"Denmark and the Constitutional Treaty: A Difficult Two-Level Game"

Laursen, Finn. (2005) "Denmark and the Constitutional Treaty: A Difficult Two-Level Game". In: UNSPECIFIED, Austin, Texas. (Unpublished)

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Abstract

This paper will describe and analyse Danish contributions to the European Convention (2002-03) and the following Intergovernmental Conference (IGC 2003-04). How did a relatively EU-sceptical country respond to yet another treaty reform, arguably taking the EU towards ‘more Union’? We will study the preferences of the Danish government and contributions by Danish members of the European Convention. Further the Danish strategy during the IGC, which finalized the treaty in June 2004, will be studied. The Danish government was fairly supportive of the Convention’s draft proposal for a Constitutional treaty finalised in July 2003, albeit changing position on the composition of the Commission at the start of the IGC because of domestic demands for maintaining a Commissioner per member state. The main problem faced by the Danish Government during the IGC was the safeguarding of the Danish exemptions or opt-outs from December 1992 so that decisions about the Constitutional Treaty and the exemptions could be kept separate. In this endeavour the government was successful. But it meant a low profile during the IGC. Seen from a 2-level perspective the anticipated referendum reduced the Danish ‘win-set’. But an interesting aspect of Danish policy is the extent to which the constitutionalist discourse has been accepted by the Danish political elite.

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