Denmark’s Conservative party says it wants work permit rules to be changed to make it harder for people from Muslim countries to come to Denmark to work.

The party wants to make it more difficult for foreigners from “Menapt” countries – meaning the Middle East, North Africa, Pakistan, and Turkey – to enter the Danish labour market.

“There’s been a lack of recognition that those who arrive here as much-needed labour can end up becoming an integration challenge,” the party’s political spokesperson, Mette Abildgaard, told newspaper Berlingske in an interview published on Tuesday.

“We have to be honest and acknowledge that what may be in the short-term interest of businesses is not necessarily in Denmark’s long-term interest,” Abildgaard said.

The Conservative MP’s comments appear to be at odds with the views of the Confederation of Danish Industry (Dansk Industri, DI), Denmark’s largest business and employers’ organisation.

“As long as internationals come and work on the Danish labour market, we are all for it,” Søren Kjærsgaard Høfler, Senior Consultant with DI, told The Local earlier this month.

“We don’t see a need to restrict any labour. As long as it is labour, as long as internationals come here to work, we value them no matter where they’re from,” he said.

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Existing work permit rules mean persons from non-EU countries must be generally offered a job with a set minimum salary threshold to be granted permission to work and live in Denmark. The rules do not distinguish between different countries apart from the exceptions for EU freedom of movement.

For a work permit to be granted, a job offer must therefore already have been accepted by the worker coming into the country.

For example, the current minimum salary threshold for the Pay Limit Scheme for work permits for non-EU nationals is an annual wage of 514,000 kroner, while for the Supplementary Pay Limit Scheme it is 415,000 kroner.

The Conservatives propose raising that threshold to 650,000 kroner for ‘Menapt’ countries, Abildgaard confirmed.

READ ALSO: Pay Limit Scheme What to know about Denmark’s work permit programme

“It’s a prerequisite that the international labour coming in, already has the job. So for us, it doesn’t matter where they’re from, it’s already valued labour,” Høfler previously told The Local.

“We have faith in the system,” he added.

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The DI consultant also noted that persons from countries in the Menapt category primarily come to Denmark for work reasons.

“Looking at the influx of people from the Menapt countries we see that this group of nationalities primarily now come to Denmark to study and work, which is in contrast to previous times,” Høfler said, adding “it’s important to distinguish between the past and the present.”

“As long as it’s international labour, coming to work, we don’t see a need to restrict based on region,” he said.

Abildgaard has already recognised the new Conservative proposal is unlikely to be well received by Danish businesses.

The MP from the pro-business party however argued that no economic growth rate “can justify our country falling apart”.

She also rejected the suggestion that the proposal discriminates against specific population groups.

“I see it as a targeted effort to attract qualified labour from countries we know perform well on the Danish labour market,” she told news wire Ritzau.

“[They come] from Thailand, Vietnam, Canada and Australia, rather than from North African and Middle Eastern countries,” she said.

Abildgaard also noted that Denmark already uses a comparable approach when issuing visas.

“There are already differences in how easy it is to come to Denmark and obtain a visa, depending on which country you come from. So I don’t think it’s problematic to do this,” she said.

READ ALSO: Which nationals are least likely to receive a visa to Denmark?

It is unclear at the current time whether the Conservative proposal can gain the backing of a majority in parliament, but Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen recently said that “numbers matter” in relation to immigration and that the amount of foreign labour in Denmark should therefore be limited.

Frederiksen went on to specifically name the Menapt region as an area where more limits could be applied.

“Of course it’s positive that people want to contribute to Denmark, but when it comes to foreign labour, numbers matter, especially those from North Africa and the Middle East,” the prime minister said in parliament.

READ ALSO: Why did Danish PM Frederiksen say foreign labour should be limited?

“In future, we believe we should focus more on countries with which we share mutual interests and trade relationships when it comes to foreign labour,” Frederiksen also said.

Foreign labour contributed 361 billion kroner to the country’s GDP last year according to analysis by the Danish Chamber of Commerce (Dansk Erhverv). That equates to around 12 percent of the total GDP in 2024.