
The proposal has been vehemently opposed by Denmark's leftwing parties, but is also causing a ruckus within his own party.
Immigration Minister Birthe Hornbech, a fellow Venstre member, has clashed publicly with Mr Lauritzen, even though he is her department's spokesman. "The idea is disagreeable because it stigmatises immigrants," she said.

Source: The Independent with comments.

Lower Minimum Wage for Immigrants

The debate over integration is shrill in Denmark. The small country repeatedly makes international headlines on the issue. The current coalition government of conservatives and right-wing liberals has already introduced Europe's toughest immigration law. The far-right Danish People's Party constantly agitates against the nation's 450,000 immigrants.
Karsten Lauritzen, integration spokesman for the ruling right-liberal party Venstre, has proposed that immigrants be paid far less than Danes. His idea is that migrants should work for around 50 krone an hour (around €6.50 or $8.40) instead of the current minimum hourly wage of around 100 krone. There is no official legal minimum wage in Denmark, but pay is regulated by a series of wage agreements negotiated by labor unions.
Lauritzen is selling his idea as in the interests of the immigrants: he says that the high wages are preventing "immigrants and new Danes" from getting jobs. If you want to get migrants out of their ghettos and into the labor market then new ideas are required, Lauritzen argues. The politician told the Berlingske Tidende newspaper that he envisages a situation where an immigrant would get just half the minimum wage for the first six months. After all, he argued, some immigrants now take unpaid work to gain a foothold in the labor market. He assured the paper that he had his party's backing on the issue.
Migrants working for a pittance -- the suggestion may seem absurd, but it's shared by many in Danish politics, and it is not as easily dismissed as, say, a recent suggestion in Germany that immigrants be subjected to intelligence tests.

Complete at Der Spiegel

Foreigners paid to leave Denmark

Immigrants who can’t or won’t integrate into Danish society will get a bonus if they return home
The Danish People’s Party (DF) has strengthened its immigration stance by securing an agreement to pay ‘anti-social’ foreigners 100,000 kroner to leave Denmark.
As part of the on-going budget negotiations, the government’s traditional ally DF said it secured the agreement late last night.
Refugees and those who come to Denmark under family reunification schemes currently get 28,256 in repatriation support if they leave, of which 11,000 is a bonus. The bonus is usually paid out a year after the recipient returns home and their right to Danish residency expires.
The new deal would see 100,000 kroner given as a bonus if a foreigner returns home and gives up their residency rights in Denmark.
Neither the government nor DF has yet elaborated on what constitutes an ‘anti-social’ foreigner, but have said that it would be aimed at those who ‘can’t or won’t integrate’.
According to DF party leader Pia Kjærsgaard, the move will save the state a significant sum in local costs which are administered by local and regional councils.

But opposition parties are shocked by the news saying it sends a clear signal to foreigners that Denmark wants to see them leave the country.

Read the juicy comments at The Copenhagen Post

Stop deportation

Click the image for zoom

Danes and Islam

The Danes (who are atheists and agnostics for centuries) are unhappy with the idea of increased Muslim influence. Modern Islam has a bad relationship with free speech, human rights, freedom of religion, etc and there are nationalist forces at work as well. Muslims taking over is expressed mainly by the right-wing media in U.S.A. (which also happens to be largely Christian). Townhall.com (1 and 2), FreeRepublic.com, etc – those are the places where you’ll hear the most about the ‘muslim takeover’ of Europe (also in Denmark). Many says that Europe is as good as fallen to Muslims.

Examples of popular right-wing Christians’ and some of their comments on Islam – either raising fears of an Islamicized Europe or Islam in general:
1. Pat Robertson: Islam is not a religion, it’s a political movement (video)
2. Hal Lindsey: The Everlasting Hatred: The Roots of Jihad (book)

Further references about immigration in Denmark:
1. Danes’ Growing Hostility To Mixed-Race Couples/ Immigration Laws Force Spouses To Live In Sweden (American Reinassance)
2. Denmark passes tough migrant laws (CNN)
3. Metock Case Ruling: EU Brings Down Danish Immigration Law (Brussels Journal)
4. Danish immigration law under fire after EU court ruling (EU observer)

Entrance fee

Foreigners could be charged 3000 kroner for a mandatory Danish language test from next year

Foreigners seeking residency through family reunification may be required to cough up 3000 kroner for a new mandatory Danish language test, reports Kristeligt Dagblad newspaper. [...]

Marianne Jelved, the Social Liberal integration spokeswoman, was baffled by the cost of taking the test and said her party did not support such immigration procedures. [...]

But Danish People’s Party MP Jesper Langballe said if the test could cut down the number of immigrants coming to Denmark, then it would serve its purpose.

‘We wouldn’t be sorry if it meant the number of applicants fell,’ he said.

Spouses of Danish citizens who come to Denmark after living in another EU country will be exempt from taking the test.

More at Copenhagen Post. Interesting to read the comments.

Foreigners' Assimilation

Søren Espersen, a proud member of parliament for Dansk Folkeparti (Danish People’s Party) and a true clone of Holger Danske, wrote an article in Politiken, Se at blive danskere (in danish). The english translation can be read at Gates of Vienna.
The bottom line: Assimilation shouldn’t really be a shameful word, but something that we can demand of immigrants.
So, a foreigner in Denmark should forget all his/er roots, native language, culture, tradition, everything..., when s/he comes to Denmark. And these, what for?

Denmark: Immigrants more prone to disease

Immigrants from non-Western countries suffer from mental illness, diabetes and back pains more often than the rest of the population, shows a new study from the Center for Public Health in the Central Denmark Region.

Immigrants from ex-Yugoslavia, Somalia, Pakistan and Lebanon in particular suffer from diseases. While 2% of the ethnic Danish suffer from diabetes, the illness is 8 times more common among immigrant groups - except for Iranians.

Back pains are up to three times as common among several ethnic groups than in the rest of the population. The same goes for mental illnesses, 23-40% of the immigrants from ex-Yugoslavia, Lebanon and Iraq have a transient mental illness such as depression, compared with 10% of the ethnic Danish.

Source: Kristeligt Dagblad (Danish)