Denmark to join EU defence policy after historic vote

Copenhagen, June 2 (BNA): Denmark will join the European Union’s defense policy after a referendum on Wednesday, final results showed, referring to the recent shift among Nordic countries to deepen defense ties in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Denmark is the only member of the European Union that is not part of the bloc’s defense and security policy. The referendum marks the first time that a government has succeeded in rescinding one of the many exceptions secured in the 1993 referendum on the Maastricht Treaty.

Final results showed that nearly 67% of voters supported scrapping the EU’s so-called Common Security and Defense Policy (CSDP), in what was the largest show of support on record in a referendum on the EU question in Denmark. , Reuters reported.

About 33 percent of voters opposed.

A vote to cancel the withdrawal is a win for those in favor of increased cooperation with the EU, while opponents have argued that the EU’s defense pact is strained by bureaucracy and that Denmark’s participation in EU military operations would be too costly.

Although it is not an outcome that will have significant practical implications for the European Union, the outcome will be viewed favorably in Brussels, said Kristin Nissen, a researcher at the Danish Institute for International Studies.

“It’s part of a general trend right now, where countries are getting closer to each other,” Nissen added.

In historic policy shifts, Sweden and Finland this month decided to apply for NATO membership, while Denmark and Germany have already promised to sharply increase defense spending.

Denmark is a founding member of NATO, but the alliance’s largest military power, the United States, has indicated that European allies should take greater responsibility for their own security.

Conservative People’s Party leader Soren Bab-Poulsen said: “The United States has said it very clearly. I think it makes more sense to be part of this cooperation rather than hope that the United States will continue to come.”

In the CSDP, Denmark will be able to participate in joint military operations, such as those in Somalia, Mali, and Bosnia and Herzegovina, and cooperate in obtaining joint military capabilities.

HF