Denmark could be at loggerheads with EU Court over parallel societies law

The EU Court’s advocate general this week passed judgement on a Danish law which has been a cornerstone of the ‘tough on immigration’ stance of successive governments.

The ‘parallel societies’ law was once known as the ‘ghetto’ law, before Copenhagen’s non-anglophone lawmakers realised how offensive that term actually is. Its stated objective is to promote integration by tackling social issues in underprivileged neighbourhoods – now termed parallel societies.

What’s so bad about that, you might ask, and most would probably agree it makes sense to prevent or act against inequality in society when the inequality can be predicted by where you live.

The law was first introduced in 2018 when Lars Løkke Rasmussen was prime minister as leader of the Liberal (Venstre) party. Much has changed since, but the law remains close to its original form.

As well as other measures which can include things like obligations for small children to attend daycare and heavier penalties for certain types of crime, areas designated ‘parallel societies’ can be ordered to carry out redevelopments. These redevelopments can force people to move out of their subsidised rental housing.

An area needs to have a certain proportion of residents classified as being “non-Western” to meet the parallel societies criteria (which also include criteria on crime and employment rates, education levels and income).

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READ ALSO: What are the ‘parallel societies’ in Denmark’s cities and where are they?

This means that someone who immigrated to Denmark from a non-Western country (Denmark has specific definitions of Western and non-Western) can be forced from their home because of their ethnic origin, where another person who lived in another area with hypothetically identical circumstances apart from their ethnicity might not be forced to move.

This amounts to discrimination, the EU Court’s advocate general said on Thursday this week, in response to a request from the Danish courts who are ruling on a lawsuit from residents in two areas against the Housing Ministry. 

It remains for the EU Court to follow the recommendations of its advocate general and confirm the ruling, thereby declaring Denmark’s longstanding policy on marginalised areas discriminatory.

Given the policy is established and broadly accepted by the political mainstream in Denmark, this could drive a wedge between the government and the EU. It could also give occasion for far-right parties, which dislike the EU and the ECHR, to say the European Court has no business getting involved.

Denmark does not generally take outside criticism too kindly, and we could be about to see a high profile example of this at a time when close relations with the EU are a priority.

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New stats illustrate importance of foreign nationals

Statistics Denmark this week released annual data on population as well as citizenship. Both data dumps were interesting from the point of view foreign residents.

Denmark’s population is inching towards the six million mark, and the new data this week suggests that milestone could now be reached by the end of this year, bringing the projection forward from 2028, when it had previously been expected to be surpassed.

The growth of the Danish population in 2024 was almost entirely down to immigration, which outstripped emigration by approximately 30,000 people while the number of births and deaths almost exactly balanced each other out.

The data also showed a continued decline in fertility rates. Some 1,466 children per 1,000 women were born last year compared to 1,496 in 2023. 

Interestingly, the decline applies in all subsets of the population including immigrants, children of immigrants and Danish heritage groups. That hasn’t always been the case, with fertility rates usually most precarious among those with Danish heritage. A single exception applies for female children of Western immigrants.

With its long life expectancy and low fertility rates, combined with longstanding labour shortage, immigration remains an important element of the population trend.

The two countries which provided the most new Danish citizens last year were the UK and Pakistan – as has been the case every year since 2020 (they have swapped between first and second place during those years).

The high position of the UK on the list may be a holdover from Brexit, which has added incentive for long-term British residents of Denmark to apply for Danish naturalization so they can retain the benefits of an EU passport.

Germany, Romania and Poland also feature in the top ten of the list, as do Syria, Iran and India. 

People from a diverse list of countries and cultures – both Western and non-Western, as the parallel societies laws might describe them – are therefore prepared to commit themselves to Denmark and contribute to the country in the long term. If they weren’t, they wouldn’t be able to follow the long pathway towards being accepted for citizenship.