Denmark wants to toughen controversial non-Western law

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Despite its social democratic government, Denmark has become one of the countries in Europe with the most restrictive immigration policy. Denmark will further broaden the perimeter of a controversial law aimed at reducing the share of non-Westerners in its disadvantaged neighborhoods, while abandoning the controversial term ghetto , the Social Democratic government announced on Wednesday March 17th. .

In a new bill, the Minister of the Interior wants the share of the population of non-Western origin in each neighborhood to not exceed 30% within ten years, while the current plan, adopted by the right three years ago retains a criterion of 50%.

Denmark has for many years been one of the countries in Europe with the most restrictive immigration policy, a line pursued by Social Democratic Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen since coming to power in June 2019.

According to Minister Kaare Dybvad Bek too large a proportion of foreigners from non-Western countries increases the risk of seeing the growth of a parallel religious and cultural society.

However, he intends to remove from the law the controversial term ghetto to designate sensitive neighborhoods during a forthcoming review of the legislation on parallel societies . The ghetto designation is misleading, I think that this helps to overshadow the important work that must be done in these neighborhoods.

Until now, legally qualified as a ghetto any district of more than a thousand inhabitants with a population of more than 50% of non-Western origin fulfilling at least two of the following four criteria: more than 40% of the people who live there have no work or training over 60% of 39-50 year olds did not go beyond college; crime three times higher than the national average and a gross income of inhabitants 55% lower than the regional average.

Fifteen Danish neighborhoods fall within this framework, and 25 are considered exposed . The list is updated in December of each year. In these neighborhoods offenses are punished twice as severely as elsewhere and the nursery is compulsory for all children over one year of age, on pain of withdrawal of family allowances.

The law also plans to limit the number of social housing occupied by families to 40% by 2030, a highly controversial measure because it eventually forces some residents to move. The proposal must now be discussed by the parliamentary parties. According to the National Statistical Institute, 11% of Denmark's 5.8 million inhabitants are foreigners, of which 58% are citizens of a country classified as non-Western.