Denmark Should be Kicked Out of EU

[VetLegion]

In a debate about whether foreigners should be allowed to buy real estate in Croatia after we join EU, I was quick to point out that of course they should, it is part of EU agreements and practice that nationals of member states can buy property in any of the countries.

But then comes Denmark and torpedoes my argument.

Apparently, you are prohibited from buying real estate in Denmark unless you have lived there for 5 years, or something like that. This applies even to nationals of other EU member states. Not much info in English about this, but here is some:

http://www.lifein.dk/forum/topics/housing-rules-crisis-etc

Anyway, if Denmark has such prohibitions, why should we not have them?

Consider this:

Typical seaside Denmark:


Typical seaside Croatia:


Let us ignore for the moment the obvious question of why would anyone want to buy property in Denmark in the first place, and focus on why this discriminatory practice in which Danish nationals can buy real estate everywhere (UK, France...) but won't permit purchase of their own is being allowed to continue?

[DanS]

Are Americans not allowed to buy property in Croatia?

Odd that this stuff is even a question.

[VetLegion]

We used to have a reciprocity clause: if we are allowed to buy in country X, then nationals of X are allowed to buy here.

That is fair only on first thought, because being as we are much poorer than people who would like to buy here, it puts us in a somewhat diasadvantaged position in relation to them. They can outcompete us in our country.

Since February 2009 all restrictions on foreigner buying have been lifted, I think. I supported the move and still do, however I would now also support an exception for citizens of Denmark, for obvious reasons.

[Dinner]

Who wants to live in Denmark? The women are hot but the climate sucks. If I cared enough I'd just move to Minnesota where 50% of the population is Scandinavian (so the hot women are there) but the taxes are much lower. As it is I relay upon the whole southern California/Hollywood scene to draw them the ladies in then I pounce. That's how I got my girlfriend who is half American and half Swedish and grew up in Minnesota.

[Dinner]

BTW chicks from the former Yugoslavia are cute when they're young but I will never forget all the Serbian woman in their late 50's with mustaches I saw in Kosovo. The older Croatian woman weren't much better with big old hairy mustaches. I'm sure they lived a hard life in the poorest province of the former Yugoslavia but damn... A mustache? I wouldn't want to curse my female offspring with that type of body hair.

[VetLegion]

BTW chicks from the former Yugoslavia are cute when they're young but I will never forget all the Serbian woman in their late 50's with mustaches I saw in Kosovo. The older Croatian woman weren't much better with big old hairy mustaches. I'm sure they lived a hard life in the poorest province of the former Yugoslavia but damn... A mustache? I wouldn't want to curse my female offspring with that type of body hair.

It's the commies' fault!

[Winston]

The reason for this specially negotiated exception for Denmark goes back a couple of decades to a time when hordes of West Germans would line up to buy property along the North Sea coast of Jutland. These are in fact some of the finest beaches in all of Western Europe.

I'm not sure that the situation has changed much since; Germans would scoop up most of the real estate even today without this clause. It's similar to zoning laws, for want of a better term, in some ways, which we also have for farmers who are limited in the number of farms they can run. You want people to have more than just a superficial connection to the land they own, i.e. not just driving in from Düsseldorf for two weeks in the summer and then be absent for the rest of the year. Such a setup would alter those regions in ways that we as a country have deemed unfavourable.

Germans can rent their summer homes (which they do) - and Croatia could negotiate a similar deal if it's enough of a concern, provided they have to guts to stand up for themselves.

I see no problem with this. Danes, not the EU, should govern Denmark in matters such as these. And many other, come to think of it. Yes, I've come to the point where I agree that Denmark should be kicked out of the EU, or leave of our own accord. Too many Liberals and chauvinistic French people there who want to run everything. It's just no fun anymore.

[Winston]

Dang, I thought we were polling on whether to kick us out.

[dannubis]

Kicking the danes out and of course suspending all free treade agreements along with them...

Then see W squirm to get back into the EU because his bloated governement job has been suspended

[Winston]

Well, you're a crypto-commie of sorts, of course you'd stand up for a ghastly centralized bureaucracy like the EU.

[dannubis]

Not really,...

But a lot more advantages come from a ghastly centralized European system than from a ghastly centrlized national system...

But since i am talking to a proto fascist of course you'd stand up for the nationalistic variant of ghastlyness...

[Winston]

What bloated government job, by the way? That was years in the past, you know. I got better.

[Riesstiu IV]

What is wrong with the Denmark being in Europa Universalis III?

[Monk]

Who wants to live in Denmark?

I'm okay with it. If you come to Copenhagen one day I'll get you a beer and we'll check out some places you'd like for other reasons than neat people being around. I'd be okay with Minnesota too, never been there myself, but I've met a lot of people from there. None of them were Danish in any reasonable sense, but all were cool

This was probably the first of a number of Danish opt-outs from the European commitment and probably the only one I wouldn't mind getting rid of. Not out of principles, more like hey, we've got a financial crisis on our hands, why stop wealthy Germans from bringing foreign capital to the country?

They're generally not from Düsseldorf though - rather Hamburg. Not too many beaches in Germany, but a lot of cars to get to a foreign one. A friend told me an elderly lady from Hamburg once had medical problems arriving in Northern Jutland. The reason was allegedly that her body was not used to the high level of oxygene in the air

Look, VetLegion, the thing is that you can negotiate these things on arrival to the EU, or when you vote no to some crucial agreement, and Denmark is not the only country profiting from that. Take Sweden for instance - they got a special deal where they are exempt from a certain regulation on snus tobacco.

[Monk]

Are Americans not allowed to buy property in Croatia?

Odd that this stuff is even a question.

Let's just be clear that what we're dealing with here in Denmark is a restriction on what is legally designated a 'summer house', a sort of secondary home by the beach. I agree it's an odd practice, but it's not like you can't buy an apartment in Copenhagen, or in Zagreb, or just about every other place.