Irish populists have recently taken to lauding the Danish Social Democrats’ migration policy, yet their consistent praise neglects the reality that the famed “Danish model” is in fact the worst-case scenario for genuine anti-establishment politics.
Consider that the populist, conservative Danish People’s Party, previously the custodian of anti-migration policy in the country, was ransacked for ideas by Mette Frederiksen’s liberal technocrats in a desperate bid to kill the party’s political future. The political consequences of the Danish Social Democrats have been a disaster for the populist Danish People’s Party who, losing ground on migration went from holding 37 parliamentary seats in 2015, to a mere 5 in 2022.
Far from solving the migration crisis in Denmark, their policies of forceful assimilation only ensure the entrenchment of migrant communities in Denmark, and don’t deal with the underlying issues with the protection of a small country’s heritage and culture. Forcing migrants to speak Danish and stealing asylum seekers’ jewellery makes for good headlines, but rest assured, it only kicks the can of migration issues down the road for the next generation to deal with on worse footing.
Yet if this is the case, why are Irish populists so favourable towards Danish political solutions?
Figures such as Eddie Hobbes, Nick Delehanty, and Cork Councillor Albert Deasy have further endorsed the illusory Danish solution to Irish problems.
It must be emphasised, Denmark is the nightmare scenario for right-wing populism, and by rattling the sabre, mantling the cause of social democracy, Irish populists are handing an optical payload to a newly awakened Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael who will stop at nothing to obfuscate from their prior failures on migration. Or perhaps—God forbid—Holly Cairns’ Social Democrats will replicate their Danish sister party?
Don’t be surprised when the government’s National Migration Strategy is released next year, and it uses the Danish model as an inspiration. When right-wing populists clamoring for political relevancy have their ideas eaten and absorbed in the amorphous blob of Ireland’s principleless uni-party, will they realise their folly? When Simon Harris and Micheál Martin speak of the wonders of Danish Social Democracy, will Irish populists claim victory as their political ground is served on a silver platter to the uni-party?
Political borrowing is not in of itself a problem, but idealising the policies of a technocratic liberal party across multiple subject areas certainly is. Irish populists will never be political allies to Danish Social Democrats, rather Mette Frederiksen and her ilk represent everything that anti-establishment populist is supposed to stand against. Populists in Ireland seeking a policy position to plant their flag in might find better outcomes by blending the parts they like about Danish policy with the real migratory restrictions of Poland, Hungary, and to a certain extent Australia.
Mette Frederiksen, despite some optical flourishes against migration and the European Court of Human Rights, is a liberal technocrat dead-set on holding onto power. Popularising her policies in Ireland spells disaster for an immature political right, and a blessing to our elites.
Some on the Irish Right have commented on the Yookay government’s decision to adopt the Danish migratory policy, as if it were a demonstration of the model’s success is of further concern. Just as the Conservative Party weaponised “stop the boats” as a political slogan to distract from the open floodgates of legal migration entering Britain, so too will the buzzwords “Danish-style Social Democracy” be used in Eyeland and the Yookay to obfuscate from the government’s failures and economic decline.
More controversially, Frederisken is responsible for using the Danish European Council Presidency to push through Chat Control, a controversial bill that under the guise of “child protection” seeks to eliminate end-to-end encryption in the European Union altogether, and allow censor authorities access to the communication records of every citizen in the bloc.
One might wonder, if Ireland’s government in their European Council Presidency next year might pursue a similar trajectory as they inevitably seek to replicate Frederiksen’s grip on power?
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