“The ethnic criterion used by Danish legislation stigmatises the ethnic group whose structural disadvantage in their ability to integrate into Danish society was recognised, thus curtailing rather than enhancing their chances to integrate into that society,” the statement said.
Denmark’s “ghetto law”, which allows the state to demolish apartment blocks in areas where at least half of residents have a “non-western” background, constitutes direct discrimination on the basis of ethnic origin, a senior adviser to the EU’s top court has found.
The case was referred to the ECJ by Denmark’s eastern high court after tenants on the Mjølnerparken estate in Copenhagen and Schackenborgvænge estate in Slagelse challenged the legality of development plans based on Danish social housing law.
The statement added: “She considers that, although ‘non-westerners’ are an ethnically diverse group, what unites that group is not a commonality of factors that form ‘ethnicity’ within that group, but rather the perception by the Danish legislature that this group does not possess the characteristics of the other group, the ‘westerners’.”.
The European court of justice (ECJ) said in a statement on Thursday that Tamara Ćapeta, an advocate general, had found in a non-binding legal opinion that “the division between ‘western’ and ‘non-western’ immigrants and their descendants is based on ethnic origin.”.
