Liberal Alliance abstained from voting as a naturalisation bill awarding hundreds of new citizenships passed through parliament on Thursday.
Due to Denmark’s legislative system for granting citizenship, approved applications for citizenship must be adopted by parliament. This is usually done twice each year using the so-called naturalisation bills.
When such a bill was voted on in parliament on Thursday, Liberal Alliance abstained in protest at the government’s recent decision to appoint an expert panel to look into screening future citizenship applicants for views considered to be incompatible with Danish society.
The concept of screening prospective citizens was first proposed by Liberal Alliance leader Alex Vanopslagh earlier this year.
However, it faded into the background of the citizenship debate when parliament’s citizenship committee summoned three citizenship applicants for individual interviews before eventually awarding them Danish citizenship.
The interviews caused considerable discussion and controversy, while the Ministry of Justice reportedly questioned their compatibility with human rights conventions.
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Although the Ministry of Immigration and Integration announced earlier this week it would formally look into the possibility of screening the personal views of prospective citizens – thereby appearing to accommodate the Liberal Alliance proposal – the latter party has criticised the move and abstained in Thursday’s vote as a result.
The more than 2,000 people whose applications were included in the bill will be granted Danish citizenship regardless, since the bill had majority backing in parliament.
“We want an agreement. We don’t [just] want a study into this. We’re not here to put our policies into the government’s pickling jar,” Liberal Alliance spokesperson Sandra Elisabeth Skalvig said in parliament ahead of the vote.
In addition to Liberal Alliance, the Conservative and Denmark Democrat parties abstained, while the anti-immigration Danish People’s Party voted against the naturalisation bill, repeating their votes from the previous naturalisation bill.
The government and all left-wing and centre-left parties voted in favour.
A notable consequence of the Liberal Alliance decision is that it pushes the party outside a formal citizenship pact or forlig it made with several other parties, including the governing Social Democrats, when the most recent citizenship law was passed in 2021.
Immigration Minister Kaare Dybvad Bek has confirmed Liberal Alliance will be excluded from the pact as a result of its decision not to back the naturalisation bill, according to newswire Ritzau.
That means Liberal Alliance – like the Conservative party, which itself left the pact earlier this year – loses influence on citizenship legislation while the pact remains effective.
In April 2021, the then-single party Social Democratic government linked up with the conservative Liberal (Venstre), Conservative and Liberal Alliance parties on a tighter new agreement around citizenship rights.
It is this agreement that Liberal Alliance is now leaving by failing to vote for against naturalisation bills.
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