Day 9: Monday, June 15

After a great weekend of social events, where we got to know each other even better, we started this week off at the Ministry of Integration, where - to our surprise - there was breakfast waiting for us. A presentation was made by Mr Henrik Kyvsgaard, Head of Section for Integration, and three of his colleagues in which they explained all the initiatives that have been taken in the last decade to integrate immigrants in the Danish society. The time just flew by and our program coordinator once again had to cut us off from raising all the questions we had, which just underlines the enthusiasm and engagement this program calls forth. We just seem to want to know more all the time, whether it´s about immigrants, the Danish political system or the EU.

The presentation ended and we headed back to our “base”, Wilders Plads to have typical Danish lunch, which our coordinators Rasmus and Shayne have been preparing for us since we started on the program. The great thing about this part of the day is that we always, with great curiosity, can discuss and have a laugh about how people combine their “smørrebrød” depending on whether they are from the U.S., Bosnia or DK, men or female.

After lunch the time came for the presentation of the Mr. Thomas Gammeltoft, PhD, Danish Institute of International Studies (DIIS). Gammeltoft's presentation on Danish immigration policy and politics was perhaps the most enlightening of the day, and complimented the account of Denmark's immigration situation given by the Ministry of Integration earlier in the morning. Dr. Gammeltoft spoke about the tightening, so to speak, of Danish immigration laws, including stricter regulations regarding citizenship, marriages, and family re-unification. He also discussed an aspect of Danish policy that hadn't been addressed beforehand--the complex relationships between Denmark and the EU. His opinion was that Denmark was at a disadvantage within the EU because, due to its opt-out clauses on several pieces of EU legislation, it did not have influence over many issues directly concerning its national interests. Dr. Gammeltoft stressed that in many ways, Denmark's reticence towards participating fully in certain EU policy spheres was amounted to a lose-lose situation.



The presentation given by representatives of the Council on Ethnic Minorities and their Ministry of Integration liason offered a more grass-roots perspective of immigrant issues. The idea that some minority council members were picked by the same municipal governments they lobbied was a bit surprising. It is also surprising that the same country could have what are essentially local minority lobbying firms, and at the same time enforce such strict citizenship requirements. The testimony of Lynette Munk, from the CEM, that she had never really felt personally unwelcome by Danish society was also telling.

We also had an evaluation meeting today, where we all agreed that we would like to stay longer at the end of the day in order to discuss the days subject/s, as so many impressions and opinions are being made through the different presentations that it could be nice to have the opportunity to exchange thoughts and ideas within our group. During this meeting we also agreed that we would wait with the dinner till after the visit to the Islamic Faith Community at, what Copenhageners call, Nørrebronx, where we got to experience a multicultural side of København.



We heard a presentation about Islam as well as Muslims in general in the Danish society. I think that everybody felt that it was extremely interesting to hear the opinion of this minority group that is so widely debated in the media nowadays. So once again we had to be cut off with all the questions we had and we finished the evening – where else – then at a shawarma place! In conclusion, it has been a long, but very informative day.

-Sesi and Alena