Copenhagen has one of the harshest policies towards migrants and asylum seekers. In the midst of the debate on immigration, this model is of interest to French elected officials. After Minister Olivier Véran, the President of the Republicans Éric Ciotti visited the country.
The Ellebæk detention center, about ten kilometers from Copenhagen (Denmark), is surrounded by walls and barbed wire. Foreigners sentenced to deportation or asylum seekers, whose file has been refused twice are locked up there. They are three per room, free to move around in their building, but they cannot go out unsupervised.
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The buildings are half empty. “In 2015, we built an additional building that has never been used for anything”, notes Claes Nilas, director of the Agency for Returns. As the number of asylum seekers awaiting deportation is falling, most agree to leave voluntarily. In question, the way they are treated since the registration of their file.
A “war of attrition”
Launched two years ago, the Danish Returns Agency “don’t let go somehow” lhave been rejected until “until they got home”explains Claes Nilas. “The Daily Work” of its teams consists of “calling all the unsuccessful applicants to an interview, every day, to explain to them that now it’s over. There is no possibility of going further in their request. Now, we have to talk about returning.”
“We remain very firm on this, we only talk to them back.”
These foreigners are offered a voluntary return to their country of origin, “for a sum of money, around 5,000 euros to accompany the resettlement”, specifies the director of the Agency for returns. 95% of them end up accepting.
The French right seduced by the Danish model
In the midst of the debate on immigration in France, a delegation from the Republicans (LR) party traveled to Denmark on Wednesday 24 May. A 24-hour visit to discover, understand and even be inspired by the Danes. “In any case, there are some very interesting leads”estimates Éric Ciotti, deputy and president of the LR. “These return centers would allow us to considerably increase the rate of returns, in particular for those whose right to asylum has been rejected, who today constitute a real diversion of the asylum procedure.”
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Denmark has implemented a drastic immigration policy. Refugee status is reassessed after two years. Syrians have already lost their status. Some of the jewelery and money of migrants is confiscated upon arrival. “It does not shock me. It is in the culture of this country. It is a model which gives rights, but which also requires duties. When you arrive in a country and you represent a burden for this country , it is not illogical to ensure that there are guarantees of resources”, defends Eric Ciotti. He salutes the social-democratic government which has “a pragmatic political analysis which is not ideological and which combines firmness and humanity”.
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The leader of the Republicans met with Danish Immigration Minister Kaare Dybvad Bek. This social democrat continues the policy of severity initiated 20 years ago under the impetus of the extreme right. He considers himself to be applying a left-wing policy, because he protects the social model of the Danes. And sends a message to his counterparts, the French socialists. “If you want to have the support of the working classes in your country, you need to reduce the burden that migration places on local people. working-class neighborhoods, Kaare Dybvad Bek justifies himself.
“If the working classes lose confidence in the social-democratic parties, they will no longer vote left, but go to the side of the extreme right.”
Kaare Dybvad Bek, Minister for Immigration in Denmarkfranceinfo
According to him, “if the working classes lose confidence in the social democratic parties, they will no longer vote left, but go to the far right“. He notes that “this is what happened to some extent in France, Italy and other countries in Europe”, while in Denmark the extreme right has fallen. The historic party fell to 2% in the last legislative elections. A message heard by Olivier Véran, government spokesperson and minister delegate in charge of democratic renewal. He also made the trip to Denmark at the beginning of May.
Olivier Véran believes that the Danish model is not fully transposable to France, in particular because the Nordic country is exempt from certain European rules. “There are measures in which I do not recognize myself”he specifies, but the minister raised two points “interesting”. First of all, “When the left talks about immigration with realism, we are able to advance and push back the far right. That’s the first lesson.” Second, he continues, “when immigration is approached not from the angle of the religious roots of this or that country, but by saying ‘for the social model to be sustainable, it must be able to be financed and balanced”.
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The minister delegate in charge of democratic renewal believes he has found a key in his quest for recipes to weaken the far right in France. A reflection that makes the National Rally (RN) smile. Olivier Veran “it would be better to listen to the aspirations of the French”, estimates the deputy RN Edwige Diaz. Because according to her, it is the program of Marine Le Pen which is close to the Danish model.