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Cost of refugees skyrocketing in Denmark

TheCopenhagenPost
November 25th, 2015


This article is more than 9 years old.

Over 25,000 asylum seekers expected next year

The numbers and the costs continue to rise (photo: Timothaus)

The expenses incurred in handling asylum-seekers in Denmark have doubled to well over 9 billion kroner.

And Dansk Folkeparti (DF) and Socialdemokraterne (S) are both now accusing the current Venstre-led government of breaking its campaign promises to slow down the numbers and slash the costs the country pays for asylum-seekers.

In 2014, the last full year of Helle Thorning-Schmidt’s government, the cost stood at 4.7 billion kroner as 14,815 people sought asylum.

And according to a parliamentary answer from the immigration minister, Inger Støjberg, the anticipated 25,000 asylum-seekers headed to Denmark next year will cost the country nearly 10 billion kroner.

Broken promises
In 2014, Venstre made a campaign promise for an immediate slowdown in the number of asylum-seekers, which would save billions of kroner. Both DF and S are now saying that Venstre has broken its promises.

“One must recall that Venstre clearly promised voters fewer asylum-seekers and that they would save billions in costs,” DF head Peter Skaarup told Metroxpress. “Neither thing has happened.”

READ MORE: Six percent of residents on Danish island now refugees

“The costs are billions more and the government announced that they expect a record 25,000 asylum seekers next year,” parliamentary minister Benny Engelbrecht (S) said. “Venstre is not keeping its promises.”


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A survey carried out by Megafon for TV2 has found that 71 percent of parents have handed over children to daycare in spite of them being sick.

Moreover, 21 percent of those surveyed admitted to medicating their kids with paracetamol, such as Panodil, before sending them to school.

The FOLA parents’ organisation is shocked by the findings.

“I think it is absolutely crazy. It simply cannot be that a child goes to school sick and plays with lots of other children. Then we are faced with the fact that they will infect the whole institution,” said FOLA chair Signe Nielsen.

Pill pushers
At the Børnehuset daycare institution in Silkeborg a meeting was called where parents were implored not to bring their sick children to school.

At Børnehuset there are fears that parents prefer to pack their kids off with a pill without informing teachers.

“We occasionally have children who that they have had a pill for breakfast,” said headteacher Susanne Bødker. “You might think that it is a Panodil more than a vitamin pill, if it is a child who has just been sick, for example.”

Parents sick and tired
Parents, when confronted, often cite pressure at work as a reason for not being able to stay at home with their children.

Many declare that they simply cannot take another day off, as they are afraid of being fired.

Allan Randrup Thomsen, a professor of virology at KU, has heavily criticised the parents’ actions, describing the current situation as a “vicious circle”.

“It promotes the spread of viruses, and it adds momentum to a cycle where parents are pressured by high levels of sick-leave. If they then choose to send the children to daycare while they are still recovering, they keep the epidemic going in daycares, and this in turn puts a greater burden on the parents.”