Danish Eurosceptics set for legal rebuff

Date: 26/06/1997

By Ole Ryborg

A DANISH high court is this week expected to reject claims by a group of 11 Eurosceptics that their country's ratification of the Maastricht Treaty was in breach of its constitution.

But whatever the outcome, tomorrow's (27 June) ruling by the high court for eastern Denmark is certain to prompt an appeal to Denmark's supreme high court.

The government is expected to win round one of the legal battle, after a series of clashes between the court's president and the plaintiff's lawyers during the hearings as the judge tried to stop them from making political speeches instead of legal arguments.

The plaintiffs claim Denmark's ratification of the Maastricht Treaty is unlawful because the country's constitution states that it can transfer sovereignty to international organisations “only to a more specified extent”. They argue the sovereignty transferred to the EU through Maastricht was not exactly specified. This argument is rejected by lawyers for Danish Prime Minister Poul Nyrup Rasmussen, who argue the transfer of sovereignty under the treaty was crystal clear to everybody.

No timetable has yet been set for the appeal to be heard by the Danish supreme court, but government lawyers have already asked for the issue to be resolved quickly.

It is widely believed that Denmark cannot hold its planned referendum on the Amsterdam Treaty until the supreme court has given its interpretation of the key clause in the country's constitution.