And again Vladimir Putin has forged the continent a little closer together. Anyone who had predicted that the Danes of all people would one day enthusiastically embrace a European project with more than two-thirds of the votes would have been declared crazy at the beginning of the year.
The Danes? The people who had diligently earned a reputation in the EU as cool, distanced companions and sometimes troublemakers? The state that for decades was the only one in the EU to opt out of the common security and defense policy? But now they line up here with waving flags and one reads in politicsthe country’s main newspaper, headlines like this: “A European wave hit Denmark and tore down a wall.”
To be clear: love is far from it. But one can state the return of reason. Reason that the Danish solo efforts of the past few years and the sometimes bizarre symbolic politics, especially in the subject of foreigners with often anti-EU undertones, have occasionally been lacking. Distrust of the EU and mockery of it have long been part of the good manners in Denmark, probably also an expression of the self-assurance of a small nation that always fears for its nature and its importance. It is significant that it took a Russian war of aggression to remind the Danes of simple truths, such as that “Russia is more to be feared than Europe” – the sentence came from Mette Frederiksen, the head of government.
Whether the government as a whole is purified? That’s not decided yet
The overwhelming yes in the referendum is a victory for the European cause, a slap in the face for Putin. But it’s also a triumph for Mette Frederiksen, who is the first prime minister in decades to actually bring Denmark closer to the EU. This is not without irony, because in recent years, in Europe and elsewhere, it has sometimes looked as if the social democrat Frederiksen had copied her craft from the right-wing populists: she repeatedly created a mood by playing off the hinterland against the cities, the “ordinary Danes” against the urban elite, Denmark against Europe.
Is the U-turn in security policy, the move towards more Europe, also a purification of Frederiksen and her government? That remains to be seen. Joint defense is all well and good – in the end there is always the question of what you are actually defending. European norms and values, right? Especially with regard to its foreigner and refugee policy, Denmark seems to have lost its way several times recently. Copenhagen is currently pursuing the declared goal of “zero asylum seekers on Danish territory” – the plan at the moment is to relocate the refugee camps to Rwanda, to the astonishment and horror of many in the EU. A more European Denmark would still have a long way to go.