The Danish government has now set a date for a referendum to decide on whether or not Denmark is to join the UPC. On 25 May 2014, in connection with elections for the European Parliament, the Danes will be asked to cast their vote on the UPC.
For a long time, the Danish government seems to have hoped that the far-right wing Danish Peoples Party (DPP) would give up its resistance to the UPC and thus provide the government with the necessary 5/6 parliamentary majority (as mentioned in previous posts), but this has not happened. The government could also have gotten its majority from the far-left wing party, the Unity List, but this party has maintained its staunch opposition to the UPC.
There is no doubt that this is not a popular political issue or that this will not be a referendum which will yield a broad public debate, but despite initial reports to the contrary, it now appears from one poll (conducted by Megafon in June) that the Danish electorate – in line with the parliamentary majority and Danish industry – may be in favor of the UPC.
Against this background it may seem strange that the Danish government is unable to find the necessary 5/6 majority in Parliament, not least considering that the mandate for the government to enter into negotiations on joining the UPC was in fact granted by a parliamentary majority that included … the DPP.
The DPP, meanwhile, has hinted on several occasions that it may willing to concede its opposition to the UPC if given influence on other issues so a lot may still happen between now and 25 May next year.
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