Denmark divided on constitution

By Thomas Buch-Andersen
BBC

Rasmussen has proposed a referendum on the constitution

Legal experts in the largely eurosceptic Scandinavian country of Denmark are warning that the new EU constitution - as drafted by the former French President Valery Giscard d'Estaing - could be in conflict with the Danish constitution.

The draft proposes a European president and a commission of 15 voting members based on a principle of rotation among the 25 member states.

"It's against the principle of equality that underwrites the EU, and that would require a change in the Danish constitution," said Peter Vesterdorf, EU legal advisor to the European Association of Craft, Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (UEAPME).

For Danes, lifting the four opt-outs and signing up to a new constitution sounds like more union

Jesper Larsen
Berlingske Tidende correspondent

Last week, the pro-European Danish Prime Minister, Anders Fogh Rasmussen, promised the Danes that they would get a chance to vote on a new EU constitution when the text is finalised.

However, a referendum could turn out to be an own-goal for the government. Ten years ago, Denmark had to go through two referendums before reaching a compromise enabling the then Danish Government to sign the Maastricht Treaty.

The compromise - also known as the four opt-outs - gives Denmark four exemptions from the treaty, covering the common EU-currency (the euro), the common EU defence policy, judicial co-operation and European citizenship.

Sovereignty fears

Mr Rasmussen, who is keen to get rid of the four opt-outs, has suggested that a referendum could be a vote on the opt-outs as well as the EU constitution.

"Such a vote would, essentially, be a Yes or No to continued membership of the European Union", said Jesper Larsen, EU correspondent at the national newspaper, Berlingske Tidende.

When we debate the EU constitution in Denmark, we talk about it as if it sidetracks our own constitution - and that's actually not the way it's debated in other countries in Europe

Henrik Dam Kristensen
European Convention representative

"Many Danes are fearful that more union means losing sovereignty to Brussels. For Danes, lifting the four opt-outs and signing up to a new constitution sounds like more union."

An opinion poll from late last year showed Denmark at the top of the league of nations that are against a new EU constitution. Only 49% said they would vote for a constitution while the average of the other 14 EU members was 63% in favour.

"When we debate (the EU) constitution in Denmark, we talk about it as if it sidetracks our own constitution. And that's actually not the way it's debated in other countries in Europe" said Henrik Dam Kristensen, a Danish Parliament representative to the Convention of the Future of Europe.

But there are signs nonetheless that if the government plays its cards right, it could just about scrape a victory.

Euro support

A main purpose of the new constitution is to lay down the legal framework for an enlargement of the union, which most Danes support.

The final agreement of the accession took place in Copenhagen in December 2002, and Danes see accession of the 10 countries as partly their achievement.

Furthermore, a majority of Danes now seem in favour of replacing their local currency, the krone, with the euro. A recent poll suggests 63% of Danes would say Yes to the euro, while only 34% would say No.

Also, support for another of the four opt-outs has been weakening. One of Denmark's largest Eurosceptic parties, the Socialist People's Party (SF), last month came out in favour of a common European Army.

"It saddens me today that the European Union did not have the military capacity to intervene in the Balkans and put an end to the ethnic genocide in Srebrenica and other places," said the party's leader, Holger K Nielsen.

Mr Rasmussen has said he will not announce a date for a Danish referendum until the final text resulting from the intergovernmental conference on the new constitution is published.

That is expected to kick off further heated debate.