Danes Will Promote Human Rights and Solidarity

by Rikke Brammer Buk

The Danish Prime Minister Helle Thorning Schmidt (Social Democrat) held a press conference yesterday to present her hopes for this weekend’s EU summit on immigration.

An opt-out presidency, not a problem.

The Danish Presidency do not see the Danish legal position in the EU with respect to justice and home affairs, as compromising the possibility of leading negotiations on immigration successfully. In fact they hope to achieve an ambitious agreement on a common immigration policy for the EU.

In a press conference held yesterday it was stated that in the light of the Arab Spring, the EU needs to establish a common policy now more than ever. This in order to cope with the flows of immigrants that has come in the wake of the revolutions in Middle Eastern and North African states this past year.

The key players on the Danish team

Securing rights and borders.

In order to gain this goal of common policy, the Danish PM Thorning Schmidt plans to insure that great attention is paid to the concerns of all the participating actors of the summit. The Danish Presidency seems very eager to state the fact that a common policy on immigration is as much an attempt to secure the rights of the immigrant, as it is to uphold the internal freedom of the Schengen agreement, by securing external borders. The message seem to be that one aspect should not cloud the other. In this regard it was stresses that a reached agreement among the member states, will be one that is in accordance with the Human Rights Conventions. And so it seems that NGO's have a change to get their recommendations to be taken into account, in the formulation of a common policy.

In the same light the Presidency hopes that the weekend will end with a specific and shared interpretation of the EU laws and regulations, so that these cannot be misunderstood as not being in accordance with human rights. It was further stated that the Presidency does not view immigrants as any less human than EU citizens, and that it will strive to change a popular view of the immigrants as either an economic burdens or as criminals. On the other hand the Presidency views illegal immigration as a security threat to the European Union and so, the common policy will have to be one that secures the external borders of the Schengen area. Viewing illegal immigration as a threat to European communities along the line of organised crime and terrorism, the Danish Presidency do not see that as putting a strain on the possibility of finding a solution that will help change the view of the immigrant as a negative burden.

Dublin II Regulation stands.

To deal with the pressure on the external borders, it was stated that the Presidency will work to achieve a feeling of solidarity among the member states, in order to guarantee that no state is left alone in dealing with problems of illegal immigration.

But this solidarity will not be suggested in the form of a policy of burden-sharing, or in the form of any changing of the Dublin II Regulation. The Danish Presidency believes that it is possible to find a solution that assists states such as Greece without altering the Dublin II, and that this is done by establishing a common centralised asylum administration.

Security at the summit

The Danish Presidency is aware that there is a planned demonstration by the Danish National Defence League the weekend after the summit, but do not feel that there is reason to suspect at the Defence League will cause any problems during the summit.