– We should now immediately establish contact with Denmark and be part of this, says FRP’s immigration policy spokesman Erlend Wiborg to NTB.

He points out that the Social Democratic government in Denmark is working to establish asylum reception centers in Africa and other places where they will send asylum seekers who come to the Danish border.

This is something the FRP has long been eager for in Norway, and in the election campaign the Labor Party gave signals that they could be open to cooperation with Danes.

– Our starting point is that we also want third country cooperation to end the death voyages across the Mediterranean. But we can find solutions that are practically possible and in line with our international obligations, said the Labor Party’s immigration policy spokesman Masud Gharahkhani to Dagens Næringsliv in the summer.

– Listen to Danish

Then he sent, however, that the Labor Party will only send asylum seekers to a safe third country if it can be documented that the person has been in this country before, and that Norway has an agreement with the country.

Wiborg now wants clarifications from the Støre government.

– My clear call is that they must now listen to Danish. These are Danish Social Democrats, it is not just the FRP who think this. Now comes the litmus test for the government. Has it just been talk, or did they mean this, he asks.

Denmark invites

Last week, FRP’s Tor André Johnsen raised the issue at the Nordic Council in Copenhagen.

Denmark’s Minister for Development Cooperation and Nordic Cooperation, Flemming Møller Mortensen, confirmed that they continue to want cooperation with Norway and other countries on the matter.

– We from the Danish side think that the asylum system that exists today has gone bankrupt. Too many people die on a dangerous flight across the Mediterranean, and therefore we must do something else, said Mortensen.

And continued:

– I want us also within the Nordic region to be able to look at an overall attitude to developing alternatives to irregular migration, which has really, really many people on its conscience.

Johnsen says that he was positively surprised by the answer.

– I get confirmation that they absolutely want a collaboration, also to get a proper framework around it, so that it safeguards human rights.

Government: Will come back to it

State Secretary Astrid Bergmål (Labor Party) in the Ministry of Justice refers to the wording the Labor Party and the Center Party became the only ones in the Hurdal platform.

It states that the government will use the room for maneuver in current legislation to “refer asylum seekers to safe countries outside Europe if they have come to Norway via this country”.

– We will come back to how this should be implemented. What I can state is that the government must pursue a fair and comprehensive immigration policy that is predictable and responsible, and as a starting point in broad settlements in the Storting, Bergmål writes in an email to NTB.

She says the government will participate in talks with the EU on migration issues and search solutions between European states.

– We must implement the policy in this area in a proper and also responsible way, says the Secretary of State.

(© NTB)