Immigration Minister Sylvi Listhaug says it’s a shame for the Norwegian nation that the opposition in Parliament have dumped several of her proposal for tightening the asylum policy.
She neither got a majority for the government’s proposal to tighten the family reunification rules substantially or grant asylum seekers who are unaccompanied minors temporary residence, when the municipal committee of the Parliament made its recommendations and report on Monday. Listhaug deeply regrets this.
– This is primarily a shame for the Norwegian nation. We need a sustainable policy that safeguards the Norwegian welfare model. The level of immigration to Norway will be a decisive factor in this. Everything indicates that the level of immigration to Europe will remain high, the Minister writes in an email .
Listhaug says the changes, among other things, means that Norway will get a less strict family reunification policy than Sweden.
– This is worrying considering the consequences we have seen in coverage from Sweden, she writes.
– We also see that unaccompanied minors make up a large part of immigration into Europe. If we don’t get measures in place for this, we risk that more children are being sent on a long and dangerous journey in the hands of smugglers, Listhaug writes, while giving a large part of the blame for the rejection of her proposals to Labor and what she calls the party’s course change in immigration policy.
Source: NTB scanpix / Norway Today
