Prime Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen has decided to let Integration Minister Birth Rønn Hornbech go following a report on the Integration Ministry’s handling of citizenship applications from stateless people.

Løkke Rasmussen confirmed morning reports on Rønn Hornbech’s removal in a news release.

In his release, Prime Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen says that he has decided to set up an independent commission of inquiry into the handling of stateless people in the Integration Ministry.

“In the light of the many issues that the case has raised and an overall evaluation, the government has decided that there should be an independent inquiry into the issue. There will therefore be a commission of inquiry,” the prime minister says in his news release.

The statement says that 36 stateless people have been wrongly refused Danish citizenship ‘and Parliament should have been informed of the issue much earlier than was the case’.

Birthe Rønn Hornbech, who has been Minister for Integration and Ecclesiastical Affairs since 2007, admitted two weeks ago that in 2008 she had become aware of the fact that United Nations convention had been broken in the ministry, but did not inform Parliament of the fact until January 2010.

The prime minister received a report on the issue on Monday.

The 1961 UN convention, to which Denmark is a signatory, is designed to curb statelessness. Stateless children born in a country have the right to choose citizenship in that country until their 21st birthday.