Michael de Laine

New centrist party will improve integration

By Michael de Laine, Copenhagen, 6^th January 2009

Simon Emil Ammitzbøll, who left the Social Liberals last year following disagreements with the party leader, Margrethe Vestager, today announced the formation of a new center-right party, Borgerligt Centrum (Civil Centre), which will work to improve integration in Denmark.

Ammitzbøll will keep his seat in the present parliament, where he is technically an independent until his new party is properly registered with the necessary 20,000 signatures, and will fight the next election as a member of Borgerligt Centrum.

The next hurdle will be to get more than 2% of the votes, which will put the new party in the parliament and give it some influence, which the party will use to put pressure on the Liberal-Conservative coalition government and its main supporter, the Danish People’s Party.

‘Arguments do actually work,’ Ammitzbøll said. ‘I’ve experienced that as a Social Liberal in the parliament when negotiating with the government.’

Among its policies, Borgerligt Centrum wants more money for health and education, fewer rules for both businesses and private citizens, reforms to ensure more people are available for the labour market, and better integration.

The present early retirement scheme should be abolished and the retirement age raised as ways to help the nation’s economy by getting people to work more.

Skilled and competent immigrants should be part of the Danish labour force, and Borgerligt Centrum will do this partly by abolishing the ‘24-year-old’ rule and the affiliation requirement of having greater ties to Denmark than any other country.

Asked whether it was not getting a bit crowded in the center of Danish politics, where the Liberal Alliance and the Social Liberals jockey for position, Ammitzbøll said Borgerligt Centrum is based on liberal and humanistic values.

Political observers have not given the new party many chances, however.