The Shift to the Right in Denmark: the Rise of the Danish People’s Party (1995-2017)

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Associate Professor of History and Records Management Department at National Aviation University

The Shift to the Right in Denmark: the Rise of the Danish People's Party (1995-2017)

Smolnikov Yu. B.,

PhD in History

The article traces the development of the Danish People's Party from its inception in 1995 to the present time. Singled out are the party's typical traits 'which draw much support of the electorate. Considered are the reasons that He behind the party's growing support. Special attention is paid to the immigration and welfare issues in the party'spolicy.

Keywords: Danish People's Party, Progress Party, immigration, Muslims, refugees, 'welfare, multiculturalism.

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Europe is going through a difficult time: Brexit, the refugee crisis, the rise of the far right lately led the EU to the brink of collapse. To survive the EU needs serious structural reforms. One of the major threats to the union is the rise of the far right all around Europe. Far right parties have transformed recently from marginal ones to the mainstream. They got to parliaments in many countries and exercise serious influence on the domestic and foreign policy of their states. We can see that many former supporters of the left are leaving their traditional parties and joining the far right. Investigating the activity and principles of the far right gives a better understanding of what is going on in Europe and what transformations to expect in the future.

Like in many other European countries the far right in Denmark has achieved an unprecedented success lately. In the recent general elections (June 2015) the far right Danish People's Party (DPP) got the second best result and thus became the second largest political party in the country. The party shows a steady growth in popularity: it got over 21 percent of the vote, an increase of almost 9 percent since 2011. Many analysts believe that DPP is the most successful far right party in Western Europe. Thus, studying the DPP is a topical subject.

Various aspects of the far right in Denmark are explored by S. Meret [1], D. J. Doherty [2], T. Aim [3], H. Eakin [4], J. G. Andersen [5], Yu. B. Smolnikov [6], and others. The roots and history of the Danish People's Party are not yet fully investigated. The purpose of this article is to trace the development of the Danish People's Party from its inception in 1995 to 2017, to single out the party's typical traits which draw much support of the electorate; to consider the reasons that lie behind the party's growing support and make forecasts for the future. Special attention is paid to the immigration and welfare issues in the party's policy.

The Danish People's Party (Danish: Dansk Folkeparty) was founded in 1995 by Pia Kjaersgaard and four other former leaders of the Progress Party (PP) which they decided to defect. Pia Kjaersgaard herself was a person number two (deputy leader) in the Progress Party. At the beginning the ideology and principles of the DPP did not differ much from the PP, except for taxation policy. The Progress Party originated in the 1970s as a tax-protest and ultra-liberal party; in time it also acquired an anti-immigrant stance. Pia Kjaersgaard defected from the PP not because of her dissatisfaction with the party's ideology but rather for the party's inner structure which she considered anarchical. In time, however, the ideology of DPP was also changed. The party abandoned the anti-tax issues and started to pay more attention to immigration and welfare issues. The political structure was tightened and became very centralized; dissent was punished by expulsion.

At first the new party was not considered a serious political force. The press predicted it a short life. Thus, in the year of the party's foundation (1995) the popular Danish tabloid «Extra Bladet» published an article «Farewell Mrs Kjaersgaard» [1]. As the title indicated the party was not supposed to have a future. The immigration issue was selected by the DPP as the major issue for mobilizing the electorate.

Most of the 20th century Denmark was predominantly monoethnic country. In I960, for example, immigrants constituted about 40,000 or less than one percent of the population. Besides, about half of these 40,000 were from Nordic countries, and about 25 percent came from developed countries of Europe and North America. Thus, non-Westemers comprised only about 10,000 in I960 [2, p. 191].

By 2000, the number of immigrants had grown to 260,000 or almost to 5 percent of the population. Of these only about twenty percent were from developed western societies. In total, the number of non-westem immigrants had grown from 0.2 percent in I960 to 5.5 percent in 2000 [2, p. 192]. It happened because of the traditionally generous welfare policy and the reputation for tolerance in Denmark. The increasing number of non-westem immigrants raised significant political issues and stimulated the growth of anti-immigrant, especially anti-Muslim, feelings among the population.

