European Union: Danish opt-outs

The Danish Institute for International Studies (DIIS) recently published a report ’De danske forbehold over den Europæiske Union: Udviklingen siden 2000’ (The Danish Opt Outs from the European Union: developments since 2000). Today the downloadable report has been published in book form, but for most international readers there is a handy four page executive summary in English:

http://www.diis.dk/graphics/Publications/Books2008/EU_udredningen_08/Preversion/EU08_Executive_Summary%28en%29.pdf

As an appetizer I quote from the summary:

“Since 1993, Denmark has had four opt-outs covering defence policy, the Economic and Monetary Union (EMU), Union citizenship, and Justice and Home Affairs (JHA). The opt-out for Union citizenship has no practical significance today, but in the three other areas the consequences now are considerably greater than they were in 2000. The Lisbon Treaty will further increase the significance of the Danish opt-outs, especially in relation to JHA.”

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The report, commissioned by the Danish Parliament (Folketinget), has the following background:

Prime minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen’s government has planned to let the Danes vote on the abolishment of at least some of the opt-outs, seen as more of an obstacle than a help to Denmark.

But the Irish rejection of the Lisbon Treaty has lead to the postponement of these plans.

See, for instance Information.dk ‘Irsk nej truer afskaffelse af danske forbehold’ (Irish no delays abolishing Danish opt-outs), 14 June 2008:

http://www.information.dk/160827


Ralf Grahn

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