Conservatives excluded from citizenship agreement: Votes missing for 2064 applicants
On Tuesday, the Conservatives chose not to participate in the vote on granting citizenship to 2064 individuals. This means that the party is now excluded from the existing nationality agreement from 2021. This decision comes despite warnings from Minister of Immigration and Integration Kaare Dybvad Bek (S) that a missing vote would lead to their exclusion. Brigitte Klintskov Jerkel, the Conservatives’ citizenship spokesperson, expressed concern that some of the individuals applying for citizenship were “serial criminals.” She mentioned the difficulty in ensuring that criminals do not obtain citizenship due to automatic deletions in the crime registry. – “If you want to exclude us from the agreement circle because we insist that criminal immigrants should not receive citizenship, I think it says more about you than about us,” said Brigitte Klintskov Jerkel in the Parliament on Tuesday.
The Conservatives voted yellow, meaning they neither voted for nor against the proposal. The vote concerned 2064 individuals who have applied for citizenship, a process that the Parliament considers twice a year. Kaare Dybvad Bek emphasized that participation in an agreement requires supporting the legislation that follows. He noted that a lack of support from the Conservatives would result in the over 2000 applicants not receiving citizenship and having to start the process anew. – “You have to vote for everything. Otherwise, there’s not much point in making agreements in here,” said the minister.
Following the vote, Brigitte Klintskov Jerkel demanded a guarantee that no criminals would receive citizenship. However, Kaare Dybvad Bek could not make such a promise but pointed out that there is an additional criminal check two years after a person obtains citizenship. Shortly after the vote, the Ministry of Immigration and Integration announced a new citizenship agreement. This agreement raises the fee to become a Danish citizen from 4000 to 6000 Danish kroner. It was explicitly stated that the Conservatives are not part of this new agreement, which was made between the government and Liberal Alliance.