Denmark - December 2025

On 18 December, the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) issued a preliminary ruling finding that Denmark’s Public Housing Law, known as the ‘ghetto law’ may amount to direct discrimination on the basis of ethnicity. Such preliminary rulings provide binding legal interpretation to national courts. The case was raised by residents who had been evicted from social housing based on criteria set out in the law and will now go to Denmark’s Eastern High Court. The law, introduced in 2018, aims to reduce the share of housing in designated ‘transformation areas’, defined in part by having more than 50 per cent residents who are ‘immigrants from non‑Western countries and their descendants’ over the past five years. Areas meeting these criteria face a series of measures, including mandatory reductions in public housing, demolition or sale of housing units and tougher criminal penalties for offences committed within the designated zones.

Sources: Regeringen, Social- og Boligministeriet, Reuters, Amnesty International, Court of Justice of the EU