Foreign-culture immigrants in Denmark's political agenda

In: Vestnik Instituta sociologii: setevoj žurnal = Bulletin of the Institute of Sociology : online electronic journal, Band 12, Heft 4, S. 42-66

Abstract

This article examines the political discourse on foreign-culture immigrants, that forms the agenda of the Danish government. The difficulties of integrating migrants increase with the influx of asylum seekers and family reunification, when the rate of their admission exceeds the rate of naturalisation (absorption) of diasporas, that Danes see as a threat to social cohesion. A "preventive" immigration policy has emerged, demonstrating significant restrictions that reduce the influx of refugees. The discourse of restrictive policy supported by the electorate determined the government's agenda based on agreements between the center-left Social Democratic Party, the center-right Liberal Party of Wenströ, and the far-right Danish National Party (DNP) with its anti-immigrant agenda. At the same time, the ruling parties, weakening the support of the extreme right-wing parties, "intercept" the provisions of the DNP programme.

Restrictions on the political agenda concern mainly foreign-culture immigrants: strict regulation of the admission of asylum seekers, granting a residence permit, family reunification, initial distribution to municipalities and resettlement of immigrant "ghettos". This is combined with the education of immigrants based on the values ​​of social cohesion, work for the welfare state, and the inclusion of immigrant children in educational institutions. The discourse also includes the issues of deportation of immigrants, including asylum seekers, who commit crimes, the detention of asylum seekers not in Denmark and the EU countries, but in third countries that the government intends to make special agreements with. Taking into account the difficulties of returning refugees to the countries of origin, even if life there has become safer, this option is considered the most optimum, and appropriate work is being carried out in this direction.

The EU leadership condemns such a policy, but in the conditions of the weakness of its immigration policy, legal collisions, as well as the weakening of the solidarity of the Union members, there is no political opportunity from the outside to forcibly adjust the Danish state policy. In other EU countries, Denmark's preventive restrictive policy can be perceived as a positive model for the reception and integration of refugees of other cultures. The Danish experience is also useful for Russia, where problems arise in working with foreign-culture diasporas. In addition, such restrictive policies are helping to strengthen mobilisation mechanisms to combat the COVID-19 pandemic.