Danish citizenship applicants to send complaint to parliamentary ombudsman

One of the group, who declined to be named, said that the signatures would be sent as part of a formal complaint to the ombudsman about the new Danish government’s delay in presenting a new citizenship bill to the parliament or continuing with the bill shelved in early March after the general election was announced.

If the Ombudsman then declines to investigate, they hope to try and pursue the issue at a European level.

“We believe it is important to first pursue the available domestic avenues,” one of the group, who was informed earlier this year that her name would be included in the next citizenship bill, told The Local. “Depending on the outcome, we will then assess whether any further steps at the European level are appropriate.”

The letter was written by a second person whose name was included in the abandoned January citizenship bill.

The lighterwhich is still taking new signaturescomplains of “the repeated postponements, the continued suspension of case processing, and the lack of predictability for applicants”.

It notes that Denmark’s government first decided not to submit a citizenship bill to parliament in October last year, arguing that Denmark’s Presidency of the European Council meant there was insufficient time.

The bill submitted to parliament in January, it continues, was then shelved after the government called a general election.

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These delays, the letter states, break with fundamental principles of administrative law, including the requirement for a reasonable processing time, legal certainty, good administrative practice, and the rule of legitimate expectations (the expectation principle).

The letter requests that the ombudsman investigate:

• whether the total duration of the postponements and suspensions is compatible with the requirement of reasonable processing time;
• whether the applicants’ legal protection is sufficiently ensured during the current suspension;
• whether the authorities’ handling of the cases is compatible with the principles of good administrative practice;
• whether the expectations that the Ministry has created through its written communications to the applicants have been handled in accordance with the expectation principle;
• whether it is compatible with general principles of administrative law to allow applications that have already been submitted and in some cases have been processed to await indefinite future political processes.

Foreigners affected by the delay in citizenship awards can add their signature to the letter using this form.