Denmark stands by law evicting 'non-Western' tenants after EU court flags discrimination
Denmark's 2018 'ghetto' law, now the parallel-societies law, requires so-called transformation areas, where 'immigrants from non-Western countries and their descendants' have exceeded 50 percent of residents, to cut the share of public family housing by 2030 through sales, demolitions and lease terminations. Tenants of Mjølnerparken in Copenhagen and Schackenborgvænge in Slagelse whose leases were terminated challenged it, and on 18 December 2025 the Court of Justice of the EU ruled that the criterion may amount to direct or indirect discrimination on grounds of ethnic origin, leaving the final decision to Denmark's Eastern High Court. In Mjølnerparken alone 1,493 residents were relocated in 2020, and experts estimate about 11,000 people nationwide will need new homes by 2030, according to The Local. Lars Løkke Rasmussen, prime minister when the law passed and now foreign minister, called the ruling 'sad' and said the government stands by the law, which remains in force.
The ghetto law must be changed so that it no longer discriminates.
the intention was good, the results have been fantastic, but we are not there yet and we need to get there
such treatment may take the form of an increased risk, for the inhabitants of 'transformation areas', of having their leases terminated early
The ministry said it will study the ruling closely and that the case now returns to the Eastern High Court.
Called the ruling 'sad' and said the intention was good and the results have been fantastic.
No outcome recorded yet.