Danish Maastricht Treaty referendum, 1992 Totally Explained

Everything about Danish Maastricht Treaty Referendum 1992 totally explained

The Danish Maastricht Treaty referendum of 1992 was a referendum in which Danish voters rejected ratification of the Maastricht Treaty. The referendum was held on June 2, 1992 with a voter turnout of 83.1 %, of which 50.7 % voted no and 49.3 % voted yes. The referendum rejection was considered somewhat of a blow to the process of European integration, although the process continued. The result of the referendum, along with the "petit oui" in the French Maastricht referendum are considered to be signals of the end of the "permissive consensus" on European integration which had existed in most of continental Europe until then. From this point forward issues relating to European integration were subject to much greater scrutiny across much of Europe, and overt euroscepticism gained prominence. Only France and Denmark held referenda on Maastricht ratification. As the Maastricht Treaty could only come into effect if all members of the European Union ratified it, the Edinburgh Agreement, negotiated in the months following the referendum, provided Denmark with four exceptions which eventually led to Denmark ratifying the Maastricht Treaty in a 1993 referendum.

Opt-Outs

The opt-outs are outlined in the Edinburgh Agreement and concern the EMU (as above), the European Security and Defence Policy (ESDP), Justice and Home Affairs (JHA) and the citizenship of the European Union. With these opt-outs the Danish people accepted the treaty in a second referendum held in 1993.
The EMU opt-out means Denmark isn't obliged to participate in the third phase of the European Exchange Rate Mechanism, i. e. to replace the Danish krone with the euro. The abolition of the euro opt-out was put to a referendum in 2000 and was rejected. The ESDP opt-out originally meant Denmark wouldn't be obliged to join the Western European Union (which originally handled the defence tasks of the EU). Now it means that Denmark doesn't participate in the European Union's foreign policy where defence is concerned. Hence it doesn't take part in decisions, doesn't act in that area and doesn't contribute troops to missions conducted under the auspices of the European Union. The JHA opt-out exempts Denmark from certain areas of home affairs. Significant parts of these areas were transferred from the third European Union pillar to the first under the Amsterdam Treaty; Denmark's opt-outs from these areas were kept valid through additional protocols. Acts made under those powers are not binding on Denmark except for those relating to Schengen, which are instead conducted on an intergovernmental basis with Denmark. The citizenship opt-out stated that European citizenship didn't replace national citizenship; this opt-out was rendered meaningless when the Amsterdam Treaty adopted the same wording for all members. Under the Treaty of Lisbon, Denmark can change its opt-out from a complete opt-out to the case-by-case opt-in version applying to Ireland and the United Kingdom whenever they wish.

Culture

Interestingly, Denmark won the Euro 1992 football tournament, for the first time ever, later that same June (beating Germany), giving the country an unusually high profile that month, as well as a general feeling of superiority over Europe.
The June Movement, a Danish eurosceptic party and political organization was founded immediately after the referendum, and takes its name from the event.

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