Danish Foreign Minister resigns

Copenhagen - Denmark's Foreign Minister, Mr Niels Helveg Petersen, resigned yesterday, saying he could not administer Denmark…

Copenhagen - Denmark's Foreign Minister, Mr Niels Helveg Petersen, resigned yesterday, saying he could not administer Denmark's opt-outs to the EU's Maastricht Treaty on closer co-operation.

"I am not the right person to administer these exemptions," Mr Petersen, who had been Foreign Minister for more than seven years, said.

"I cannot wholeheartedly support these opt-outs which I do not consider to be in Denmark's interests after the Nice Treaty," agreed earlier this month, he added.

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