Aghiad Ghazal, a researcher in nanotechnology at the Technical University of Denmark, was looking forward to having his parents come over from Damascus to see their first grandchild.
However, when the Danish embassy in Beirut rejected the application, Ghazal started wondering whether he might need to quit his job and leave Denmark. The embassy said there was no pressing reason for his parents to visit and cited a concern that, if they came, they would never leave.
“I was disappointed and surprised. It made me think about moving to a more welcoming place,” said the 34-year-old, who is a Danish citizen.
The irony is that Denmark is struggling with some of the worst labor shortages on record and is in desperate need of skilled workers, especially those with technology backgrounds, but a string of embarrassing immigration episodes that have upset highly qualified professionals now risks leaving some experts reluctant to consider a future in Denmark.
With employment at an all-time high and unemployment at about 3 percent, businesses in Denmark have been complaining about a lack of workers. Microsoft, Oracle and Netcompany, a local IT consultant, are just some of the tech firms that have called for a change in Denmark’s approach to immigration.
Lowering the drawbridge is essential to running a multinational business, Drugs giant Novo Nordisk said, while economists say that immigrant workers have taken up 40 percent of new jobs created in Denmark over the past five years, helping the nation avoid a bottleneck that might otherwise have led to overheating.
However, more foreign labor is needed. In January, the Confederation of Danish Industry said that the percentage of manufacturers reporting production limits caused by a lack of skilled workers rose to 9 percent from 6 percent a year earlier. Last week, the group issued a fresh warning.
“The competition to attract talented foreign workers is getting tougher and tougher, and we cannot take for granted that we will be able to continue bringing in employees from abroad,” confederation chief executive officer Karsten Dybvad said in a statement.
Labor shortages are part of the reason why Denmark has seen a slowdown in quarterly economic growth, Nykredit chief economist Tore Stramer said.
“We’re vulnerable,” Stramer said in an interview in Copenhagen. “The supply of labor could very quickly fall behind demand, and that would trigger overheating.”
Denmark’s center-right coalition government is conflicted.
Danish Prime Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen said that Denmark should stop “scaring away the people we need,” while Danish Minister of Finance Kristian Jensen said he is trying to drum up support in parliament for rules that allow more foreigners into the labor market.
The hard-line wing within the Cabinet is represented by Danish Minister for Immigration, Integration and Housing Inger Stojberg, who this month courted fresh controversy by urging Muslims to stay away from work while fasting for Ramadan.
Stojberg is the same minister who called for jewels and other valuables to be seized from refugees fleeing conflict in Syria or Iraq in 2015 — an initiative that at the time drew comparisons to Nazi Germany.
In addition, Rasmussen’s minority coalition relies on the support of the anti-immigration Danish People’s Party to stay in power. The party, which says that Denmark needs to ensure its coveted welfare system is not overrun by immigrants, says the rules are functioning as intended.
“There’s no need to change the rules whatsoever,” party financial policy spokesman Rene Christensen said. “[There is] still potential to attract people from within the EU.”
The government says it has already enacted measures to boost the labor force, for instance by raising the retirement age, but Rasmussen said that more needs to be done, calling for “more political courage” at a Chamber of Commerce meeting.
With a visit to Damascus off the cards (the Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs “strongly advises” Danes against traveling to Syria), Ghazal and his heavily pregnant Danish partner, Sheila Kristensen, are left pondering what to do next.
“It’s the first time I’ve ever felt discriminated against in Denmark,” Ghazal said.
‘GREAT OPPRTUNITY’: The Paraguayan president made the remarks following Donald Trump’s tapping of several figures with deep Latin America expertise for his Cabinet Paraguay President Santiago Pena called US president-elect Donald Trump’s incoming foreign policy team a “dream come true” as his nation stands to become more relevant in the next US administration. “It’s a great opportunity for us to advance very, very fast in the bilateral agenda on trade, security, rule of law and make Paraguay a much closer ally” to the US, Pena said in an interview in Washington ahead of Trump’s inauguration today. “One of the biggest challenges for Paraguay was that image of an island surrounded by land, a country that was isolated and not many people know about it,”
DIALOGUE: US president-elect Donald Trump on his Truth Social platform confirmed that he had spoken with Xi, saying ‘the call was a very good one’ for the US and China US president-elect Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) discussed Taiwan, trade, fentanyl and TikTok in a phone call on Friday, just days before Trump heads back to the White House with vows to impose tariffs and other measures on the US’ biggest rival. Despite that, Xi congratulated Trump on his second term and pushed for improved ties, the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs said. The call came the same day that the US Supreme Court backed a law banning TikTok unless it is sold by its China-based parent company. “We both attach great importance to interaction, hope for
‘FIGHT TO THE END’: Attacking a court is ‘unprecedented’ in South Korea and those involved would likely face jail time, a South Korean political pundit said Supporters of impeached South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol yesterday stormed a Seoul court after a judge extended the impeached leader’s detention over his ill-fated attempt to impose martial law. Tens of thousands of people had gathered outside the Seoul Western District Court on Saturday in a show of support for Yoon, who became South Korea’s first sitting head of state to be arrested in a dawn raid last week. After the court extended his detention on Saturday, the president’s supporters smashed windows and doors as they rushed inside the building. Hundreds of police officers charged into the court, arresting dozens and denouncing an
RELEASE: The move follows Washington’s removal of Havana from its list of terrorism sponsors. Most of the inmates were arrested for taking part in anti-government protests Cuba has freed 127 prisoners, including opposition leader Jose Daniel Ferrer, in a landmark deal with departing US President Joe Biden that has led to emotional reunions across the communist island. Ferrer, 54, is the most high-profile of the prisoners that Cuba began freeing on Wednesday after Biden agreed to remove the country from Washington’s list of terrorism sponsors — part of an eleventh-hour bid to cement his legacy before handing power on Monday to US president-elect Donald Trump. “Thank God we have him home,” Nelva Ortega said of her husband, Ferrer, who has been in and out of prison for the
RSS