A significant growth in the number of immigrants occurred in the mid-sixties when huge numbers of so-called guest workers from Muslim countries entered the country. At that time Denmark experienced an industrial growth and welcomed the guest workers. Immigration to Denmark during the 1960s and early 1970s was practically unrestricted. In 1973 the global oil crisis struck Denmark as well as many other European countries. The oil crisis brought economic recession and a considerable increase in unemployment. As a result, the government practically froze the guest workers program, but the guest workers who had entered the country previously enjoyed wide rights including the right to bring to Denmark their families and even spouses to be. This so-called reunification policy was part of Denmark's historical reputation for humanitarianism and contributed to a steady growth of immigration from Muslim countries during the next three decades. In the late 1970s and 1980s the public concern for immigration was reflected in the growth of popularity of the far right Progress Party, whose founder and leader, Mogens Glistrup, was notorious for anti-immigrant and especially anti- Muslim speeches.

In 1983 the Danish government passed a law which increased the rights of asylum seekers. As a result, the number of asylum seekers increased from 332 in 1983 to over 9,000 in 1986 [2, p. 195]. In the early 1990s a civil war in Yugoslavia caused a huge influx of refugees to Denmark and contributed to the further growth of anti-immigrant feelings. Most Yugoslavian refugees were Muslims from Bosnia and Herzegovina. In addition to this, many thousands of Muslim refugees arrived at this time from Somalia and Iraq. Refugees brought an increase in the crime rite and many Danes started to express their concern over the issue.

The growing concern over immigration led in 1995 to the emergence of the far right Danish People's Party which separated from the Progress Party. Soon the active anti-immigration and anti-EU policy of the Danish People's Party allowed it to eclipse its competitive Progress Party. The party leader, Pia Kjaersaard, explained the success of her party: «I think people are frightened by the number of immigrants in Denmark. The people who vote for us want to send immigrants back to where they came from» [2,p. 199].

The governing Social Democratic Party severely criticized Pia Kjaersaard for her anti-immigrant statements, but had to respond to people's fears. Thus, it adopted some restrictions on immigration, such as a requirement for immigrants to attend classes in the Danish language and culture, deportations for committing crimes, and substantiations of family connections through DNA tests. But the flow of refugees continued. About 6,000 refugees, mostly from Muslim countries (Somalia, Afghanistan, Iraq), arrived each year during the 1990s. As a result, by the time of the 1998 national election the support for the far right parties (Danish People's Party and the Progress Party) had increased by over fifty percent.

In the 1998 national election the immigration issue was one of the main that bothered the Danes. This electorate's anxiety over immigration helped the Danish People's Party achieve its first serious success in elections. The party got 7.4 percent of the vote and received 13 seats in parliament.

The late 1990s saw an upsurge in immigrant-related violence. Thus, in November 1999 riots broke out in the Danish capital, Copenhagen, when the government tried to deport from the country a Muslim who committed a violent crime. One of the capital's business districts was severely damaged (almost every shop was destroyed and many cars burnt). These riots, naturally, contributed to the growth of anti-immigrant sentiments and an increase in the popularity of the far right parties. Pia Kjaersgaard, the Danish People's Party's leader, proposed to deport not only the immigrant who had committed a violent crime, but his family as well. Glistrup, the leader of the Progressive Party, offered to isolate immigrants in camps. He also derogatory called Muslims «mohammedians» and proposed to sell Muslim teenage girls to Latin America. Such statements led to accusations of Glistrup of racism and contributed to the fall of popularity of the Progress Party. The Danish People's Party became the major representative of the far right electorate in Denmark. Its major supporters were low-skilled workers who saw in immigrants a threat to theirjobs. Many middle-class Danes were also irritated by the fact that their taxes were paid to support non-Westem immigrants who received almost forty percent of the welfare benefits.

Some analysts believe that the DPP's ideology was developed or at least influenced by members of the Danish Association (Den Danske Forming), a far right group led by the priest Soren Kraup who became one of the DPP's leaders and MP. The Danish Association's major concern was the issue of immigration, especially from Muslim countries. This organization made up mostly of right wing intellectuals equalized the resistance to Nazi Germany with the resistance to Muslim immigrants. Thus, Islam was put on the same ground as Nazism [3, p. 99]. Soren Kraup regarded the Danish People's Party as a resistance movement against the parliament's pro-refugee and pro-immigrant policies which break up the nation [3,p. 104].

