Brussels, 02/09/2013 (Agence Europe) - Last week, the Danish opposition raised the stakes by calling for a referendum on the end of the country's opt-out from defence, justice and home affairs decisions taken by Europe. The head of the Liberals, Lars Lokke Rasmussen, wants a referendum on this at the time of the upcoming European elections.
When it rejected the Maastricht Treaty in a referendum in 1992, Denmark obtained opts out on European defence, justice and home affairs, European citizenship and economic and monetary union.
In 2011, Danish Prime Minister Helle Thorning-Schmidt said the government was planning to hold a referendum on ending the defence and justice and home affairs opt-outs. This referendum had been planned for the second half of 2012, but did not materialise, in part due to the situation in Europe itself and partly due to the crisis which sparked new concerns in Denmark about European integration. A source explained that, in the mood of scepticism and questioning, the government decided it was not a good time for a referendum, and no new date has yet been set.
Rasmussen says the time for a referendum has come and it is time to deal with the opt-outs. Early last month, he said that the negative impact of not being involved in Europe in the domain of justice is so severe that it would be irresponsible to delay the referendum any longer. He said the poll should be held at the same time as the European elections or the referendum at the start of 2014 on the European Patent Office. (SP/transl.fl)