Document Type

Article

Disciplines

International Law

Abstract

At age eighteen Christina Reves could vote, die for her country, or be elected to parliament, yet a foreigner from another European Union country can more easily live in Denmark with a foreign spouse than Reves and her Egyptian husband.' This was one of the ridiculous ironies created when the Center-Right Danish People's Party enacted the most stringent immigration laws in the European Union.' By introducing the toughest immigration laws in Europe, previously liberal Denmark surprised many other countries, as well as many Danes, by restricting Danish citizenship for foreign spouses.' The laws have driven Reves, and almost twelve hundred similarly situated Danes, to live with foreign spouses in Sweden to obtain European Union citizenship and subsequently move back to Denmark.' Couples make this move at the expense of higher taxes, exclusion from generous Danish social benefits, separation from friends and family, and exhaustingly long daily commutes on what has affectionately been dubbed the "love train."

Since the early 1990s, immigration and its impact upon society and politics has been a volatile issue in Denmark, a country where a mere eight-percent of the 5.8 million-person population consists of immigrants or citizens of non-Nordic descent.7 Denmark was "once the epitome of Scandinavian liberalism ... as famous for its 'open door' policy towards asylum seekers and refugees as it [was] for being first to legalize gay marriages and hard-core pornography." 8 But today Denmark is a clear example of what can happen when xenophobic parties gain political influence.9 Attitudes towards foreigners have hardened since the Center-Right government began to play on people's fears following the terror attacks of September 1 lh." The most recent influx of immigrants over the past four years has been "quite visibly recognizable [with] a distinctive race, religion, and culture."" Many of these immigrants are coming from Morocco, Somalia, Sub-Saharan Africa, the Arab world, and the Far East. 2 Three-percent of the Danish population is now Muslim and the government has imposed some of the toughest restrictions on this ethnic group.

The Danish People's Party has said "Danish nationality is not a right ... and to award it automatically is unconstitutional."' 4 "Denmark belongs to the Danes and its citizens must be able to live in a secure community ... developing only along the lines of Danish culture.""5 The Danish People's Party has also maintained that it does not "believe in Denmark turning into a multiethnic society," and that Denmark has "never been an immigrant country [and] will never be one." 6 Beliefs like these, bolstered by aggressive propaganda, have fueled the anti-immigration movement.

The anti-immigration movement is not unique to Denmark. Historically liberal northern Europe and Scandinavia, fueled by "worries about diluting national identities and funding the world's most generous health and social programs," have proposed comparable immigration restrictions. 8 With the February 2005 reelection of the Center-Right party based on a strong platform of anti-immigration, 9 the question now is whether Denmark has set a dangerous benchmark that will be adopted elsewhere as European Union countries seek a common policy on asylum and immigration.

Part I of this Note details the history of the Danish government, specifically the rise of the Danish People's Party and the changing role of immigration as a hot button political issue. Part II looks at the immigrations laws that have been enacted in the past thirty years and their effects on Danes and their non-Danish spouses, focusing on the Aliens Consolidation Act. Part III compares the effect of immigration laws on mixed marriages in other countries with the current situation in Denmark. Finally, Part IV speculates about the future of Danish immigration policies and their effects on mixed marriages now that the Center-Right party has been elected to another term.

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