EU Lisbon Treaty ratification: Denmark

The Danish Parliament, Folketinget, has started its work on the ratification of the EU Treaty of Lisbon. The government bill can be downloaded freely:

Forslag til lov om aendring af lov om Danmarks tiltraedelse af De Europaeiske Faelleskaber og Den Europaeiske Union (Danmarks ratifikation af Lissabon-traktaten)
Lovforslag nr. L 53; 9. januar 2008
http://www.ft.dk/doc.aspx?/Samling/20072/lovforslag/L53/index.htm

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After the signing of the Treaty of Lisbon, the Danish consolidated version of the Lisbon Treaty, mentioned in an earlier post, has been updated. For a free download, go to:

Folketinget: Sammenskrevet udgave af Lissabontraktaten, som undertegnet af EU’s stats- og regeringsledare den 13. december 2007, og det gaeldende traktatgrundlag;
http://www.euo.dk/upload/application/pdf/acc3e206/Lissabontraktaten.pdf

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Folketingets EU-Oplysning, the Parliament’s EU Information Centre, offers information on the European Union in Danish, but some information is available in English, too:

http://www.eu-oplysningen.dk

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The Reform Treaty is to be ratified by the Parliament of Denmark, but the government led by Anders Fogh Rasmussen is planning a referendum on the possible abolition of the Danish opt-outs from the EU Treaties.

Here is a part of the information on offer concerning Denmark’s opt-outs:

“Denmark has four so-called opt-outs from participation in EU policies.

As a result of the Danish no-vote to the Maastrich Treaty in 1992 the European Council adopted a declaration in Edinburg in December 1992 granting Denmark special status regarding EU cooperation. In order to meet the Danish concerns about the Maastricht Treaty Denmark was given four opt-outs from participation in EU policies:

Economic and Monetary Union: Denmark does not participate in the third phase of Economic and Monetary Union.

Common defence: Denmark does not participate in the elaboration and implementation of decisions and actions which have defence implications.

Justice and home affairs: Denmark only participates in EU judicial cooperation at an intergovernmental level.

Union citizenship: The Danish Opt-out on citizenship has been embodied in the Amsterdam Treaty, where it is stated, that union citizenship is a supplement to national citizenship and not a replacement.”



Ralf Grahn