Danish dischord
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A Danish politician's proposal to slash the minimum wage by half for immigrant workers has angered many and triggered a bout of infighting within the ruling party.
The controversial plan came from Karsten Lauritzen, the government's immigration spokesman. He argued that Denmark's high minimum wage acts as a barrier for getting immigrants into the workforce and so for the first six months immigrants should be paid 50 kroner (€6.70) an hour instead of 100 kroner.
This was always going to be a political hot potato in a country that already has the toughest immigration policy in Europe. It has come under attack from all sides, with leftwing parties slamming it as discriminatory and the far right worrying it would take jobs away from "ordinary Danes".
The plan has also come under fire from Lauritzen's own boss, Immigration Minister Birthe Hornbech who says it "stigmatises immigrants".
Analysts point out that the current row is some what curious, given the fact that the government actually has no control over minimum wage, which is decided by collective agreement between trade unions and employers groups.
While some have suggested that Lauritzen's plan is just a "test balloon" to gauge reaction, our Danish correspondent Jan Simmen puts it down to a ruling party that is casting desperately around for ideas as it drops further and further in the polls. "This is just another sign of a government that's falling apart," he says.
