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| Minister of European Affairs
and Integration, Bertel Haarder |
| Courtesy Danish Foreign
Ministry |
Denmark has a triple bottom line approach to its
foreign policy. The country cooperates with the
UN and links with the Third World by global economic
integration. It maintains an Atlantic Circle sphere
of interest, working closely with the U.S. on security.
Then it maintains another circle, covering the Baltic
region.
But the single most important element in Danish
foreign policy is the European Union. Denmark currently
holds the EU rotating presidency–the term expires
this Dec.–and pushing for a sooner-than-later
EU expansion has been its greatest priority. The
end of the Cold War and unification of Germany have
only made it more vital. Germany, so long a bristling
threat across a land border, is now a central foreign
policy partner. Denmark used to be a vulnerable
border state, with ships full of Soviet nuclear
weapons passing through the international waters
between Denmark and Sweden.
All of this is gone. Sullen, Moscow-controlled
bullies have become eager trading partners, and
a nation’s economic prosperity has trumped
military might as far as who calls the shots. Once
this happened, the Danes sprang into action. They
are now pushing actively for EU enlargement. There
is some domestic resistance which has led to opt-outs
– for instance, they will not participate in
EU military actions – and there are a lot of
balancing acts going on.
For instance, Greece and Italy are worried about
the asylum policy because they think Denmark will
send too many back to the countries where they originally
landed. Denmark considers one of its great challenges
to combine their northward interests with their
European policy.
Bertel Haarder has written 10 books on the Nordic
welfare state. He was appointed minister of European
Affairs and Integration -- which also includes immigration
questions -- in 2001. "I was chosen because
I was seven years in the parliament as a spokesman
for human rights," he says. "Before that,
I was minister of education and research. I am probably
the most experienced for European policies.
“We once had a very difficult position in
Europe with the strategic straits -- Nazi Germany
and Soviet Russia always wanted control. Which is
why we were always considered squeezed in international
politics. We always got hurt. Look at it now, with
friendly nationals all around, with the Baltic Sea
full of peace and cooperation. All our traditional
problems in foreign policy have been solved.”
The effect of the EU presidency is expected to
be significant. The presidency’s influence
consists of making priorities, much the same as
a congressional committee chairman in Washington.
“It’s difficult for the other countries
to prevent us from spending our own powers trying
to find compromises before the meetings," he
says.
The hottest issue right now is enlargement. “That’s
a historic task, to overcome the Iron Curtain, the
division of Europe," Haarder says. "I
mean we are now going to make Central and Eastern
Europe safe for democracy the same way we made southern
Europe safe in the last generation with Portuguese,
Spanish and Greek entrance.
"Each specific country has its specific problems,
and it is very important that we as politicians
listen to it to take into account that they also
need the acceptance of their people," he says.
“Because they may have referendums, and we
know how they can turn out.”
Each minister chairing the various EU councils
is Danish. Haarder himself chairs the Council of
Home and Justice Affairs.
“This is important," Haarder says. "We
want common asylum rules, we want common rules for
third-country nationals in Europe, border control,
to fight illegal immigration and smuggling of all
sorts, and international crime, which has piled
up since the disappearance of the Iron Curtain.
There are some real ‘hot potatoes,’ like
farming. Some Eastern European farmers think that
the offer from the EU is not good enough. They want
a transitional period before they go under the same
terms as the Western farmers.
"These issues will have to be resolved independently
of the Copenhagen Summit, by the orders of the prime
minister. They have booked the conference center
for four days, instead of the usual two, because
we don’t want to get distracted. We don’t
want any excuses for not dealing with enlargement.
All this has to be solved at Copenhagen. So we will
certainly be very busy."
For more information, please visit: www.um.dk
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