Europe Asia News

Denmark, long regarded as an outlier because of its strict migration policies, says it has finally convinced the rest of the EU to follow its tough approach.

On Monday, European justice and interior ministers approved new measures that will allow EU member states to deport rejected asylum seekers, establish processing centers abroad, and set up return facilities outside EU borders. Copenhagen has long advocated these measures.

Rasmus Stoklund, Denmark’s center-left integration minister and the country’s lead negotiator on migration during its six-month presidency of the EU Council, said the agreement was “the result of years of work.”

Sweden’s Migration Minister and member of the conservative Moderate Party, Johan Forssell, told POLITICO on Monday that the agreement is “vital today to maintain public confidence in the migration system... we must show that the system works.”

Stockholm, once proud of its liberal approach to migration, has recently shifted toward the Danish model by adopting strict measures that limit family reunification, tightening the rules for obtaining Swedish citizenship, and restricting social benefits for new arrivals.