AFP - Danish Prime Minister Lars Loekke Rasmussen said Tuesday he fired his integration minister over a scandal involving 36 young, stateless Palestinians who were wrongly denied citizenship.

"Birthe Roenn Hornbech is leaving her post as integration minister and church minister and thus withdraws from the government," he said in a statement, prompting a small government reshuffle.

The integration ministry, he said, failed to brief parliament in a timely manner on "36 stateless persons being wrongly denied Danish citizenship."

Danish media had recently accused the minister of knowing since 2008 that Danish immigration authorities were not respecting a UN convention which stipulates that stateless people born and raised in a country have the right to obtain citizenship there before they turn 21, as long as they are not convicted of any serious crimes.

But 36 Palestinians who were eligible to obtain Danish citizenship had their requests turned down.

Following the media storm, Rasmussen asked Hornbech for details on the case, which she provided on Monday.

"I have noted that the integration minister has apologised for this and has corrected the mistakes by herself pushing for the 36 cases to be reopened and by launching initiatives to council stateless people and explain their rights to them," Rasmussen said.

"I am happy that we now have an explanation about the case from the integration minister," the prime minister said, adding however that "parliament should have been informed about the case at a much earlier point in time."

A justice ministry commission will be created to open an impartial inquiry into the case, he said.

Hornbech, 67, a member of Rasmussen’s Liberal Party who became integration and church minister in 2007, was meanwhile quoted by Danish media saying: "The prime minister asked me to leave. That is his sovereign right, so I will follow it."

Hornbech’s refugees, immigration and integration portfolio was handed over to Development Cooperation Minister Soeren Pind, who is considered a hardliner on the immigration issue.

In one of his first statements after his nomination, he described the UN convention that sent his predecessor packing as "stupid".

Since Denmark’s centre-right government came to power in 2001 with the support of the far-right anti-immigration Danish People’s Party, the Scandinavian country has introduced among the most restrictive immigration legislation in Europe.

Shortly after the prime minister announced Hornbech’s departure, Education Minister Tina Nedergaard said she was stepping down for personal reasons in an apparently unrelated move.

The two ministers’ exit spurred a small government reshuffle that ironically on International Women’s Day significantly reduced the number of women in the Danish cabinet.

The Politiken daily pointed out that while the government in Copenhagen up until recently had been able to boast 45 percent women, the percentage had slipped to 38.8 percent, with a cabinet made up of 11 men and seven women.

While Pind took on Hornbech’s immigration duties, Culture Minister Per Stig Moeller took on the role of church minister.

Taxation Minister Troels Lund Poulsen became the new education minister, and his portfolio was taken on by member of parliament Peter Christensen.

When asked at a press conference about the gender gap, Rasmussen pointed out that "Taxation Minister Peter Christensen has the sex he has. I do not appoint according to gender."

Observers meanwhile called the reshuffle "dramatic" since it comes so close to the next general elections, which must be called before the end of the year, as Rasmussen’s coalition has been showing dwindling support in polls.

"We are witnessing a government in total disintegration," Danish political commentator Michael Kristiansen told Politiken.