Denmark

Could the Danish model be applied to the UK?

David McCann on July 10, 2016, 6:07 pm | Readers 1493

Nationalist leaders have been wandering around trying to find possible ways to keep Northern Ireland within the European Union. There has also been considerable debate about an all island forum to examine possibilities. If we are going to look at something, Denmark might offer something for the UK and the Irish government to consider. Ulrik Pram Gad has penned an interesting article for the LSE as to how his own country’s experience might be useful for Northern Ireland and Scotland …

Lessons from Denmark in governing in coalitions…

Mick Fealty on February 14, 2014, 4:10 pm | Readers 50

No Friday thread this week. Instead, riffing off William Scholes column in The Irish News [H/T Kate], who found this interview in the FT with the Danish PM, Helle Thorning-Schmidt: If you want to govern, you have to govern with other parties. If you are a minority coalition, you have to find a majority for your policies. And it can be very hard because it takes long discussions. But, in many ways, is it not good that you have to …

Azerbaijan Presidential Inquiry over Eurovision Vote

Pete Baker on May 20, 2013, 11:12 pm | Readers 58

Denmark may have won this year’s Eurovision Song Contest, due to last year’s winner, held in Malmö, Sweden, but Azerbaijan President Ilham Aliyev is reported to have ordered an inquiry into why his country, apparently, failed to provide any points to their neighbour, Russia. Russia gave maximum points, 12, to the Azerbaijan entry. From the BBC report Azerbaijan’s ambassador to Russia, Polad Bulbuloglu, disclosed that President Aliyev had ordered an investigation and votes were being recounted. He said that a …

“The JHA Council’s approach of 7 June represents a slap in the face of parliamentary democracy”

Pete Baker on June 14, 2012, 6:42 pm | Readers 50

If the euro crisis wasn’t enough of a concern for supporters of the European Project, the attempted reform of Schengen is causing another headache. The European Parliament has now suspended co-operation with the European Council on five draft bills connected to border security “until a satisfactory outcome is achieved on Schengen governance.” The Conference of Presidents also decided to remove from the July plenary session agenda the Carlos Coelho report on a proposal for a Schengen Evaluation and Monitoring Mechanism and the Renate Weber …

Danish Germany

Dewi on June 5, 2012, 12:58 am | Readers 81

Worth a read from the Economist: “About 50,000 Germans who identify themselves as Danes live in Schleswig-Holstein (population: 2.8m). Their forefathers stayed after Prussia and Austria snatched the place from Denmark in 1864. The border was redrawn by plebiscite in 1920. After 1945 Germany and Denmark agreed to recognise the rights of minorities on both sides (a precondition for Germany’s entry into NATO). Denmark finances 50 Danish schools plus other cultural institutions (including a daily bilingual newspaper, Flensborg Avis). Most students …

Euro crisis: “The worst, I fear, still lies ahead.”

Pete Baker on March 20, 2012, 6:36 pm | Readers 562

In a recent column in the FT, Wolfgang Münchau asked an interesting question [free reg req] The markets have concluded that the eurozone crisis has ended. Several politicians said that they, too, believed that the worst was over. Complacency is back. I recall similar utterances in the past. Whenever there is some technical progress – an umbrella, a liquidity injection, a successful debt swap – optimism returns. If you think the European Central Bank’s policies have “bought time”, you should …

EU crisis: “the question is whether all this can be kept under control.”

Pete Baker on May 13, 2011, 9:13 pm | Readers 2

EU leaders will discuss the proposed revision of the Schengen agreement at a summit next month, as prompted by France and Italy – although the Guardian reported that, at a meeting of EU interior ministers, “15 of the 22 EU states which had signed up to Schengen supported the move, with only four resisting”. Meanwhile, the European Commission President, José Manuel Barroso, has written a strongly worded letter to the Danish prime minister, Lars Lokke Rasmussen, warning against the Danish Government’s proposals to unilaterally re-introduce …

“We can’t separate Denmark’s announcement from the wider context of what we’ve been seeing the past few weeks”

Pete Baker on May 11, 2011, 11:02 pm | Readers 6

Another example of domestic political pressure potentially impinging on the “European project”. This time in Denmark, a member of the Schengen zone, where the government has announced the re-introduction of border guards and spot checks “designed to fight crime and illegal immigration”. From the Wall Street Journal report In Denmark, the issue of tighter border control has become a political bargaining chip. The governing center-right minority government, which consists of a coalition between the Conservatives and liberal-right party Venstre, wants to …