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No Work, No Eat: Denmark Insists Outsiders Must Earn Right to Benefits

© Flickr / 2bennyCopenhagen, Denmark
Copenhagen, Denmark - Sputnik International
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Denmark has recently put itself on a collision course with the European Union over the issue of social benefits. Copenhagen is currently working on new legislation which would make it difficult for EU citizens to receive social benefits in Denmark, which angers the EU.

Danish Prime Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen (R) and US Secretary of State John Kerry (L) sit for a meeting at Christiansborg Castle in Copenhagen, Denmark, 16 June 2016 - Sputnik International
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The proposal outlined by the Danish government would force non-Danish parents to earn the right to obtain child allowances and social benefits, which the country presently grants to all EU citizens alike, regardless of origin.

Non-Danish EU citizens would therefore be forced to earn the right to benefits by working for a specified period of time in Denmark, Foreign Minister Kristian Jensen argued.

"I think it's only fair for them [EU citizens] to meet certain requirements in order to obtain social benefits," Jensen said, as quoted by the Danish tabloid newspaper Extra Bladet. "This will also foster a better understanding in Denmark that labor is something dynamic that moves around," he said.

According to Jensen, this is not a matter of money, but, rather, of social justice. Jensen also regretted an earlier EU ruling that the Danish principle of withholding child allowance benefits until they were substantiated by earnings contradicted EU legislation. In 2013, the European Commission ruled that all EU citizens should be entitled to the quarterly child support benefit as soon as they are legally registered in the country.

Canal view, Copenhagen - Sputnik International
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The Foreign Minister's announcement has triggered mixed reactions in Denmark. The Social Liberal Party called the announcement "untimely," as it was made just days before Brits will go to the polls to vote on the country's future in the EU, whereas the Social Democrats supported the idea.

"The Foreign Minister added fuel to the fire, so now it sounds like money is pouring out of the treasury. This is simply wrong," Sofie Carsten Nielsen, the Social Liberal Party spokesperson, told Jyllands-Posten.

Jensen rebutted all criticism himself by declaring it was wise to combat the evil while it was still at a fledgling stage.

"If you can see that there is a problem starting to grow, then it is better to prevent it before the problem becomes too big," he said.

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