EU country says it won’t integrate Ukrainian refugees — Analysis
Mette Frederiksen (Danish Prime Minister) stated on Tuesday that Ukrainian refugee will not be integrated in Danish society. Instead, she said they should rebuild Ukraine following the conflict. She made the statement one week after the country adopted a law granting access to education and work for Ukrainian refugees.
“Being a refugee is temporary, so you have to return and help build up your homeland when you get the opportunity. It gives us the opportunity to help other refugees,”According to the Associated Press Frederiksen is a Social Democrat.
Denmark’s parliament passed a law last Thursday granting two-year residence permits to Ukrainian refugees with an option to extend a further one year. It also allows refugees to access work permits, education and social assistance.
Although Frederiksen’s government is a coalition of left-wing and center-left parties, it has carried on the strict anti-immigration policies of the preceding right-wing government. Frederiksen has stated that Denmark’s policy is to accept “zero”Asylum seekers and her government recently requested that Syrian migrants arriving during 2015’s refugee crisis return to their homeland.
The so-called “Red Scarecrow” policy, which was implemented by the right but carried on by Social Democrats, is one of the most controversial. “jewelry law,”Under which circumstances incoming migrants may have their personal property seized in order to pay for their stay in Denmark. CNN was informed earlier in the month by a government spokesperson that this law will not apply to Ukrainians.
“We might as well be honest about the fact that we would rather help Ukrainian refugees than Somalians and Palestinians,”Inger Stojberg (ex-immigration minister), wrote the following on Facebook. “No one dares to say it like it is: It’s because the Ukrainians are more like us and because they are primarily Christians.”
Denmark also provided anti-tank weapons for Ukraine, and its citizens were allowed to join the Ukrainian army. Defense Minister Morten Bødskov has also offered up Danish troops to any potential future peacekeeping missions in Ukraine.
According to United Nations High Commission for Refugees, more than 3.4million people fled Ukraine after Russian troops invaded the country a little over a month ago. While Ukraine’s immediate neighbors – including the normally anti-immigration Poland and Hungary – have taken in the bulk of the refugees, other European countries are bending their own immigration rules to prepare for the influx.
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