A referendum on the

Maastricht Treaty The Treaty on European Union, commonly known as the Maastricht Treaty, is the foundation treaty of the European Union (EU). Concluded in 1992 between the then-twelve Member state of the European Union, member states of the European Communities, ...

for the founding of the European Union was held in

Denmark Denmark is a Nordic countries, Nordic country in Northern Europe. It is the metropole and most populous constituent of the Kingdom of Denmark,, . also known as the Danish Realm, a constitutionally unitary state that includes the Autonomous a ...

on 2 June 1992. The treaty was rejected by 50.7% of voters with a turnout of 83.1%.Eu-oplysningen.dk
This meant a serious hurdle on the way in the process of further

European integration European integration is the process of political, legal, social, regional and economic integration of states wholly or partially in Europe, or nearby. European integration has primarily but not exclusively come about through the European Union ...

, which nevertheless did continue because all twelve member states did want to ratify. The result of the referendum, along with the "" in the French Maastricht referendum did however signal a new stadium in European integration, away from the "permissive consensus" which had existed in most of the memberstates until then. Integration mainly did occur through strategic negotiations between the Member States or through functional adaptation of the system. Now the question of democracy as an explanatory variable had to be taken into consideration. This was expressed by

Pascal Lamy Pascal Lamy (born 8 April 1947) is a French political consultant and businessman. He was the Director-General of the World Trade Organization (WTO) from 1 September 2005 to 1 September 2013 for 8 years. In April 2009, WTO members reappointed Lamy ...

chef de cabinet In some Francophone countries and international organisations, a ( French; literally 'head of office') is a senior official working for a high-ranking political or administrative figure such as a government minister. They are typically responsib ...

for

Jacques Delors Jacques Lucien Jean Delors (; 20 July 192527 December 2023) was a French politician who served as the eighth president of the European Commission from 1985 to 1995. Delors played a key role in the creation of the single market, the euro and th ...

, the

president of the European Commission The president of the European Commission, also known as president of the College of Commissioners is the Head of government, head of the European Commission, the Executive (government), executive branch of the European Union (EU). The president ...

, who after the Danish referendum remarked that, "Europe was built in a

Saint-Simonian Claude Henri de Rouvroy, Comte de Saint-Simon (; ; 17 October 1760 – 19 May 1825), better known as Henri de Saint-Simon (), was a French political, economic and socialist theorist and businessman whose thought had a substantial influence on po ...

.e., technocraticway from the beginning, this was Monnet's approach: The people weren't ready to agree to integration, so you had to get on without telling them too much about what was happening. Now Saint-Simonianism is finished. It can't work when you have to face democratic opinion." From this point forward issues relating to European integration were subject to deeper discussions across much of Europe. Some years later overt

euroscepticism Euroscepticism, also spelled as Euroskepticism or EU-scepticism, is a political position involving criticism of the European Union (EU) and European integration. It ranges from those who oppose some EU institutions and policies and seek reform ...

gained prominence. Besides Denmark only France and Ireland held referendums on the Maastricht Treaty ratification. As the Maastricht Treaty could only come into effect if all members of the

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational union, supranational political union, political and economic union of Member state of the European Union, member states that are Geography of the European Union, located primarily in Europe. The u ...

ratified it, negotiations were set up in the months following the referendum. This resulted in the Edinburgh Agreement, providing Denmark with four exceptions or opt-outs from close co-operation in certain policy fields which eventually led to Denmark ratifying the Maastricht Treaty in a 1993 referendum.

Results

By county

Edinburgh agreement: opt-outs

The opt-outs are outlined in the Edinburgh Agreement and concern the EMU, the

Common Security and Defence Policy The Common Security and Defence Policy (CSDP) is the European Union's (EU) course of action in the fields of defence and crisis management, and a main component of the EU's Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP). The CSDP involves the de ...

(CSDP), Justice and Home Affairs (JHA) and the

citizenship of the European Union The European Union citizenship is a legal status afforded to all nationals of member states of the European Union (EU). It was formally created with the adoption of the 1992 Maastricht Treaty, at the same time as the creation of the EU. EU c ...

. With these opt-outs the Danish people accepted the treaty in a second referendum held in 1993. The EMU opt-out meant Denmark was not obliged to participate in the third phase of the

European Exchange Rate Mechanism The European Exchange Rate Mechanism (ERM II) is a system introduced by the European Economic Community on 1 January 1999 alongside the introduction of a single currency, the euro (replacing ERM 1 and the euro's predecessor, the ECU) as ...

, i.e. to replace the

Danish krone The krone (; plural: ''kroner''; sign: kr.; code: DKK) is the official currency of Denmark, Greenland, and the Faroe Islands, introduced on 1 January 1875. Both the ISO code "DKK" and currency sign "kr." are in common use; the former precedes ...

with the

euro The euro (currency symbol, symbol: euro sign, €; ISO 4217, currency code: EUR) is the official currency of 20 of the Member state of the European Union, member states of the European Union. This group of states is officially known as the ...

. The abolition of the euro opt-out was put to a referendum in 2000 and was rejected. The CSDP opt-out originally meant Denmark would not be obliged to join the

Western European Union The Western European Union (WEU; , UEO; , WEU) was the international organisation and military alliance that succeeded the Western Union (alliance) , Western Union (WU) after the 1954 amendment of the 1948 Treaty of Brussels. The WEU implement ...

(which originally handled the defence tasks of the EU). Now it means that Denmark does not participate in the European Union's

foreign policy Foreign policy, also known as external policy, is the set of strategies and actions a State (polity), state employs in its interactions with other states, unions, and international entities. It encompasses a wide range of objectives, includ ...

where defence is concerned. Hence it does not take part in decisions, does not act in that area and does not contribute troops to missions conducted under the auspices of the European Union. The JHA opt-out exempts Denmark from certain areas of home affairs. Significant parts of these areas were transferred from the third European Union pillar to the first under the

Amsterdam Treaty The Treaty of Amsterdam, officially the Treaty of Amsterdam amending the Treaty on European Union, the Treaties establishing the European Communities and certain related acts, was signed on 2 October 1997, and entered into force on 1 May 1999; i ...

; Denmark's opt-outs from these areas were kept valid through additional protocols. Acts made under those powers are not binding on Denmark except for those relating to Schengen, which are instead conducted on an intergovernmental basis with Denmark. The citizenship opt-out stated that European citizenship did not replace national citizenship; this opt-out was rendered meaningless when the

adopted the same wording for all members. Under the

Treaty of Lisbon The Treaty of Lisbon (initially known as the Reform Treaty) is a European agreement that amends the two treaties which form the constitutional basis of the European Union (EU). The Treaty of Lisbon, which was signed by all EU member states o ...

, Denmark can change its opt-out from a complete opt-out to the case-by-case opt-in version that applies to Ireland whenever they wish.

Aftermath

The

June Movement The June Movement () was a Danish left Eurosceptic political organisation founded 23 August 1992. It took its name from the referendum on the Maastricht Treaty that took place in Denmark in June of that year. The movement was a member of the E ...

, a Danish eurosceptic party and political organization was founded immediately after the referendum, and takes its name from the event.

References

{{Danish elections History of the European Union Referendums in Denmark

Maastricht Maastricht ( , , ; ; ; ) is a city and a Municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in the southeastern Netherlands. It is the capital city, capital and largest city of the province of Limburg (Netherlands), Limburg. Maastricht is loca ...

1992 in international relations 1992 in the European Economic Community Denmark and the European Union Referendums related to the European Union

Treaty on European Union