Danish officials are hoping that a European Union court can settle the issue of missing loan repayments from European students to Copenhagen.
Under Danish and EU law, international students from other EU member states are allowed to draw student loans from the Danish state. However, Denmark is currently unable to force repayments once the student has returned to his or her home nation.
“There is no way of getting [the money back] unless people are stupid enough to pay voluntarily”
According to a report from the Danish ministry of taxation, the state is now owed at least €105 million.
Danish tax minister Karsten Lauritzen recently told the Danish political magazine Politiken that “it is unacceptable that some people come to Denmark, receive loans funded by the Danish state and then just go back to another EU country and don’t bother paying the money back”.
A spokesperson for the right-wing opposition Danish People’s Party added that the system is balanced in favour of the students.
“It is clear to everyone that we can’t get the money back, and there is no way of getting it unless people are stupid enough to pay voluntarily,” they said.
The issue is complicated, however, by the argument over whether the issue comes under civil law or has to be dealt with centrally by Brussels.
If the European Commission agrees that the loan issue can be treated as civil law, it would allow the Danish state to commence legal proceedings in the visiting student’s home country. This would allow the sovereign European states to enforce re-payment.
However, if the Commission does not agree, Danish authorities would have to go through the often labourious task of changing European Union rules on the matter. This may be forced to wait until a change in Brussels leadership, in 2022.
Without taking either of these routes, it would be possible for Denmark to take these students to a central European court. However, according to Henning Bang Fuglsang Madsen, a law professor at the University of Southern Denmark, this process would be “very complicated and very, very cost-heavy”.
The issue has piqued interest now, due to recent figures revealing that the number of EU students drawing on Danish state loans doubled between 2012 and 2016.
It is understood that more than 10,000 EU students still owe Copenhagen repayments.
