Gap narrows in Denmark’s treaty vote

Date: 07/05/1998

By Chris Johnstone

CAMPAIGNING gets under way this week ahead of the 28 May Danish referendum on the Amsterdam Treaty amid signs that the gap between the two sides is narrowing.

A survey published late last week showed a difference of only nine points between supporters of the treaty and its opponents, with 42% in favour and 33% against, with just four weeks to go before polling day.

"We expected a narrowing of the gap over time," said a government official, who added that earlier polls had shown a substantial lead averaging around 20% points for the 'yes' campaign.

Danish voters have a habit of overturning the expectations of the experts, with polls failing to predict the famous anti-Maastricht referendum result in June 1992 and the outcome of the recent general election which returned the Social Democratic coalition to power.

Preparations for the latest referendum have been made in a surreal siege-like atmosphere, with Denmark gripped by a strike affecting around half a million private sector workers. Petrol shortages have already banished traffic from the streets of Copenhagen.

Prime Minister Poul Nyrup Rasmussen intervened yesterday (6 May) to end the strike which has blacked out around half of the country's news-papers. Many Danes were forced to turn to newspaper Internet sites for information.

Rasmussen and fellow 'yes' campaigners say the treaty has a commitment to act on unemployment, guarantees that Denmark will not be dragged down the path of tighter European cooperation on law, immigration and the police, and a formula for enlargement.

Opponents insist there is nothing to stop Denmark rejecting the Amsterdam Treaty and demanding fresh terms from its EU partners.

Preview and reports of the Danish referendum on the Amsterdam Treaty, 28.5.98.