DENMARK: Denmark will hold a referendum on the new European Union constitution in September, the prime minister, Anders Fogh Rasmussen, announced yesterday after talks with pro-EU opposition parties. "I have agreed with the other parties to hold a referendum on September 27th," Mr Rasmussen said. "That will be after the local government reform and then there will be ample time to debate the new treaty."
Last December, all parties in the Danish parliament - apart from the far-left Red-Green Alliance and the government's ally, the anti-immigrant Danish People's Party - agreed to support the constitution.
A recent poll showed that 49 per cent of Danes backed it, while 26 per cent were against. Earlier referendums in the Nordic country on EU issues, however, have had a rough ride.
Danes rejected the Maastricht treaty in 1992, but approved it a year later after winning exemptions from closer EU defence, police and legal co-operation. In 2000 they rejected adopting the euro.
Last week, the Netherlands decided on a June 1st vote on the constitution, while France is expected to hold a referendum in May or June. A referendum will be held in Ireland but a date has yet to be set.
The constitution, intended to streamline the running of the EU following its enlargement from 15 to 25 members last year, must be approved by all member-states.
French president Jacques Chirac predicted yesterday that Europe's voters would approve the constitution once they understand the benefits it offered. Members of the French parliament, the National Assembly, and the Senate met yesterday to clear the way for France's referendum.
"I think it [ the ratification process] will be a success for one simple reason - it represents a step forward," Mr Chirac told Poland's Gazeta Wyborcza newspaper before a summit meeting Polish president Aleksander Kwasniewski.
"I think in the end, this reality will appear sufficiently clearly in the eyes of Europeans for them to ratify this constitution."
France is one of nine member-states to have chosen a nationwide referendum to ratify the document.
Nationalist leader Philippe de Villiers has accused Mr Chirac of bringing the session forward to curtail debate and bounce voters into approving the constitution. The pro-treaty lobby rejects the charge but in private ministers admit concern at the No vote's strength and fear public hostility to Turkey's EU entry bid could push it higher.
Support for the treaty fell 5 per cent to 58 per cent in February. The French prime minister, Jean-Pierre Raffarin, said the constitution guaranteed French voters the final say over which countries joined the European Union.- (Reuters)