Denmark passes controversial new law as EC points at increasing economic migrants

The European Commission said that a growing percentage of the people arriving in the European Union seeking asylum are economic migrants, the WSJE reports. Margaritis Schinas, the Commission’s chief spokesman, said on Tuesday, as quoted by the US newspaper: “What I can tell you is, that of course there are more and more economic migrants now reaching Europe – obviously using the momentum on the occasion of the refugee flows.”

First EC Vice-President Frans Timmermans was also quoted in Dutch media on Tuesday as saying around 60% of the migrants arriving in the EU are now economic migrants, the WSJE reports – a statement he initially made in an interview with NOS news on Nederland 1 finding coverage, not only in the Netherlands, but also in the US, the UK, Spain, Belgium, Austria, Hungary and Poland.

A spokeswoman for Mr Timmermans, Natasha Bertaud, said that the number came from as-yet-unpublished Frontex figures for December, the WSJE adds, and NRC Next points out that these figures are in conflict with the numbers published by the UNHCR which show an increase in December in the number of people coming from war zones – 88% of the migrants are said to come from Syria, Afghanistan and Iraq; in January the figure already is of 91% so far. It could mean NRC Next notes, either that Mr Timmermans is mistaken, or that the Frontex and UNHCR statistics differ greatly for the first time.

The European Commission also said that officials were preparing for the possibility that member states may seek to extend emergency border controls for longer than the six months currently allowed, as EU interior ministers had asked the EC to explore legal options to extend border checks for up to two years. “We aren’t there yet in the Commission’s point of view. But we want to be prepared so we are pursuing the options that could be available to us,” Ms Bertaud said, as quoted by the WSJE. “If the situation doesn’t change,” Ms Bertaud added, “there could indeed be justifications under public order and security reasons – to maintain internal controls at internal Schengen borders as long as the external borders aren’t effectively controlled” – a story finding further coverage in Focus News, Politiken.dk, Novi list, Sigmalive and Greek media.

On Tuesday, Denmark passed legislation granting police the power to seize cash and valuables from asylum seekers carrying about $1,500 as the Nordic country aims to keep migrants at bay, European, Turkish and US media report. The new law also forces refugees to wait three years rather than one before they can apply for family members to join them in Denmark. The government explicitly said the change is aimed at deterring migrants, and is based on what it calls a Danish value that those who can pay their own way should, the WSJE writes.

Responding to international criticism, Danish Prime Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen called the bill “the most misunderstood bill in Denmark’s history,” Magyar Hidok reports. When defending the latest proposed changes to asylum policy before European Parliament on Monday, Danish Foreign Affairs Minister Kristian Jensen and Immigration Minister Inger Støjberg actually emphasised the generosity of the Danish welfare system to justify the need for tight immigration controls, writes Jyllands Posten. What is more, while many media report point at Greece as the scapegoat in the refugee crisis, Czech, Slovak and Austrian media report that the Visegrád Group (Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary) will meet in Prague in mid-February shortly ahead of the European Council meeting on 18 and 19 February, in a move intended to secure the external EU borders without the participation of Greece.