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Denmark’s Vestager to run for European Commission head

EU Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager Thursday announced her candidacy to be the next head of the European Commission, in an interview with a Danish newspaper.

Published: 21 March 2019 13:43 CET

Denmark's Vestager to run for European Commission head

Margrethe Vestager. Photo: JOHN THYS/Ritzau Scanpix

“I'm in,” she told Politiken in reference to a bid to succeed Jean-Claude Juncker.

The European parliament's liberal group ALDE is expected to announce later Thursday its team to lead the campaign for the European elections in May, with Vestager in line to be its candidate for European Commission president.

“Up until the elections, I will take part (in the debate) by recalling what we have accomplished in the past five years,” Vestager told Politiken.

Denmark however has not confirmed that she will be a candidate for a commission post.

Vestager, 50, was a minister in the Danish government before taking up her current post in 2014.

Her tough stance towards US firms earned her the ire of President Donald Trump, who has labelled her the “tax lady.”

READ ALSO: Danish EU competition commissioner says second term unlikely

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Syrian refugees protest outside Denmark's parliament against Denmark's decision that the area around Damascus is now 'safe'.

Syrian refugees protest outside Denmark's parliament against Denmark's decision that the area around Damascus is now 'safe'. Photo: Liselotte Sabroe/Ritzau Scanpix

In a press release issued on Friday, the country’s immigration ministry said that it would next year submit a bill amending the country’s immigration law, or udlændingeloven to reduce the length of time refugees need to wait before applying for family reunion from three years to two.

But the new law will also contain a clause allowing Denmark to bring back the “three-year rule” at short notice if there is a refugee crisis.

“I of course regret that the verdict went against Denmark,” Mattias Tesfaye, Denmark’s immigration minister, said in statement, adding that he was nonetheless “relieved” that the court had deemed a two-year wait acceptable, and had also left open the possibility of longer waits during periods of extremely high refugee numbers.

“We are working hard to keep our refugee numbers at a record low, but if we today have a situation similar to 2015, we want to be able to lift the limit from two to three years. That is a good tool to have in our toolbox.”

The so-called MA case was brought by the Syrian doctor Mosalam Albaroudi, who arrived in Denmark in 2015 and then five months later applied for family reunification with his wife and was rejected.

The European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg ruled on July 9th that the reason for the rejection of his reunification visa was a violation of human rights.

The case concerns a controversial change to Denmark’s laws in 2016, when Denmark’s Parliament (Folketing) passed the so-called “three-year rule” that required refugees to wait three years before applying for family reunification.

That’s why Albaroudi’s application was denied a residence permit for his wife. The decision was upheld by Denmark’s Supreme Court in 2017.

Albaroudi and his lawyer, Christian Dahlager, believed the decision violated the European Convention on Human Rights, and so they continued their efforts to overturn the ruling.

The Convention states that everyone has the right to privacy and family life, and that an authority can restrict this right only if it is necessary in a democratic society to protect a number of essential interests of society. It applies to members of the Council of Europe, to which Denmark belongs.

In its decision, the European Court of Human Rights stated that Denmark’s three-year waiting period has not “struck a reasonable balance between, on the one hand, the applicant’s interest in being reunited with his wife in Denmark and, on the other hand, society’s interest as a whole in being able to control immigration in order to protect the country’s economic well being, to ensure effective integration and to maintain the cohesion of society.”

Sixteen judges voted in favor of Albaroudi, and one judge abstained. The court also awarded Albaroudi compensation of 75,000 kroner.

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