The governing Social Democratic Party (SDP) had to respond to the growth of anti-immigrant feelings of its electorate and in 2000 passed a law which forbade immigrants under age 25 to bring a spouse to Denmark. But that measure did not help much the SDP. In the election of2001 it for the first time since 1920 lost majority in the legislature. In contrast, the anti-immigrant far right Danish People's Party became the third-largest in the legislature, gaining over 12 percent of the vote and 22 seats in parliament. Its famous election poster showed a blond child with a text: «By the time she retires, Denmark will be a maj ority-Muslim nation» [7]. During the 1990s Denmark's Muslim population nearly doubled to two hundred thousand and that made the immigration issue a central one in the election campaign of 2001 [4]. The horrible events of 9/11 in the USA made many Danes ponder about Muslim threat and helped the Danish People's Party achieve great success in these elections. The party decided not to join the ruling Conservative-Liberal coalition led by Fogh Rasmussen but rather give it its parliamentary support in exchange for introduction of tougher measures against immigrants and asylum seekers. Abstention from participating in the coalition government also gave the Danish People's Party an opportunity to present itself as an anti-elitist force and the true representative of ordinary Danes. The party rhetoric often sounded in simple words for an ordinary Dane to understand; the academic language and political terminology were avoided [3, p. 100]. The DPP played the key role in drawing up the law on immigration passed in 2002. The law was considered «Europe's toughest» and stipulated that immigrants could bring their spouses to Denmark only if they had sufficiently large apartment and income; reunification with parents over sixty years old was no longer allowed; permanent- resident permits were now granted after seven years instead of three, refugees' welfare benefits were cut now by 40 percent during their first seven years in the country, etc. Thus, Denmark's policy on immigration turned from one of Europe's most open to one of the most restricted.

The law had immediate effects. In 2001 some 13 thousand permits for family reunification were granted and only 5 thousand in 2003 [8]. The law also provoked thousands of immigrants to move from Denmark to Sweden which started to castigate the Danish government for undermining Scandinavian solidarity. Criticism also came from the UN and the Council of Europe. This criticism did not change Copenhagen's position. Pia Kjaersgaard, the DPP leader, reacted to the criticism by stating: «If they want to turn Stockholm, Gothenburg or Malmoe into a Scandinavian Beirut, with clan wars, honor killings and gang rapes, let them do it» [8]. In general, the number of asylum applications in Denmark fell from 31 percent in 2000 to 9 percent in 2003, while in Sweden it rose from 41 percent to 60 percent [8]. Due mostly to its anti-immigrant stance the Danish People's Party increased its support in the elections of 2005 from 12 percent to 13.3 percent of the vote and got additional two seats (24 in total) in parliament.

After the tragic terrorist acts of September 11, 2001 in the USA the immigration issue got a new flavor all around Europe. Just a few days after 9/11 several leading MPs from the Danish People's Party talked about a direct connection between terrorism with Islam. [1, p. 127]. The «war on terror» gave a kind of legitimacy to anti-Muslim sentiments and far light parties started to present themselves as defenders of Western values against barbaric immigrants from Muslim countries. European radical parties began to talk about a clash between civilizations. Pia Kjaersgaard went even further saying in October 2001: «there is only one civilization, and that is ours» [1, p. 128]. In 2005 the further surge of anti-Islamic feelings was caused by the violent reaction of the Muslim world to the publication in the Danish paper Jyllands-Posten of caricatures of Mohammed wearing a lit bomb as a turban. Dozens of Europeans died as a result of these events. The leader of DPP, Pia Kjaersgaard, talked at that time about fundamental differences between Denmark and Muslim countries, which she placed at a lower stage of development, called them «medieval» with their «cruel and primitive customs like honor killings, forced marriages, halal slaughtering and blood feuds» [9].

The DPP believes that immigration from other cultures which are impossible to integrate will transform Denmark into a minority during the 21 century. The party stressed that it is culture that makes nations reach or poor, thus Muslim culture makes countries «poor, not free and unbearable» [5, p. 107]. Only cultural differences can explain why countries with poor resources have order and wealth while the countries with reach resources are overpopulated, poor, and ruled by dictators. The party program stresses that Denmark is not a country of immigrants and that the party will not accept transformation to multicultural society [10]. According to the party, destruction of national identity will lead to a multicultural Europe which will be open to anti-democratic movements and violence [5, p. 107]. The party considers Islam incompatible with democracy, and it does not think that immigration will solve the problem of aging population in the future. Immigration from non-Westem societies is often linked in the party literature with high crime rates. The party in contrast to the mainstream media tries to single out crime statistics based on ethnicity [1, p. 134]. The immigrants who committed crimes must be deported, according to the party program of2001. The criminal age must be also reduced from 15 to 12. This idea was probably caused by the fact that many non-European teenagers were involved in crime.

