Denmark says it will not join EU refugee quotas, has taken its share

[IceWizard]

Fri Sep 11, 2015 | 6:40 AM EDT

COPENHAGEN (Reuters) -
Denmark will not take part in a scheme to share out 160,000 refugees proposed by European Commission head Jean-Claude Juncker, integration minister Inger Stojberg said on Friday.

Denmark, like Britain, has opted out of
European Union Justice and Home Affairs rules covering some aspects of immigration and as such is not obliged to take part in any EU schemes on sharing out refugees.

"We're not going to take any of the 160,000
asylum seekers that need to be distributed on
Monday," Stojberg told journalists. "There are
two reasons: Partly because we have a justice
opt-out, and partly because we have taken our
share."

EU interior ministers were meeting on Monday
to discuss Junker's proposals.

Britain has said it will take 20,000 refugees from Syrian camps over five years..

Denmark became the latest front line in
Europe's refugee crisis when over 3,000
entered the country this week, although most
said they were heading towards Sweden,
where they expected a friendlier welcome.

Denmark's reaction has been haphazard, trying to register refugees as per EU rules and temporarily closing some traffic with Germany, but then allowing the migrants to move freely after it became apparent the police had no power to stop them.

More than 14,000 people claimed asylum in
Denmark last year and it expects around
20,000 this year.

Sweden took in more than 80,000 refugees last year and expects to take the same number this year.


(Reporting by Teis Jensen and Alexander
Tange; writing by Sabina Zawadzki; Editing by
Kevin Liffey)