Euroscepticism in Denmark: The Danish People's Party's Soft-Eurosceptic Approach, Guide, Progetti e Ricerche di Teorie della Democrazia

Scarica Euroscepticism in Denmark: The Danish People's Party's Soft-Eurosceptic Approach e più Guide, Progetti e Ricerche in PDF di Teorie della Democrazia solo su Docsity! Seminar: Democracy and Populism in Europe – Prof. Gianfranco Baldini Paper no. 2 – Ilaria Budroni (mat. 0000928171) 6th November 2020 Euroscepticism in Denmark and the Danish People’s Party (Dansk Folkeparti) 1. Introduction Denmark has shown over the decades to be perfectly able to lead the way as one of the most successful democratic countries in the world. Nevertheless, Euroscepticism seemed to succeed even beyond the electoral success of the parties within it; besides, it is commonly shared across social divides. Why does this country conceal a fertile ground for scepticism towards the EU? How can they even be the most supportive of EU-membership, yet at the same time opposing any step forward towards a possible “federal union”? The aim of my research is to highlight in the first place the peculiar case of danish Euroscepticism, whose raison d’être is the reluctance on ceding sovereignty to the European Union. I found it fascinating to analyse as it is a country with a high level of public support towards EU membership, but at the same time they hesitate on further developments of EU integration, especially in political matters. In the first section of my paper I will have a quick insight into the long story of Denmark’s relationship with the EU in terms of participation, opt-out clauses, and referenda. The latter proved through several times to test and catch (the question is whether in a successful way or not) the electorate’s mood towards EU cooperation. The aim of the second section, instead, is to move from the general analysis of Euroscepticism in Denmark to the Taggart’s classification of Euroscepticism as one of the triggers for populism by keeping a close eye on the evolution and the main narrative of the Danish People’s Party, which is considered a right-wing populist party with a soft-Eurosceptic approach. 2. Denmark’s participation to the EU and opt-outs: a little insight The Danes have been portrayed as one of the most Eurosceptic populations in the EU, especially when it comes to issues regarding the transfer of sovereignty to Brussels. It has been clear so far that the grounds of Euroscepticism in Denmark can be found Seminar: Democracy and Populism in Europe – Prof. Gianfranco Baldini Paper no. 2 – Ilaria Budroni (mat. 0000928171) 6th November 2020 among the fear for the development of a more “federal Europe” and the reluctance towards a radical transformation of their social policies concerning the access to welfare benefits by migrant worker. To sum up, the Danes express a great feel for EU membership. However, this strong backing co-exists since decades alongside the sovereignty-based Euroscepticism. Thus, if the Danish Euroscepticism was to be put under classification, one might say that it is a pragmatic one, as it consists of backing strongly EU in economic matters (such as the Single Market) but only to a certain extent. There are limits beyond which Danes would not make any step forward. I am referring in this case to the four opt-outs from EU cooperation Denmark agreed with the then twelve Member States in 1993 with the Edinburgh Agreement. The year is not casual, as it followed the rejection of the 1992 Maastricht Treaty by the danish population in a referendum. This “nej” answer to the referendum was the rejection of the “mode” of cooperation rather than the political “content” (Adler-Nissen; 2010). With the four opt-outs in Justice and Home Affairs (JHA), Defence (CSDP), European Monetary Union (EMU) and EU citizenship, the second referendum held in 1993 was eventually accepted. This demonstrates that the Danes have made use of the opt-outs as a symbolic bulwark of their sovereignty in the face of the EU integration, and they certainly preferred most to participate in an intergovernmental way rather than supranational. It seems like Denmark has obtained a certain degree of autonomy and “immunity from disliked European legislation” (Wallace;1997), but what is the price for freedom? Would this affect its influence in the decision-making process of these policy areas? This represents a very important question for my research, since the opt-out in JHA and the possibility to convert it into a seemingly “pick and choose” model through a referendum open a debate on the political parties’ stances on EU cooperation in Denmark, especially the one of the Danish People’s Party . Justice and Home Affairs was designed as one of the three pillars in the Maastricht treaty which remained intergovernmental until several parts of it dealing with asylum, immigration and border control were communitarised. In fact, they are all covered by the Danish opt-out, except for criminal law and police cooperation which remained intergovernmental. There are some exceptions through which Denmark expressed its strong interest in participating in some areas,though. The first one is the Schengen acquis, the second one consists of a number of parallel agreements, such as the one concerning the Dublin system, through which Denmark can adjust its domestic legislation. Having said that, I would like to point out that in practice, there is little difference between Denmark’s compliance to the obligations and the compliance of the other member states with respect to the Dublin system. Moreover, Danish participation in Schengen area does not allow it to fully participate in the process of decision-making, as Seminar: Democracy and Populism in Europe – Prof. Gianfranco Baldini Paper no. 2 – Ilaria Budroni (mat. 0000928171) 6th November 2020 References Adler-Nissen, Rebecca & Gammeltoft-Hansen, Thomas. (2010). Straitjacket or Sovereignty Shield? The Danish Opt-Out on Justice and Home Affairs and Prospects after the Treaty of Lisbon. Andersen, J. G. (2003). The Danish People's Party and new cleavages in Danish politics. Bartlett J., Bani M., Benfield J., Birdwell J. (2012), Populism in Europe: Denmark, Open society European Policy Institute. Herkman, J. (2017). Articulations of populism: the Nordic case, Cultural Studies, 31:4, 470-488, doi: 10.1080/09502386.2016.1232421. Persson, T., Mårtensson, M. and Karlsson, C. (2019), Eurosceptic Challenger Parties and Political Opposition in European Union Politics: Part of the Problem or Part of the Solution?. Scandinavian Political Studies, 42: 245-269. doi:10.1111/1467-9477.12152 Rasmussen M.K., Sørensen, C. (2016), Denmark: A Pragmatic Euroscepticism, Building Bridges Paper Series, French Institute of International Relations. Sørensen, C. (2008). Danish Euroscepticism: unique or part of broader patterns?, Danish foreign policy yearbook 2008, Danish Institute for International Studies, pp. 85- 113 Sørensen, C. (2015). Evolving Patterns of Euroscepticism in the Danish Political Landscape. EPIN Commentary No. 25/15 July 2015. [Policy Paper] Sørensen, C. (2015). To be in, or to be out: Reflections on the Danish referendum. EPIN Commentary No. 29/ Sørensen, C (2004). Danish and British Popular Euroscepticism Compared: a sceptical assessment of the concept, DIIS Working Paper. University of Zurich. (2011, January 27). Denmark, Finland and Belgium have best democracies, experts say. ScienceDaily. Retrieved November 2, 2020 Why did the Danish People’s Party lose more than fifty percent of its votes? https://www.sv.uio.no/c-rex/english/news-and-events/right-now/2019/danish-election- 2019.html The Danish opt-out from the EU cooperation, https://www.eu.dk/da/english/the-danish- opt-outs-from-eu-cooperation www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/01/110127090533.htm https://www.rosalux.eu/en/article/1561.the-ghost-of-the-danish-people-s-party.html Seminar: Democracy and Populism in Europe – Prof. Gianfranco Baldini Paper no. 2 – Ilaria Budroni (mat. 0000928171) 6th November 2020