On Sunday 6 March, the Danish Prime Minister announced that a referendum would be held on 1 June 2022 on lifting Denmark’s opt out from the EU’s security and defence policy.
“ European security is under threat. We must prepare for the new situation with our NATO and EU allies”, the Social Democrats, the Liberal Party, the Socialist People’s Party, the Radical Left, and the Conservatives stressed in an agreement.
In their view, the current situation places “new demands on Denmark’s full commitment to the development of the European Security and Defence Policy”. In this context, the parties to the agreement have agreed that a referendum will be held on 1 June 2022 to abolish the reservation on defence.
In addition, the parties to the agreement considered that measures should be taken to secure the necessary resources for the Danish defence. Therefore, they have decided to build up a general reserve of DKK 3.5 billion (over €470 million) in 2022 and again in 2023. The political parties have decided to manage the increase in defence spending by relaxing fiscal policy in 2022 and 2023.
The parties also want a requirement in the future defence agreement to ensure that defence and security spending is permanently increased to 2% of GDP by the end of 2033. In 2021, according to NATO estimates, Denmark was at 1.41%.
The political parties also felt that in 2022 the possibilities of temporarily increasing gas extraction in the North Sea, increasing the use of biogas, advancing the Baltic Pipe, among other things, should be explored so that Denmark can contribute to reducing Europe’s dependence on Russian gas. (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant)