The Danish EURO Referendum.

The Danish EURO referendum is not the first referendum held in Danmark which has direct  consequences for Denmark´s  relationship and working order as regards the EU, and it certainly will not be the last.
The Danish Constitution demands that " all " matters that can be of
consequence to Danish sovereignty or the Constitution, have to be decided by the people.

Certainly if the Constitution had not stipulated this , there would be no
referendum. A large majority in the Danish Parliament is Pro Europe, and
could , with ease , have passed a law that adopted the Euro, without asking
the people.

Poul Nyrup Rasmussen (Danish Primeminister ) is quoted during the Faero
Islands Independence negotiations for " An independant state has to have an
independant economy, and it´s own currency ". Certainly Denmark as England, is booming outside the EURO, unemployment figures are nearly non existant.

The Danish economy is healthy,  and investments have risen by 20+% .
To this date (26-8-00 ) the Irish situation has not even been mentioned in
any news papers, ( probably because all but 2 are pro Europe) and the
reasons for that do not need to be told here. The Danish people are confronted,  with tales of woe, when , or if they vote " nej" to the Euro.
If the Danish public were told of the Irish situation, with it´s 6.2%
inflation, and 20/30% salary demands, there will be no doubt as to  what the result of the referendum will be on the 28-9-00, but all readres letters
that mention the Irish situation are thrown directly into the waste paper
basket.

The EU refukes allegations that they are funding the " ja" side of this
referendum with " money ", and that is the truth with certain modifications.
Other Referendums helsd in Denmark have revealed that the EU , through it´s office in Copenhagen , has paid for immense ammounts of printed matter,  and has supported the Pro side, by paying for information and technology , that has been used in the campaigns by the Pro´s.
Danes are told, " if you sit at the table, you have influence on decisions
being made, if you dont sit at the table, you have to wait outside the door
as Norway does ". Does sitting at the table give Denmark any advantages ?
Denmark´s share of the ECB is , according to article 29 E. 1.6709% and
therefore , Denmark´s influence on the EU currency politic is of the same
dimension.

One can ask, has sitting at the table given Denmark any influence that has
affected the ordinary citizen in  their daily life ? Certainly if I look at
the Common Fisheries Policy (CFP) it has affected many citizens lives in a
very negative way, and will undoubtedly , after the Nice treaty, if it is
accepted by Denmark ( and Britain) will give shock waves the next 10 years.
The entry of Spain and Portugal into Eu waters that they have been excluded from until now, will only deplete fish stocks to a level that will make the EU  fishermen the laughing stock of the world.
A policy  made to conserve fish has done the exact opposite, and to make
matters even worse, it is to be revised by the end of 2002.

During the period 1990 - 1999,  in Denmark alone, 126.836 tons of good fish had red paint poured over them ( condemned) . This was not because of bad quality, or unsufficient demand, this was because they could not  attain the minimum landing price for fish. At the same time, Denmark imported over 3.0 million  tons of fish  from Norway alone.
England has in the same period ( 1990/ 1999) imported slightly less than
Denmark. A very large portion of this imported fish has been  caught by Russian fishing vessels, and exported from Norway , to the EU.
All other third countries have increased their fish exports to the EU
steadily through the same period.

This is only one example of how a EU policy  has effected citizens, and not
only the fish in the sea , but the men who´s livelihoods depend on fishing.
I sincerely hope, that the result of the referendum  in Denmark will  be a
resounding "NEJ" , but I am afraid that it will be close, very close
majority decision.

Best Regards
Fiskeskipper David Hill.
Styrmandsvænget 22
6710 Esbjerg V.
Denmark.
p.s. I  am a British subject who has been resident in Denmark , 39 years.
Danish married , candidate for European Parliament, 1994, for the Danish
Movement against the Union.



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Drive to sell euro finds few friends in factories

THE workers at the Amagerforbraending waste disposal plant sat in silence as an official from the Danish Metalworkers' Union told them a Yes vote in next month's referendum on the euro would be "best for Denmark".
A No vote would result in higher interest rates, prices and unemployment. If
Danes turned their backs on economic and monetary union there would be a flight of capital from the country and they would end up in impoverished
isolation. A blackboard diagram depicted the euro zone as a single bloc,
with a minuscule Denmark perched on the edge of oblivion.

An electrician said: "They'll have to come up with something better than
that." A group of bearded heavies in blue overalls farther down the table
nodded in agreement. The electrician added: "It's the same lie we've been
hearing for years. This is all about creating a United States of Europe, and
that's what they never tell us." With a month to go before the vote, the
government, which is campaigning for a Yes vote, has restored its position
in the polls to near parity.

But, in view of past referendums, its supporters fear they should be ahead
at this stage to carry the day. Undecided voters have always tended to vote
No at the last moment. The campaign is being watched closely in Britain and
in Scandinavia, where a "no" vote could delay a referendum on the single
currency. It is also being monitored by Asian investors for whom a No vote
would damage the credibility of the euro.

Jens Bo Andersen, the trade union official, said selling the euro was an
uphill task. "People feel cheated because the politicians said it was just
about economics every time we've voted on Europe, in '72, in '86, in '92,
and obviously it wasn't." A few Yes supporters were clustered together on
the other side of the room, mostly senior managers. They could not find
anything positive to say about the euro either.

A technical administrator said: "It's a choice between cholera and the
plague, they'll both kill you. The great mistake was to join the Common
Market in 1972, but now we're inside the cage we have to make the best of
it." The trade unions are doing much of the day-to-day canvassing for the
Yes campaign, backed by the Social Democrat-led government, all the major
opposition parties, the confederation of Danish industry and the whole
broadsheet press, giving it an estimated 30 to one advantage in funding.

Many Danes fear that monetary union will lead to tax harmonisation, forcing
Denmark to slash its 25 per cent VAT and its stiff car taxes, which
discourage driving and make Copenhagen a paradise for cyclists. By contrast, the Yes campaign work in Jutland, the bastion of rural Euro-scepticism, with its nationalist and monarchical overtones, is largely being left to the conservatives, liberals, and free market groups.

At the Amagerforbraending plant, the talk turned to threats by Toyota to
withdraw its car production from Britain unless it joined the euro. The
story has been widely reported in Denmark, helping to give the Yes campaign a small boost. But Mads Qvortrup, professor of political science at the University of Aarhus, said this argument is now almost exhausted.

Denmark is booming outside the euro. Unemployment is effectively nil and the biotechnology and e-commerce industries have a shown a dynamism
conspicuously lacking in neighbouring Germany.


 
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