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Danes abroad join fight for dual citizenship

By The Copenhagen Post

Published 29.04.08   00:00 

With the New Alliance bringing the dual citizenship debate to parliament earlier this month, thousands of Danes living abroad have now petitioned PMs over the cause

With more than 10,000 signatures from Danes living abroad, the issue of dual citizenship is quickly heating up at Christiansborg, where a debate on the issue takes place later today.

In early April, the New Alliance party put the issue up for debate in parliament, backed by the many foreigners living in Denmark without Danish citizenship.

Now Danes who have moved abroad have become actively involved in the debate and MPs will for the first time in recent memory actively consider a law change in the area.

Denmark is currently one of only six European Union countries that does not allow dual citizenship.

For people like Tina Thuesen, a Dane who lives with her family in Switzerland - a country which also forbids dual citizenship - the proposal is important for preserving her identity as a Dane.

'I'm Danish will all my heart and I don't see why it's not possible to have a deep love for two different countries,' she said. 'I think it's unreasonable that we should be forced to give up our passports, citizenship and the roots we have had with us since birth to become citizens of the countries we live in.'

Opponents of dual citizenship have recently used the argument that allowing it would make it easier for terrorists to enter and reside in Denmark. (RC)

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