European Council: Nordic spoilers?

What future lies in store for cultures of official secrecy and judicious leaks to favoured journalists? Those Nordics have realised that most people yawn, when they hear the European Union mentioned.

This afternoon the EU committees of the Danish parliament (Folketinget) and the Swedish parliament (Riksdag) have discussed the agenda of the spring European Council with their prime ministers. The web-tv recordings are available for those who missed the live hearings.

In addition, in both countries the draft conclusions are available to the public.

I have two questions:

Is government (or European Union) business at risk through these revelations?

When and how is the public informed ahead of the EU summits in other member states?


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