Danish authorities will scare off refugees
As Novye Izvestia writes, financial aid to refugees will be cut in half starting in September. For example, a single adult refugee previously received about 11,000 crowns per month (just over a thousand euros). From September 1, this amount was reduced to six thousand. For families with children, a ceiling of 16,000 crowns is set regardless of the number of minor offspring. In addition, refugees receiving benefits will lose the right to an annual forty-day vacation.
"We cannot completely close borders to persons entitled to asylum, this contradicts EU laws, but we can make Denmark less attractive for them," justified the new rules Minister for Immigration and Integration Inger Støjberg. According to her, the need to tighten migration policy is obvious: Denmark last year accepted as many refugees as 15 EU states combined. Now the country will be among the EU members pursuing a tough policy towards foreigners seeking a better life. The reason is the spreading information in third-world countries about the Danish 'paradise on earth'.
"Critics of the new rules argue that people fleeing wars and disasters dream simply of escaping their home hell, they have no idea where is better and where is worse. That is not true. According to police, asylum seekers are perfectly aware of what they are entitled to. They know not only the amounts of benefits, but also the number of bed linen sets they are entitled to in refugee reception centers," assures Inger Støjberg.
Last year, six-million Denmark issued about 70,000 residence permits to foreigners, 60% of them to refugees and their family members. This is the highest figure since 1984, when such statistics began to be kept. About half of the refugees are residents of Syria, escaping the civil war and therefore having the right under EU norms to stay on the territory of the United Europe.
The right-wing party Venstre, which is in power in Denmark, passed the 'anti-migration' bill in parliament with an absolute majority. Only opposition left-wing parties voted against, stating that the country is experiencing a 'sad day' in its modern history because it has abandoned the principles of solidarity and compassion.
Heads of several municipalities are also dissatisfied with the cut in economic aid to immigrants, fearing that from now on they will have to supplement the apartments for families of 'new Danes' due to high housing costs in large cities. 'These are unfounded fears. Housing can be found even with the new level of benefits. Professional smugglers will now explain to their clients that Denmark is no longer the country where they can live in clover,' the integration minister refuted the fears of critics of the law.
The government in its immigration policy follows the strategy of the populist Danish People's Party, which has long claimed that refugees from third-world countries view the country as a global 'social office', but at the same time refuse to integrate into society and impose their own rules. Today, 7% of the population of 'Hamlet's homeland' are from non-European, mostly Muslim, countries.
The next step in the strategy of deterring immigrants from the 'Scandinavian paradise' will be the production of propaganda materials that will be distributed in those countries from which the main flow of refugees to Europe comes. The Danish People's Party, which has already been supported by the government, made such a proposal. 'We took the idea of the upcoming information campaign from Australia, which assures potential immigrants that this country will never become their home,' said Danish People's Party representative Martin Henriksen.
Australia spent millions of dollars on video clips in which all sorts of 'scary stories' are present to scare off potential refugees, including crocodiles, sharks, and poisonous spiders. Denmark, to the great dismay of isolationists, cannot muster an equally impressive squad of formidable representatives of fauna, but for people from Islamic countries, a 'pig' will be planted. Local creatives intend to present Denmark as a 'pig kingdom', in which the 'unclean animal' will everywhere pursue followers of the Prophet Muhammad – from statues and images on posters to store assortments and even a specific smell over a significant part of the state. The horror of the piggy will naturally be reinforced by data on the reduction of financial assistance to immigrants.