DENMARK: Denmark will scrap its referendum on the EU constitution if this week's EU summit fails to give a clear answer on the fate of the text, Danish foreign minister Per Stig Moeller said yesterday.
Copenhagen wants the summit on Thursday and Friday to spell out what will happen to the charter after France and the Netherlands rejected the text and plunged the EU into a crisis.
But Mr Moeller said the meeting was unlikely to give Denmark the clarity it seeks on the constitution, which EU leaders agreed last year to streamline the EU after its expansion.
"We want clarity that it is this treaty, nothing more or less, on which we will vote on September 27th, and if there is no clarity on that, because various processes are started which in principle could change it, then you cannot hold a vote," he told reporters.
"The conversations I have had do not convince me that we will get a clear answer, but rather that a decision will be taken . . . that everyone can continue the ratification process as they see fit, but they will also think about the situation and meet later to evaluate it," he said.
Opinion polls in Denmark have shown a big swing to the No camp since the French and Dutch votes, which the government fears would be amplified if there was any risk that the text could be renegotiated after a Danish vote.
Britain has suspended plans for a vote next year. Asked when Denmark was likely to announce it was putting its referendum plans on hold, Mr Moeller said: "It could be Thursday or Friday."
Danish prime minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen said last week it was up to Paris and The Hague to find solutions.- (Reuters)