Denmark wants to remain a member of the European Union’s police agency Europol despite a defeat for a referendum on closer co-operation on crime fighting, the country’s justice minister has said.
The Danish electorate country voted on Thursday against adopting more EU laws to help fight cross-border crime, with backers of the “no” campaign advocating against any closer ties with the EU, which is struggling with multiple crises.
In particular, Copenhagen needed the changes to stay within Europol at a time of increased security in Europe following last month’s attacks in Paris.
Denmark’s justice minister Soren Pind was due to brief his EU colleagues about the situation during a justice and interiors ministers’ meeting in Brussels on Friday.
“I’m going to tell them about the outcome of the Danish referendum, that we cannot participate in the Europol provision. That puts us in a difficult situation but we’ll just have to work with it and see how we can solve this,” Mr Pind said.
“The government has a very strong interest in Denmark continuing in Europol, and we must attempt to do that.”
The leading power behind the “no” campaign in Denmark, the populist Danish People’s Party (DF), has said that Europol participation can be maintained through other treaties.
Mr Pind’s fellow ministers and EU officials expressed regret at the Danish decision but said they were ready to work to keep Copenhagen within the bloc’s cross-border policing agency.
“It’s a strong expression of some hesitation over the extent to which Europe can provide security,” EU’s counter-terrorism Ccordinator Gilles de Kerchove said of the Danish vote as officials arrived to the meeting, pledging more security measures and steps to alleviate the migration crisis that has fuelled Euro-sceptic rhetoric across the bloc.
“If we want to address these challenges, we need more Europe and more Schengen,” he said. “The opposite won’t get them solved.”
European Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker is to meet Danish prime minister Lars Rasmussen to discuss the consequences of the vote.
“We take note of the outcome of the Danish referendum. It means that Denmark keeps its status in the Justice and Home Affairs area as foreseen by the EU treaty,” Commission spokesman Margaritis Schinas told a news briefing. “Commission president Juncker spoke on the telephone last night to the Danish prime minister and agreed to meet in Brussels next week to agree how to take things from there.”
Reuters