Denmark poised to end 30-year opt-out on EU common defence

Danish voters are poised to end their 30-year opt-out on EU common security and defence on Wednesday, uniting the continent still further in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Some 48 per cent of eligible voters favour scrapping the opt-out, up 10 percentage points in a month according to a final poll conducted by Voxmeter on behalf of Ritzau news wire. Some 31 per cent said they would vote against with 21 per cent “don’t knows”.

The poll comes two weeks after neighbouring Sweden and Finland formally applied to join Nato in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Denmark is already an alliance member but its government announced last March it would hold a referendum on the defence opt-out. It is one of four special arrangements Copenhagen agreed with Brussels in 1992 after Danish voters rejected the Maastricht treaty in a referendum.

In response to issues of concern to Danish voters, the so-called Edinburgh Agreement secured EU opt-outs on economic and monetary union; justice and home affairs; citizenship of the European Union; and common security and defence.

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These opt-outs mean that Denmark is not obliged to follow EU laws on these areas and is also not involved in forming the laws. According to a recent estimate, Denmark has invoked its opt-out 235 times in the past 30 years.

Denmark’s common security and defence opt-out has required Danish officials to leave the room in Brussels in recent discussions — made more timely by Russia’s invasion — over adopting common approaches on military procurement and cybersecurity.

In March, Danish prime minister Mette Frederiksen framed the end of the opt-out as putting Denmark “in the heart of Europe, without any reservations”.

The end of the opt-out is backed by a majority of parties across Denmark’s political spectrum with only the far-left Red Green alliance and two far-right parties opposed.

Debate over ending Denmark’s 30-year old opt-outs are as old as the opt-outs themselves, though repeated political promises to table referendums to that effect most often failed to materialise. A decade ago prime minister Helle Thorning-Schmidt abandoned her planned vote on the defence opt-out citing “anxiety and uncertainty” surrounding the European project. In a 2015 referendum, 53 per cent of voters rejected a proposal to end the justice and home affairs opt-out.

Danish worries about remaining outside the EU security debate comes as Denmark readies additional military equipment for Ukraine and Russian threats of an energy shut-down.

Among 20 countries pledged to commit additional military support to Ukraine, Denmark is to contribute a Harpoon launcher and missiles to support Ukraine.

“These are some of the weapons that Ukraine has requested and which are quite important in the battle they are fighting,” said Ms Frederiksen.

Meanwhile, Denmark is facing a shut-down of Russian energy after its main energy provider, Ørsted, refused to pay for Russian gas in roubles.

“We have no legal obligation under the contract to do so, and we have repeatedly informed Gazprom Export that we will not do so,” said the company ahead of a May 31st deadline.

Denmark’s energy authority said it had “plans ready should the situation deteriorate”.