COPENHAGEN: Denmark may long have been perceived as the small, friendly country which gave the world Lego building bricks, Hans Christian Andersen and the beauty of Copenhagen. And it still gives more of its wealth in aid to the developing world than any other country and has welfare benefits that are among the most generous in the industrialised world.

But on Monday Denmark will acquire a less friendly image when it introduces the toughest immigration laws in Europe.

On the same day as it takes over the EU’s prestigious rotating presidency and begins to broker a common EU asylum policy, the new laws will turn Denmark, overnight, into one of the world’s most hostile places for asylum seekers.

“These laws have not been framed to make refugees’ lives better,” says Bashy Quraishy, chairman of the European Network Against Racism. “They are designed to close the borders. Europe is slowly becoming a very unfriendly and inhospitable place for refugees.”

Under the new legislation, permanent resident permits will be granted after seven years instead of three, and full welfare benefits will be denied for that period.

The new laws are so tough that the UN High Commissioner for Refugees has written to the government questioning the legality of the plans under international law, and Sweden, Belgium and France have expressed their “profound concern”.

Non-Danes will no longer enjoy the legal right to be reunited with their spouse and no immigrant under the age of 24 will be allowed to bring their wife or husband into the country.

Denmark may have been the first country to sign the 1951 UN refugee convention, but from Monday it will only accept those refugees it is bound to by international law. For everyone else the shutters will come down.

Around 8 per cent of the country’s 5.3 million people are non-Danes, including EU citizens. The figure for non-white refugees and immigrants is nearer five per cent. But there is a feeling among many that saturation point has been reached.

On the fourth floor of the country’s new immigration ministry in Copenhagen, Bertel Haarder, the minister with responsibility for the dossier, does not mince his words.

“Unemployment [among immigrants] is a catastrophe, integration is a catastrophe and crime [among immigrants] is a catastrophe,” he says.

“We are fed up with forced marriages and the systematic use of the right of family reunification to get families to Denmark at the expense of the young. For a Nordic mind this is a huge offence to freedom, human dignity and self-determination and something we Danes simply cannot accept.”

Asked whether he believes Danes have become less tolerant in recent years, Mr Haarder says: “It’s total nonsense to say that we want to make the country all white.” He flourishes recent research which purports to show that Danes are no more racist than other Europeans.

Although Mr Haarder may be in charge of asylum policy, he is in the embarrassing position of having his own policies dictated by the ultra-right Danish People’s party. The DPP may not be a formal member of the country’s centre-right government but it is the hidden power behind the throne . The minority Liberal-Conservative coalition depends on it to pass legislation.

The DPP won 12 per cent of the vote in a general election last year and it has used its influence to ruthlessly shape the government’s asylum policy. It favours the repatriation of all immigrants and wants aid to the developing world privatised.

Relaxing in his office at Christiansborg castle, home of the Danish parliament, Peter Skaarup, the deputy leader of the DPP, allows himself a wry smile.

“We have more influence outside the government than the parties inside it. The subject of immigration would never have been raised unless we had applied pressure,” he says. “We are satisfied — for the time being.”

But the DPP’s success is rapidly turning into a nightmare for non-Danes. The Red Cross is shutting 11 of its 45 welcome centres as the flow of refugees dries up, the use of anti-depressants among immigrants has soared, and those waiting to hear whether they can stay are losing hope.

“Ethnic minorities are really scared — that their rights are being taken away and that it’s becoming totally impossible to establish a family or to seek asylum here,” says Mr Quraishy.

“People have started to put blue contact lenses into their eyes and bleach their hair blond for job interviews.”

“America is attacked on September 11 but the reaction of Denmark is stronger than America’s,” says Mohammed Albayati, 30, an Iraqi doctor. “They are trying to be dictatorial in a European way.”

Everyone agrees one thing — that the new laws have tarnished the country’s international reputation, perhaps irreparably.

“We used to be known for Hans Christian Andersen and for beIng such a nice little country,” says Lykke Friis, a researcher at DUPI, the country’s main thinktank.

“But Denmark no longer has a reputation as an open, cosy society where policemen stop the traffic to allow ducks to cross the road.”—Dawn/The Guardian News Service.