The Danish parliament passed a controversial plan to limit immigration after a long and heated debate. The centre-right government's bill, making it harder to win asylum and cutting welfare to immigrants, was passed with the votes from the vehemently anti-immigrant Danish People's Party (DPP).
The DPP became the third largest party in parliament in November's election on a anti-immigrant campaign after the September 11 attacks on the United States.
The law, which Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen says could be a model for European nations, was passed just days after France and Germany made a joint appeal to tighten European immigration in an effort to prevent Europe's far right from exploiting the issue at the ballot box.
European Union leaders will discuss harmonising their immigration and asylum laws at a summit in Seville next month.
