The Danish government and four opposition parties have agreed on changes to the regulations so that the pension can be withdrawn five years after a verdict. This concerns both early retirement pension and old-age pension.
According to police statistics from last autumn, there were then 146 people with ties to criminal gangs living on pension. This corresponds to 11 percent of the country's registered members of criminal gangs, according to the newspaper Ekstra Bladet.
Denmark's Minister of Employment Ane Halsboe-Jørgensen refers to information that emerged in the documentary series "Svarta svanen". It shows how grossly criminal individuals without scruples exploit the welfare state, he believes.
"Early retirement pension is intended for our most vulnerable citizens, not organized criminals. It is an injustice that we are now dealing with", he says in a press release.
