Immigration from non-Western countries causes the most problems in Denmark, so there should be a difference in how the country welcomes “a Christian American or Swede and a Muslim Somali or Pakistani,” according to Inger Støjberg, political spokesperson for the liberal Venstre party, Denmark’s largest opposition party.

Støjberg wrote an article for Berlingske, a national newspaper based in Copenhagen, in which she calls for Denmark to adopt an immigration policy that makes it easier for Westerners and harder for Muslims. Her comments have put immigration back at the top of political debate.

She wrote: “It is primarily Muslim immigrants who do not value democracy and freedom. In certain environments, they directly oppose it. Too many non-Western immigrants with Muslim backgrounds do not want our freedom-orientated society model.”

She said this was seen this recently at the Grimhøjvej Mosque in Aarhus, where fighters were solicited to join the jihad in the Middle East, and in the sermon in Berlin last Friday by Imam Abu Bilal, a preacher at Aarhus, who called for the help of Allah to kill Jews.

This showed that “too many Muslims in Denmark practise a medieval interpretation of the Koran and it prohibits them from being a part of normal Danish life.”

There should be a requirement that Muslims are either getting an education or have a job before they can stay in the country: “There is a danger that the cohesion of our society can be threatened in the future if we do not dare put right and reasonable requirements for those coming to Denmark.”

Her remarks created a stir amongst the other political parties, according to The Local.

The anti-immigration Danish People’s Party welcomed Støjberg’s remarks: “If Venstre has now finally understood the need to differentiate between immigrants and limit non-Western immigration, then we are getting closer to each other,” a spokesman said.

However, a spokesman for the Conservative Party which is, like Venstre, in opposition, said: “For me as a conservative it is important to set requirements [for immigrants] but it is also important that the requirements are equal regardless of what country one comes from.”

The governing Social Democrats and Social Liberals (Radikale Venstre) also dismissed the idea of two sets of immigration rules.