The European Court of Justice’s advocate general, Tamara Ćapeta, has found that Denmark’s “ghetto law” constitutes direct discrimination on the basis of ethnic origin. The law allows the state to demolish apartment blocks in areas where at least half of residents have a “non-western” background.
The court’s decision could have broad implications for Denmark’s social housing law, which categorizes neighborhoods based on factors such as unemployment, crime, and immigrant population. The law requires public housing associations to propose plans to cut social housing by 40% in areas deemed “transformation areas” by 2030, which could lead to discrimination against tenants based on their ethnic background.