One of the more interesting developments over the next few months is the way in which two issues – ‘Brussels’ and multiculturalism/immigration – may well collide.

A few weeks ago, Britain’s opposition Conservatives were in effect told that in the extremely unlikely prospect of a Tory win in the forthcoming elections, the party’s (modest) attempts at immigration reform would simply not be permitted under EU law.

In Denmark, one of the reasons cited by the victorious center-right (there has just been an election) for declining to enter into formal coalition with another party on the right (the anti-immigration Danish People’s Party, which is now the third largest in the country) was the DPP’s opposition to the EU ‘constitution’. Now, the Danish People’s Party has many faults, and is not always very likeable, but it has clearly understood what a more federal EU will mean for Denmark’s ability to decide who it admits past its borders. Its more mainstream associates on the Danish right (who while in government have clamped down on immigration) have not.

Meanwhile in the London Spectator (February 5th, subscription required, even for, sigh, print subscribers), the often obnoxious and frequently brilliant Rod Liddle has this to say in the course of a fascinating article on Holland’s problems with integrating its Muslim minority.

“…All of this is aided and abetted by the European Union, its liberal immigration laws, its espousal of multiculturalism and, crucially, it’s implicit disavowal of the concept of a sovereign nation state with a coherent national identity.”

He’s right.

Expect to hear much, much more on this topic.