EU students’ eligibility for Danish loans faces fresh opposition

The European Union’s refusal to help the Danish government claim back unpaid student debt owed by EU citizens has renewed opposition to a ruling that allows EU students to be eligible for Danish loans.

After the EU’s response, Danish authorities are now looking to approach the countries where many recipients of student loans might have settled to ask for their cooperation, according to the newspaper Politiken.

Denmark is owed DKr426 million (£50 million) in outstanding loan debt from 2016, twice the amount that it was owed in 2012. EU citizens owe DKr123 million of this 2016 figure and no repayment instalments are being received on 40 per cent of the outstanding loans. Many EU citizens who studied in Denmark have now left the country. 

The EU’s response has renewed political opposition in the Danish parliament to a 2012 European Court of Justice ruling that citizens from EU countries working in Denmark for 10 to 12 hours per week are eligible for Danish student financing, according to reports.

In 2012, Denmark’s political parties agreed that eligibility of Danish student funding for EU students should be renegotiated in parliament if and when the total amount of debt exceeds DKr500 million.

ellie.bothwell@timeshighereducation.com