'Force jobless to clean Copenhagen streets': Liberal Party
AFP - [email protected]
Published: 23 Feb, 2017 CET.
Updated: Thu 23 Feb 2017 21:40 CET
Denmark’s governing party wants to force unemployed people to clear Copenhagen’s streets of cigarette butts, old plastic beer mugs and other detritus, complaining the city becomes a “rubbish dump” in the summer.
“We are proposing to put 500 of the 16,000 local unemployed on 'benefit activation' duties, which should start as soon as possible and continue throughout the summer,” said Cecilia Lonning-Skovgaard, the Danish Liberal Party's candidate in this year’s municipal elections.
“The aim is to keep the places with most rubbish on the streets, such as Indre By and Islands Brygge, clean and tidy.”
Lonning-Skovgaard said her party believed that welfare recipients should be made do contribute something to society in return for the cash they receive. Putting them to work, she argued, would separate those who genuinely cannot find work, from those who were simply opting for an easy life.
The Liberal Party plans to use left-over funds from the 2016 budget to buy the necessary equipment and cleaning materials, after which it expects the scheme to save municipal money.
"I imagine that if you take a one-time investment, such as 10 million kroner, it will then be self-financing,” Lonning-Skovgaard said.
The Danish Conservative People’s Party said it supported the idea, but felt that limiting the scheme to 500 people was 'unambitious'.
The Social Democratic Party instead wants the unused funds to be spent on school renovations.
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“We are proposing to put 500 of the 16,000 local unemployed on 'benefit activation' duties, which should start as soon as possible and continue throughout the summer,” said Cecilia Lonning-Skovgaard, the Danish Liberal Party's candidate in this year’s municipal elections.
“The aim is to keep the places with most rubbish on the streets, such as Indre By and Islands Brygge, clean and tidy.”
Lonning-Skovgaard said her party believed that welfare recipients should be made do contribute something to society in return for the cash they receive. Putting them to work, she argued, would separate those who genuinely cannot find work, from those who were simply opting for an easy life.
The Liberal Party plans to use left-over funds from the 2016 budget to buy the necessary equipment and cleaning materials, after which it expects the scheme to save municipal money.
"I imagine that if you take a one-time investment, such as 10 million kroner, it will then be self-financing,” Lonning-Skovgaard said.
The Danish Conservative People’s Party said it supported the idea, but felt that limiting the scheme to 500 people was 'unambitious'.
The Social Democratic Party instead wants the unused funds to be spent on school renovations.
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