The DPP's growing support happened not only due to its anti-immigrant policy. In contrast to many other far right parties, the DPP started to pay considerable attention to social issues. It began to advocate higher pensions for low-income earners and better care for the elderly. The party invented a successful formula which was not typical of the traditional far right: combination of anti-immigrant and pro-welfare policies. According to the former prime minister Fogh Rasmussen, the DPP is difficult to locate since it combines leftist and rightist ideologies simultaneously [4]. The party became an ardent supporter of the Danish lower middle class and poorer segments of the population who feared immigration most of all. Immigration was a universal tool to scare this electorate. Immigrants were blamed for stealing their jobs and devouring their welfare benefits. They were considered as undeserving recipients of welfare benefits. According to the party, the benefits should be given only to the Danish citizens who had paid taxes. The party also advocates increasing pensions and improving health care for the elderly, who are, first of all, the Danes. The elderly are quite numerous and most politically active group of the population; that is why the party decided to attract this segment of Danish society. All expenses for immigrants and asylum seekers were to be cut considerably to save money for the needy Danes. Thus, the working class and the elderly became the most active supporters of the DPP; in earlier times they used to support the left.

At first the DPP considered immigration as a financial burden for the country's welfare system. In time, however, immigration was considered in a cultural framework as a threat to Danish culture and identity. It became more and more demonized and turned into the major menace to the Danes as a nation. Danish famous cultural traits as liberty, tolerance, individualism, equality were put under threat. The DPP's emphasis on the cultural aspects brought also feminists, Jews and homosexuals to their camp. (Similar tendencies could be traced in other EU countries, for example in France, where the far light National Front's popularity is growing day by day). The DPP's stress on culture and incompatibility between Islam and democracy has brought to the party not only conservative intellectuals but also the liberal ones who used to support the left. Many of the former supporters of the left became disappointed with their parties (especially with their immigration policies) and switched to the right. Thus, in time the party began to attract wide segments of Danish population from various strata. Immigration became one of the most important issues which draw attention of many Danes regardless of their previous political inclinations. They believe that the DPP is most efficient political force capable of tackling the problem. As to humanitarian obligation to help immigrants and refugees, the party believes that it would be better to help them outside Denmark's borders [10].

The DPP's foreign policy reflects its concern for internal issues. The party is Eurosceptic since it believes that European integration leads to globalization and multiculturalism that destroy national culture and identity. The party also advocates returning to the old currency (crown) and withdrawal from the Schengen agreement to protect the borders from immigrants and asylum seekers.

In June 2015 the Danish People's Party achieved its best result ever securing over 20 percent of the vote. It became the second most powerful political force in the country. The party's new leader, Kristian Thulesen Dahl, put forward such priorities as «cutting the number of asylum seekers, reintroducing border controls, and preventing migrants claiming benefits» [11]. Despite its stunning success in the elections, the DPP decided to continue its traditional policy: not to be part of the government, but to support it in return for implementation of the party's political agenda. Probably the most publicized result of that cooperation was the implementation of the so-called «jeweliy law» aimed at discouraging refugees from entering the country. The bill was passed almost unanimously (even the Social Democrats voted for it) showing the shift to the right in Danish politics. The law required confiscating valuables of asylum seekers (including jeweliy and gold except for that of special emotional value like wedding rings, etc.) to pay for their stay in the country. Under the law, the refugees could keep valuables amounting to $ 1,450. The law also forbade asylum seekers staying outside refugee centers and delayed the opportunity to apply for family reunification for three years [12]. The numerous protests from international human rights organizations were neglected. The jewelry law clearly revealed that the local population did not want to support immigrants anymore. In August 2016 Lars Rasmussen's government under the pressure from the Danish People's Party cut social benefits to refugees by 45 percent [4].

Despite the fact that Denmark has one of the toughest immigration policies in Europe, many Danes (13 percent according to a recent poll) are not satisfied with it, consider it too soft and want stricter anti-immigration laws. This dissatisfaction led to the emergence in 2015 of another far right anti-immigrant party called the New Civil Party. Its leader, Pemille Vermund, wants Danish borders to be protected by armed guards and she also advocates sending asylum seekers back to their war-tom countries [12]. The problem is that Denmark signed the Refugee Convention and must treat refugees well. Thus, the New Civil Party advocates withdrawal from the Refugees Convention to put a stop to asylum seekers in Denmark.

Summing up the material we can draw some conclusions. If European mainstream parties do not find a way of efficient counteraction to the further growth of the far right, the stability and even existence of the EU will be put under a serious threat. The breakup of the EU will strengthen Russia considerably and put at risk Ukraine's independence. The mainstream parties of the EU should give up political correctness and reduce the flow of immigrants from non-Christian countries. Otherwise it will be done by the far right to their benefit.

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СмольнІковЮ. Б., кандидат історичних наук, доцент кафедри історії та документознавства, Національний авіаційний університет (Україна, Київ), ysmolnikov@yandex.ua danish party electorate

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