Danish People's Party challenges EU labour laws

The Danish People’s party has challenged the EU principle of free movement of labour by proposing that Danish companies should be required to provide proof they’ve been unable to hire a Dane before hiring an EU national, according to Seven59.dk.

Although EU law expert Peder Nedergaard of the University of Copenhagen dismissed the proposal as ‘completely unrealistic’ and a violation of EU legislation, the party’s integration spokesman, Martin Henriksen, said ‘rules aren’t set in stone’.

”We’d be living in boring society if we couldn’t change the rules now and again. If things aren’t functioning as they should then we politicians have a duty to do better,” said the spokesman, adding that he also believes that in the future, EU citizens should only be allowed to take work in another country that matches the wage levels of where they come from.

EU workers improved Danish economy

But according to Neergaard, free movement of labour has been a significant benefit for the Danish business sector, which he claimed has at times been on the verge of collapse due to wage increases and bottleneck problems and only survived due to Polish manpower.

”The British have tried, and failed, to restrict immigration from the EU and there are no indications that things are about to change,” he added.

Read finans.dk article (in Danish) here.

universitypost@adm.ku.dk

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