After a period of uncertainty and withholding of funds for integration projects, the Ministry of Immigration and Integration has now announced that the promised millions will be released and disbursed to the relevant organizations. This comes after a process that Minister Kaare Dybvad Bek (Social Democrats) admits could have been handled more smoothly. Since the beginning of the year, funding has been put on hold due to an agreement to redistribute funds for more prison spaces, resulting in a planned cut of 25 million Danish kroner from the integration budget. This decision directly affected 21 integration projects, with a total amount of 64 million Danish kroner being withheld.
The Minister has now confirmed that all the withheld funds will be disbursed. “Nothing will be withheld from here,” said Kaare Dybvad Bek to Ritzau. He added that it was important for the government to ensure that organizations could continue their work without further delays, especially those working with negative social control and crisis services. According to reports, the withholding of funds has had staffing consequences for at least one of the affected organizations.
At this point, the Minister expressed a desire for the process to have been less cumbersome and resolved more quickly. “I will not hide the fact that I would have liked for it to have been sorted out earlier. We have to learn from this,” said Kaare Dybvad Bek. He emphasized the importance of organizations now having funding security for 2024, so they can continue their important work in integration.
This step towards resolving the funding complication has been positively received among the affected organizations, who have expressed relief and renewed hope to be able to continue their projects without further financial obstacles.