Copenhagen, 21/12/2000 (Agence Europe) - Niels Helveg Petersen, Danish Foreign Minister for eight years, has announced that he was resigning because he was "not the right person to manage Danish exemptions, notably the one on European defence policy, that goes against Denmark's future interests". These exemptions (secured in December 1992, at the Edinburg Summit, on the single currency, defence, legal cooperation and European citizenship) "are a reality, and I respect them, but I cannot manage them with a quiet mind, as they do not comply with the country's fundamental interests", he said. Mr. Petersen added that he had wanted to resign in September already, following the "no" vote in the Danish referendum on the euro, but that he had waited so as not to leave "the weighty and thorny issue of preparing the Nice Summit" to a new minister. He then insisted on pointing out that his resignation was not a sign of discontent with the coalition in power and that, on the contrary, "this government has done well and deserves to be treated better by the media".
Finance Minister Mogens Lykketoft succeeds Mr. Petersen.