denmark pledges to defend national immigration laws against eu
27 August 2008

Danish Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen said the country would keep immigration limits that contradict the free movement of labor enshrined in the European Union's founding treaty.
Rasmussen faces an uphill battle. The European Court of Justice struck down an attempt by Ireland on July 25 to keep its stricter immigration standards, stating EU rules override national laws. Now, keen to stem the flow of immigrants, Denmark is seeking support within Europe to win limited jurisdiction from EU rules on immigration.

"We've already written to some of our ambassadors and our friends, I've spoken to the EU Commissioner, I've spoken to my French colleague and I'm in the process of writing to other colleagues,"  Integration Minister Birthe Roenn Hornbech told lawmakers on 12 August 2008.
 
Denmark is trying to stem an inflow that saw the number of non-western immigrants jump 50 percent to 177,5000 between 1990 and 2000.  "We're trying to change the set of rules inside the EU so that we can get things as we want them," Rasmussen said today.   Danish law forbids citizens under 24 from bringing non-EU spouses into the country in a bid to prevent Danish Muslims from bringing in young brides through arranged marriages. Until now, the government hasn't even allowed those couples into the country after they have lived in other EU states - something that conflicts with EU law.

Twenty-two year-old Per Christensen has been trapped by the new regulations. He was told two years ago that he couldn't reside in Denmark with his American wife, even though he was working in London at the time. When Per asked if European law on freedom of movement applied in his case, Danish officials told him it didn't.

"I feel cheated, misguided and I feel that we have been dealing with some shady people,"' he said. "It makes me feel like I wasted two years of my life playing this immigration game." 
Denmark has misinformed thousands of applicants like Christensen, Copenhagen-based Marriage Without Borders chairman Bolette Kornum said.   The organization will start proceedings in local courts after parliament's ombudsman has finished investigating whether officials deliberately misled applicants, she said. The ombudsman hasn't set a deadline for his report.

The ruling coalition came to power in November 2001 on a promise to curb immigration. "The political feeling is that Denmark has been pushed around by EU courts too often,"' said Hjalte Rasmussen, a professor at Copenhagen University who specializes in EU law. "There's an understanding gaining ground that there needs to be some judicial activism."  At the same time, the Danish People's Party, on which the minority government relies for backing, has said its continued support depends on a defense of national immigration restrictions.

The 24-year rule and another that insists Danish/non-EU couples have a strong "affiliation" to the Nordic country before entry have forced about 2,200 couples to live in neighboring Sweden, and many more to stay in other countries, Kornum said. The rules were introduced in 2002. While Denmark has no choice but to accept EU rules as things stand, Professor Rasmussen said, the government says it will try to dispute them, calling the union's judicial supremacy a ``democratic dilemma.

"We've agreed to free movement of labor in the EU but not the consequences of this principle,'' Integration Minister Birth Roenn Hornbech said in a July 29 TV2 interview. "When we passed our immigration law in 2002, no one imagined that the EU would go as far as it has.'' Christensen has little sympathy with the government.

"They ended up affecting all the wrong people,'" he said. "It's forced many Danes to leave their country. I cannot comprehend why they would, apparently, deliberately misguide people when they ask for guidance. That is not right and I hope the people responsible for this will feel the consequences.''

To contact the reporters on this story: Tasneem Brogger in Copenhagen at tbrogger@bloomberg.net;

Tasneem Brogger, www.bloomberg.com