Danes should bear in mind the risks of mad cow disease, swine pest and global warming and vote to reject membership in the EU single currency, opponents said in a report yesterday.
One No-sayer cited in the daily Jyllands-Posten likened Denmark's present exchange rate agreement with the European Central Bank (ECB) - the Danish crown is pegged to the euro in a narrow fluctuation band around a fixed central parity rate - to being handcuffed to a gorilla.
"The gorilla sets the pace and direction but we still have the key to unlock the handcuffs. . . If we vote `Yes' to the euro, we throw away the key forever," Mr Frank Dahlgaard, an MP expelled from the officially pro-euro Conservative Party's parliamentary group, told the newspaper.
Denmark, which will hold a referendum on joining the euro on September 28th, has had a fixed exchange rate regime for almost 20 years. Mainstream parties are unequivocally committed to this policy but some fringe groups, left and right, want to maintain the possibility of devaluing the crown.
Asked for a scenario where a devaluation could be desirable, Mr Keld Albrechtsen, EU affairs spokesman for the far-left Unity List party, said that global warming could spell trouble for Denmark, a flat lowland country without mountains.
"Water levels in the oceans could rise so much that Denmark will no longer be an ideal place to live. If Copenhagen airport disappears under the sea, Denmark will face great economic problems," Mr Albrechtsen said.
Mr Ole Krarup of the People's Movement against the EU said that an outbreak of mad cow disease and swine pest could damage Danish agriculture exports so much that a devaluation would be needed to avoid a severe economic shock.
Farm goods make up one-seventh of Denmark's annual exports.
Yes-campaigners thank the fixed exchange rate policy for Denmark's economic success in the 1990s. Unemployment, at just over five per cent, is at a 25year low and half the EU average. Public finances have been in surplus for years and the current account is well in the black.
Recent opinion polls suggest that supporters have edged marginally ahead of opponents but political analysts say the campaign has barely started and the race is too close to call.
