Brussels, 18/03/2015 (Agence Europe) - The Danish government said on Tuesday 17 March that agreement had been reached on the country's participation in EU justice and home affairs policies.
Denmark is moving toward making a selection of the provisions in which it wishes to take part. The parties forming the government have agreed to put 22 European policies to the Danish people in a referendum scheduled for April 2016 at the latest, the Danish media report.
At the end of 2014, Danish Prime Minister Helle Thorning-Schmidt proposed ending the justice and home affairs opt-out, currently on 50 European legislative acts. This opt-out on justice matters (further opt-outs relate to the euro, defence policy and citizenship) was granted in 1992 in the Treaty of Maastricht.
Among the 22 measures selected by the government are the directive on cross-border legal assistance, the directive on cybercrime, the directive on the abuse and sexual exploitation of children and the directive on human trafficking. What most concerns Copenhagen, however, is its continued participation in Europol, participation which it sees as even more valuable following the recent terrorist attacks in the country. Since the signing of the Lisbon Treaty, Denmark (along with the United Kingdom and Ireland, the other two countries to have opt-outs on justice and home affairs matters), rather than having to end the opt-out on all provisions, has had the option of opting in on a case-by-case basis as and when ready, the blog Eu-Logos restates. However, since it is no longer bound by EU police and criminal cooperation legislation that came into force after the Lisbon Treaty, Denmark does not want to find itself isolated in the fight against crime and efforts to counter terrorism. In October of last year, and with the new Europol rules coming into effect in 2015, Thorning-Schmidt said that she feared her country would be obliged to leave Europol, after 16 years membership, if it did not revoke the justice and home affairs exemption clause. This is, in part, the reason why the government and the opposition agreed in October to hold a referendum in 2016 on the Danish opt-out in justice and home affairs matters. They have pledged to hold the plebiscite whatever the outcome of the general election due this year and whichever party comes out on top. (Solenn Paulic)