a day ago
How Denmark's ghetto laws caught the eye of Kemi Badenoch
Half an hour's drive from Copenhagen, white concrete tower blocks loom over a graffitied subway entrance. It feels a world away from the bustling capital of one of the world's richest countries.
This is Askerød, an estate branded a 'parallel society' under Denmark's controversial ghetto laws.
Today, its population is 54 per cent 'non-Western' – above the 50 per cent threshold that can compel councils to demolish, vacate or sell off social housing.
Supporters say the ghetto laws have helped integration in neighbourhoods across the country. However, they are facing an EU legal challenge from people affected who argue that the measures are racist.
The laws are now being considered as a template by Kemi Badenoch, leader of the Conservative Party, who said last week that she had thought about proposals 'along the lines' of the Danish policy.
Speak to people on the streets of Askerød and there is concern about integration of non-Western nationals.
Alice Dalsø, 72, who lives on the estate with her dogs Karla and Nana, said: 'I think it is a problem because some of the children don't speak Danish.
'They will go to school at five-years-old unable to speak the language and it's because the adults don't speak Danish with them.'
Referring to the minority of Danish nationals, she said: 'I don't understand why so many [non-Western] nationals have been put in Askerød – it's not good for them and it's not good for us as they are less likely to integrate.'
Ms Dalsø stressed that the younger people from non-Western backgrounds were more likely to learn the language and speak to their neighbours, however, older residents were not.'
Another student, who did not wish to give her name, said: 'There is a kind of segregation – it's not imposed by anyone, but there is a large ethnic minority population here.'
The 24-year-old added: 'There is some truth to not everybody subscribing to Danish values, but I think the government forgets not [everyone came] here because they wanted to emigrate. They came here because they were escaping war.
'A lot of them will miss their home countries and people speaking their language but a lot of them are mentally traumatised – so it's easier for them to talk to others from their own communities.'
Both residents did not agree that tearing down or selling off social housing was the right way to deal with the problem.
Ms Dalsø pointed out that her own home could be at risk if a block was removed or emptied, while the student described such measures as 'harsh'.
Speaking at a Policy Exchange event on Monday, Ms Badenoch said she had 'looked at' the Danish ghetto policy and added: 'We need to do what works for the UK, it's not exactly the same situation, we have a much bigger population, and so many other things that would require adjustments, but that sort of thing, yes.'
Pernille Beckmann, mayor of the Danish municipality Greve, which includes includes Askerød, said improvements had been made since 2010, when the housing development was first placed on the 'vulnerable residential area' list, which it has been on and off for the past 15 years.
The Danish government no longer uses the word 'ghetto' to describe such areas, referring to them instead as places where there is a 'parallel society'.
As well as having more than 50 per cent non-Western people living there, parallel society areas must also meet two of four other criteria for houses to be demolished – such as having unemployment levels above 40 per cent, or crime rates of at least three times the national average.
Those living in the affected properties are then re-housed in other areas, with the hope that this will improve integration and reduce crime. There are currently eight areas on the parallel society list.
Ms Beckmann, a member of the Liberal Party, said a big change came when the municipality was granted full authority to decide who can move into Askerød and the nearby Gersagerparken estate.
New residents must now meet certain criteria: they must be employed or in education, have no criminal record, and hold EU citizenship.
She said a survey on the housing estate found that residents in the development reported feeling safer.
Ms Beckmann said: 'In close collaboration with local housing associations, we've agreed to distribute residents who fall under the criteria for parallel societies more evenly across the municipality.
'It's about creating balance and not just shifting the problem from one place to another... The profile of new residents is already changing thanks to the new criteria, and that's a promising sign.
'Hopefully, this will help us come off the list again and continue building safer, more stable neighbourhoods.'
A supporter of the parallel societies laws, Ms Beckmann described them as 'overall good and effective'.
'We simply cannot allow the existence of parallel societies where children and young people grow up under social control, religious indoctrination, crime, gangs, and with poor prospects for education and employment,' she said.
'When we ensure a diverse resident mix, we break down under-resourced areas.
'Places where people feel unsafe, lose faith in the future, and where children see no other possibilities than what they encounter at home or next door.'
The widespread political mainstream support for strict immigration measures is a sign of how much the debate in Denmark has changed.
During the 1960s and early 1970s, the country welcomed large numbers of immigrants on guest worker status amid surging demand for labour.
But concern grew for decades over how well newcomers were able to integrate. In 2015, the European migration and refugee crisis marked a turning point, when well over a million migrants came to Europe – mostly heading to wealthier northern countries such as Denmark, Sweden and Germany.
That year, the anti-immigration Danish People's Party (DPP), became the second biggest power in the country's parliament. After losing the 2015 election, the Social Democrats made a public break from its previous past reputation of openness to migration.
'My party should have listened,' new leader Mette Frederiksen said at the time.
Since then the country has tightened rules dramatically and introduced a litany of restrictions.
Its 'anti-ghetto law' was introduced in 2018, and Ms Frederiksen, who became prime minister the following year, has since pursued a 'zero refugee' policy.
Successful asylum bids had almost halved by her second year in office, from 85 per cent in 2015 to 44 per cent in 2020.
Last year just 860 asylum requests were granted in Denmark, the lowest figure apart from 2020, when Covid halted new arrivals.
While Denmark continues to tackle new immigration, the ghetto rules are also intended to promote integration among non-Danes already living in the country.
The Muhammad cartoons controversy of 2005 – in which Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten sparked protests and uproar across the world by publishing twelve editorial cartoons depicting the founder of Islam – is often cited by those who say non-Westerners must embrace 'Danish values'.
Muhammad Aslam, then a Copenhagen councillor, was among a delegation who travelled to Egypt on the Danish government's behalf in an effort to ease tensions at a time when Danish flags were being burned in the street.
However, he has since been moved from the home he lived in for over 30 years – an apartment in a low-rise public housing estate in the neighbourhood of Nørrebro, Copenhagen.
The 58-year-old, who came to Denmark from Pakistan with his father as a seven-year-old and gained citizenship in the 1980s, is one of a dozen tenants who has taken the Danish government to court over the ghetto laws. The case is before the European Court of Justice in Luxembourg, with a ruling expected later this year.
Speaking with the help of a translator, Mr Aslam, said: 'I don't think that [Denmark] should take everyone in and that can't be done in the UK either.
'But we definitely should care for the people who are here.
'Everybody who lives in Denmark should be perceived as Danish and I perceive everyone here as Danish – and everyone should have the same rights.'
Mr Aslam said that being part of a community is not necessarily about 'socialising with people born or raised here' but about 'doing things the Danish way of doing things and having the same values like free speech'.
He added: 'You see all of these people where maybe their grandparents and parents have come to Denmark years beforehand and now they are graduating university – it would be hard to say that's a bad example of integration.'
Meanwhile, some Right-wing politicians also believe that removing social housing from affected areas is not the solution.
Anders Vistisen, Danish People's Party MEP and chief whip of Patriots for Europe group in European Parliament, said: 'We are not massively in favour of that part of that part of the legislation as we think it has often become a massive waste of money and it's not solving the problem.'
He added: 'I think that if I was a UK politician, I would adopt other parts of the Danish laws before I came to the ghetto question.
'I think if the will was there it wouldn't be harmful, but I think it's a very marginal part of the Danish laws which is on the most expensive and least effective end of the scale.'
The ghetto policy's effectiveness remains a matter for debate in Denmark. But across Europe, the country's stance on migration is winning it many admirers. Mrs Badenoch is unlikely to be the last.
