Copenhagen - The head of Denmark's Conservative Party called in an interview published yesterday for an early referendum on the country's exemptions from the European Union's common defence and judicial policies.
"These exemptions must be eliminated, and it would be better if this were done before the Danish presidency of the EU in the second semester of 2002," Mr Bendt Bendtsen, whose party is in opposition, told the Jyllands-Posten daily.
Mr Bendtsen was speaking on the first day of campaigning for the November 20th general elections in which debate on Denmark's place within the EU is likely to play a central role.