Denmark Will Get Final Say on EU Migration Policies – Prime Minister

Danish Prime Minister Lars Rasmussen has promised his nation that it will have the final say on Denmark's asylum and migration policies, in a speech before parliament on Tuesday.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) — The European Union is struggling to accommodate hundreds of thousands of asylum seekers from the war-torn Middle East, Asia and Africa. Denmark agreed last month to accept 1,000 refugees, despite having the choice to opt-out of the otherwise mandatory EU quota scheme for distributing migrants throughout the union because of the terms of its membership of the bloc.

"It is crystal clear <…> that the Danish immigration policy will still be decided by Denmark," Rasmussen said in his speech, adding that any decision to join European Union’s asylum policies would be put to a nationwide referendum.

The prime minister called on the nation to allow Denmark to continue to participate in the EU Europol police agency. The country is to hold a referendum on December 3, where voters will be asked to change its opt-out status on a batch of EU legislative acts concerning Europol action to an opt-in model.

Europol provides intelligence on the migrant pressure at Denmark’s and European borders, he stressed, adding that coordinated police action was enabling EU nations to get a grip on the refugee influx.

Rasmussen spoke in the parliament a day after his ruling right-wing Venstre party obtained the backing of four other parties for a bill on tougher naturalization rules for immigrants, enough for the new legislation to be approved.