Danish prime minister wants country to accept 'zero' asylum seekers
Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen says her ambition is for Denmark not to offer asylum to any refugees at all.
The PM said that she wanted to reduce asylum applications in Denmark to zero during comments in parliament.
“That’s what our target is. Of course, we can’t promise it,” she said.
“We can’t promise zero asylum seekers but we can create a vision, like we did before the election, that we want a new asylum system and then do what we can to implement it,” she continued.
2020 saw a total of 1,547 asylum seekers registered in Denmark, the lowest number since records began in their current form in 1998.
The number is less than one tenth of the total recorded in 2015, when 21,316 people applied for asylum in Denmark at the peak of the European migration crisis.
A combination of the Covid-19 pandemic and Denmark’s stringent rules and policies are considered to be factors in the low figure for 2020, the immigration ministry said earlier this week.
READ ALSO: Denmark registered record low number of asylum seekers in 2020
In 2019, Frederiksen’s government said it would resume accepting refugees under the UN's quota system after a three-year hiatus under the previous administration.
But the Social Democratic government has generally pursued a strict policy on asylum and immigration, in keeping with the platform on which they won the general election two years ago.
“We must take care that not too many [refugees, ed.] come to our country, otherwise our social cohesion could not exist. It is already under threat,” Frederiksen said.
READ ALSO: How the dizzying cost of family reunification keeps Danes and foreign partners apart
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The PM said that she wanted to reduce asylum applications in Denmark to zero during comments in parliament.
“That’s what our target is. Of course, we can’t promise it,” she said.
“We can’t promise zero asylum seekers but we can create a vision, like we did before the election, that we want a new asylum system and then do what we can to implement it,” she continued.
2020 saw a total of 1,547 asylum seekers registered in Denmark, the lowest number since records began in their current form in 1998.
The number is less than one tenth of the total recorded in 2015, when 21,316 people applied for asylum in Denmark at the peak of the European migration crisis.
A combination of the Covid-19 pandemic and Denmark’s stringent rules and policies are considered to be factors in the low figure for 2020, the immigration ministry said earlier this week.
READ ALSO: Denmark registered record low number of asylum seekers in 2020
In 2019, Frederiksen’s government said it would resume accepting refugees under the UN's quota system after a three-year hiatus under the previous administration.
But the Social Democratic government has generally pursued a strict policy on asylum and immigration, in keeping with the platform on which they won the general election two years ago.
“We must take care that not too many [refugees, ed.] come to our country, otherwise our social cohesion could not exist. It is already under threat,” Frederiksen said.
READ ALSO: How the dizzying cost of family reunification keeps Danes and foreign partners apart
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