Denmark to deprive foreigners of welfare

From Politiken ...

The Danish government seems to be on course for yet another infraction against foreigners living on its soil. This time, basic social benefits like unemployment compensation, medical care and schooling will be withheld from foreigners, who will first have to put in several years of work in Denmark before being given access. The rub is, foreigners will continue paying full taxes which fund those services. Medical insurance however is mandatory in Denmark, so all foreigners would have to take out private coverage, no doubt from a Danish provider. Basically, a double tax.

The official reason the government coalition has given is that this step is needed to stop unemployed foreigners from burdening the Danish welfare system, and in this they have a point. It's just that the solution they're offering is highly suspect, and one doesn't have to look far to find a more plausible explanation.

There are better and fairer ways to stop people from lazing away on the dole. The waiting period being proposed seems to vary, and could be anything from four to eight years. What about making it just one year? Better still, create yearly medical insurance coverage. If you've worked for a year, the state picks up your medical insurance for the next year, funded of course by your own taxes. If you're unemployed, you have to secure medical care coverage yourself, but you also don't pay taxes when you're unemployed, so it all evens out. Thus all new-comers pay for a year's insurance, and if they start working immediately, they in effect never have to renew it themselves. There also has to be some distinction between basic emergency services and more complex treatment. It's reasonable for Denmark to want to withhold treatment for chronic or long-term illness and prevent medical tourism, while it's as reasonable for foreigners to expect that the Danish state will pick up the tab for broken bones and the occasional gunshot wound. After all, at heart this is about trying to stop unemployed people from milking the system, right? Maybe not.

Welfare in trouble

It's no secret the Danish welfare system is in deep trouble. The issue swirls about in the media on an almost daily basis. Denmark's aging population has created an ever-increasing tax burden on its active work force, while at the same time Danish businesses outsource jobs to countries with more competitive labor markets, driving up Danish unemployment. Almost all politicians are being pressed to deliver a long-term solution, and none is forthcoming. Proposals include raising taxes, increasing the work week for all, and raising the age of retirement, but all of these are politicized issues with split support along the left-right spectrum. In short, it's a bill everyone in Denmark knows has to be paid, but which no one wants to personally foot. Enter the foreigners.

Danish society has long had an ambivalent approach to us. Businesses see us as a vital source of labor, while general Danish society often regards us with a measure of unwelcome distrust. The endless tug-of-war in immigration law between allowing qualified labor in and keeping foreigners out will attest to that. But now the government itself is stepping into the fray and officially treating foreigners as a resource, this time, a tax source for its welfare funding woes. If this new law holds, the Danish government will have found an important cash source for keeping services to native Danes running. Foreigners can now be taxed for services which are withheld from them.

What you see is not necessarily what you get

The Danish state, already notorious in recent years for cutting corners and minimizing budgets, will doubtlessly examine foreigner expenses with a microscope looking for new savings opportunities. And because we now have a precedent that foreigners are not legally entitled to the service they pay for, the balancing act for the government will be deciding just how much service to withhold before foreigners become so dissatisfied that they leave. In short, living in Denmark will feel even more like a vice, one that is constantly being tightened to just before the breaking point.

One of the central tenets of Danish society is the "fælleskab", togetherness, which translates to the concept of an equal and classless society where everyone, regardless of income or education, shares the same relationship with the state, and has the right to place the same demands on it. How this new law is supposed to instill that spirit in foreigners is anyone's guess. Far from integrating newcomers, this law further reinforces the glaring divide between us and them. History is replete with examples of immigrant labor being imported into countries where they toil indentured, unwanted but needed, to feed industry. I just didn't expect to see it happening in this day and age, and certainly not in the heart of Scandinavia.