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Multiculturalism and Denmark By Elisabeth Arnold and Elsebeth Gerner Nielsen The National Post Friday, September 6, 2002 Letters Elisabeth Arnold and Elsebeth Gerner Nielsen, Members of the Danish Parliament. As Danish politicians, we are offended by the way integration problems in Denmark were portrayed by Daniel Pipes and Lars Hedegaard and we wish to set the record straight (Muslim Extremism: Denmark's had Enough, Daniel Pipes and Lars Hedegaard, Aug. The authors claim that 40% of Danish welfare expenses are consumed by Muslim immigrants. Denmark has a much broader spectrum of welfare costs than countries in North America. We include not only unemployment benefits and social security but also substantial allocations to housing, transport, homecare, early retirement, protected workplaces, daycare and other smaller schemes. Muslim immigrants do not receive 40% of those allocations even though they represent a substantial part of the clients. The main reason being: It is hard to compete on a job market not interested in employing immigrants. The further assumption that more than half of all rapists in Denmark are Muslims is without any basis in fact, as criminal registers do not record religion. Hedegaard mention that only 5% of young Muslims in Denmark wish to marry a Dane. We welcome the brave 5% who accept intermarriage--they are true pioneers for peaceful co-existence and human contact across cultures. However, the new Danish government has made it extremely difficult for Danish citizens to bring a foreign spouse to Denmark. The ruling opinion obviously is that intermarriage should be avoided. Hedegaard also claim that Muslim violence threatens the 6,000 Jewish citizens in Denmark. Rumours--also hitting the front pages of major newspapers--tell that identified Jewish Danes figure on a death list. Danish authorities consider death threats very serious, but police investigators have so far found no evidence of real threats. During the coming decade, Denmark will need 100,000 new pairs of hands in the workforce. Integration must work better and immigrants admitted to Denmark should be welcomed. On this point, we take inspiration from Canadian society, which is open to other cultures and religions. Most Canadian readers may not realize that both writers are politicians belonging to the Socialist-Radical Liberal government that was defeated last November --- indeed, Ms. As for the numbers involved, former Socialist spokeswoman for immigration and integration Ritt Bjerregaard has leaked figures from an unpublished study showing that in 1999, the 5% of the Danish population made up of Third World immigrants received 35% of all welfare payments (Danish: kontanthjaelp). Nielsen is part of a larger problem, whereby they have long been among the most vocal cheerleaders of massive immigration and completely blind to the problems this creates. Unfortunately for them, Danish voters do see the problems and threw their coalition out of office last November. Finally, we are at a loss to explain the notion our critics forward that the current government believes "intermarriage should be avoided" between Danes and foreigners, an outrageous accusation which no one of any political stature has advocated. To the contrary, the policy of the government is integration, not segregation.
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