Denmark’s tough stance on migrants plays well at home. In Brussels, it could be a different story. – POLITICO

One resident, an elderly man with a mustache, was particularly concerned that Hungary was undermining the rule of law in the EU. He banged a table with his index finger lowered as he called for an end to corruption within European Union institutions. Another man, this one younger and wearing a social democrat badge pinned to his sweater, stood up and called on the EU to do more to rein in the social media giants who he said were destroying people’s lives. youth.

As meeting participants prepared to leave in the April rain, local voter Betty Dederding, a retired railway worker, discussed her main issues ahead of the European elections. Europe must unite against Russia and China to prevent Moscow and Beijing from dominating and creating a new world order, she said.

Before the residents dispersed, when the issue of migration policy was raised, a consensus spread among the assembly that Denmark’s long-standing hardline stance was still the right way forward – and that the Europe would do well to follow.

Christel Schaldemose, Social Democratic MEP and one of the three candidates, shares this opinion.

“I am convinced that migration will be a hot topic not only now but also in the years to come,” he said.

Denmark – under the leadership of social democratic Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen and her center-right predecessor Lars Løkke Rasmussen – has pursued some of the toughest immigration policies in Europe in recent years. Denmark’s policy was initially seen as extreme in countries like the UK, Sweden and Germany, but in recent years lawmakers in these states appear to have moved closer to the Copenhagen line and, to some extent, measure, followed his example.