One or more referendums on abolishing one or more of Denmark's opt-outs from European Union legislation in four specific areas (as specified in the Edinburgh Agreement and later confirmed in other treaties of the European Union) were announced by then-Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen in his speech on November 22, 2007 after he won the 2007 parliamentary election.[1] It was not announced whether the referendum would only offer a full repeal of all opt-outs, or a case-by-case choice, and no date was announced, except that it would be before the next Danish parliamentary election, i.e. before 2011.[2] Following the appointment of Anders Fogh Rasmussen as future Secretary General of NATO, his successor, Lars Løkke Rasmussen announced that the opt-outs would be put to a referendum "when the time is right", which has been seen as an indicator that the referendum will not necessarily take place before the next election.[3] Following a meeting with the European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso in mid-May 2009, Løkke Rasmussen stated that he hopes at least a referendum on the common currency would take place before the next parliamentary elections.[4]
The current government has been planning to hold a second referendum on abolishing the opt-outs (or at least the euro opt-out) since at least 2004, following a change in public opinion, but the discussions and controversy regarding the Treaty establishing a Constitution for Europe and the Treaty of Lisbon had delayed this.[5]
The referendum was originally expected by many observers to be held sometime during the autumn of 2008[6][7][8][9] but following Ireland's rejection of the Treaty of Lisbon, Fogh Rasmussen stated that this would not happen.[10] In early 2009, it was announced that Fogh Rasmussen expects to hold a referendum on Denmark joining the Eurozone in 2010, as he believes it is possible to meet the demands of the Euro-sceptical Socialist People's Party.[11]
On 2009-05-13, Danish Prime Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen confirmed a referendum on the euro will be held before the next general elections (due in 2011).[12] At the same point, he said that Denmark already is using the euro (because of the currency peg); only, they have decided to call it "danske kroner".
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unknown
ue, 17 Jun 2008 04:23:37 GM
The only reason this has not happened elsewhere is because other governments, most notably our own, used sophistry to deny us the . referendum. we had been promised. Had they kept that promise they know full well that they would now be in . ... 2) It is a fact that . European. law has precedences over national law, except in those cases where there is an . opt out. . If a national parliement were to pass a law contradicting an . EU. law, the implementation of that national law would ...
