One of the Danish People’s Party’s most influential figures has called for it to topple the minority centre-right government of Lars Løkke Rasmussen in a bid to force through a temporary ban on Islamic immigration.
Søren Krarup, the priest regarded as the party’s chief ideologue, said he supported the call made on Thursday by the party’s deputy leader Søren Espersen for a total ban on immigration from Muslim countries for a period of 4-6 years, and believed that the best way to achieve this was to withdraw support from the government.
“In my opinion, the Danish People’s Party should topple the [Lars] Løkke [Rasmussen] government without reflection,” Krarup told Denmark’s Berlingske newspaper. “Løkke is a completely unqualified leader, who would rather cultivate a European supra-nationalism than to treat Denmark as a Christian country with our own historical context.”
Søren Espersen on Thursday proposed the ban in an opinion piece written for the Berlingske newspaper, only to have his proposal shot down by the ruling Liberal Party government, on the grounds that it was not willing to begin discriminating against immigrants on the basis of their religion.
Krarup argued that while the current government had moved to tighten immigration, its progress would be hobbled so long as it refused to recognise the particular threat posed by newcomers with Muslim backgrounds.
“It is obvious that it is Islam that is the threat. It is Muslim immigration that is the problem. That is why I would topple the [Lars] Løkke [Rasmussen] government and I would do it based on Søren Espersen’s excellent message,” Krarup said.
The DPP currently hold 37 out of 179 seats in Denmark’s parliament, more than the 34 held by the governing Liberal Party, giving it the power to break and form governments.
Krarup said he had been so disappointed by Rasmussen’s dealings with German Chancellor Angela Merkel that he now believed that the DPP should instead back a Social Democrat government.
“He’s a mouthpiece of Angela Merkel, who due to his complete ignorance and superficiality does not understand what a disaster Islamic immigration is to Europe, as if it continues, it will lead to Europe’s destruction,” he said.
Søren Krarup, 78, was an MP for the DPP from 2001 until 2011, and is the author of 26 books advancing his culturally conservative views.