The Danish government yesterday refused to intervene to stop a general strike which has paralysed public transport, stopped factories and construction work and emptied supermarket shelves and petrol stations as Danes stocked up for a long dispute.
The newly re-elected Prime Minister, Mr Poul Nyrup Rasmussen, fears that government intervention could see the trade unions retaliate by calling for a "No" vote in what looks to be a very close national referendum on the Amsterdam Treaty on May 28th.
The Danish strike, combined with the Belgian government crisis and the increasingly tense Dutch election campaign, represents more than just a collective rumbling in these countries. Between them, they bring into focus the new politics of Europe, in which jobs or incomes are no longer the pivotal issue.
In the Netherlands and Denmark, the submerged issue is Europe itself, the imminent coming of the single currency and the ever-widening sway of its treaties which steadily shrink the role and importance of national governments. In Belgium, where the government won a "No Confidence" vote yesterday, the issue is the weakness of the federal government, and its failure to reform a deeply flawed judicial system.
Moreover, each country is run by centre-left coalitions, and can each claim to be pursuing its own version of the vaunted "third way" of the British Prime Minister, Mr Tony Blair. Only Mr Blair's best friend in Europe, the Dutch Prime Minister, Mr Wim Kok, comes anywhere close to his personal popularity and charisma.
But Mr Kok may be defeated in next week's election because of the collapse in support for the most Blairite of the Dutch coalition parties, the reform group D66. It disavows all ideologies, supports the free market and social programmes, and wants government to get closer to voters through more referendums.
In Denmark, where high taxes and generous social benefits confound the fashionable orthodoxy about free markets being the only way to prosperity, this week's general strike is about social fairness. Union members voted on the strike by postal ballot, and 56 per cent rejected the employers' offer, insisting they wanted a share of the boom. The employers, whose profits are soaring, almost brought negotiations to a standstill by insisting that the new wage agreement should not increase their costs in any way.