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BREXIT

Denmark ‘potentially most affected’ by Brexit: PM

The leaders of the Netherlands, Ireland and Denmark stressed the need for "unity" Friday as the three northern European countries seek to minimise the impact of Britain's divorce from the EU.

Denmark 'potentially most affected' by Brexit: PM
Dutch prime minister Mark Rutte (C) welcomes his counterparts, Denmark's Lars Løkke Rasmussen (R) and Ireland's Enda Kenny prior to a meeting in the Hague Friday. Photo: Michael Kooren/Scanpix

The remaining 27 EU countries are set to rubber-stamp negotiating guidelines from the EU President Donald Tusk at a European Council summit on April 29.

“Our countries are potentially among the countries which will be most affected by the Brexit,” Denmark’s prime minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen told a joint press conference.

“We need to reduce the damages of Brexit as much as possible and build a new working relationship.”

Denmark, Ireland and The Netherlands are all heavily dependent on trade with Britain.

Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte said the EU needed to “act in concert” during the Brexit negotiations, saying “unity” was in everyone's best interests.

“We will need to have as 27 countries a unified position with one negotiator working on behalf of all of us,” he said, after talks in The Hague with Irish Prime Minister Enda Kenny and his Danish counterpart Rasmussen.

A Dutch government think-tank warned last year before Britain's referendum that Brexit could cost The Netherlands a 1.2-percent fall in GDP by 2030 and a 10-billion-euro trade loss.

READ ALSO: Danish minister: 'We will not pay more' to EU after Brexit”

Given the extent of trade between our three countries and the United Kingdom, it's very important that there will be clarity and movement to those issues as soon as it's appropriate,” said Kenny.

“We want to minimise any major impact to our economy as with the Netherlands and Denmark.”

Rutte stressed that some of the burning issues were the status of EU citizens living in Britain, as well as European business located there, Britain's potential Brexit “bill” and the issue of borders.

Kenny, who recently met the Spanish, Polish, Belgian and German leaders, said: “We want to protect jobs, we want to grow jobs and increase prosperity.

“We want to provide as much clarity and certainty for businesses from our three countries about trade with United Kingdom,” he added.

Ireland is also particularly concerned by the borders question as it shares a land border with Britain to its north.

But Kenny highlighted: “The agenda of the European Union is beyond Brexit… with opportunities for expansion, job creation, investment and above all continued peace, and that should not be derailed by the Brexit negotiations.”

BREXIT

Denmark and UK agree deal on voting rights for British nationals

The United Kingdom and Denmark have signed a treaty that will allow all British and Danish citizens to stand and vote in local elections in each other’s countries.

Denmark and UK agree deal on voting rights for British nationals

The agreement will mean that all UK nationals who live in Denmark will be able to vote for candidates in Denmark’s local elections and run for office themselves.

Previously Denmark had imposed a four-year minimum residence requirement for UK nationals to be able to stand and to vote in municipal and regional elections. And those British citizens who registered as resident in Denmark before “Brexit Day” (January 31st, 2020) had also been able to vote in Danish local elections – unlike in most EU countries where Brexit immediately deprived all British residents of the right to vote in local elections.

This new agreement will remove the four-year-minimum and allow all British residents in Denmark to vote.

According to Statistics Denmark figures, this means some 5,388 British citizens who moved to Denmark in the last four years (up to the third quarter of 2023) will benefit from the new treaty.

READ ALSO: How many foreigners can vote in Denmark’s local elections?

It will also apply in reverse, protecting the rights of Danes in the UK to vote and participate in British local council elections.

Britain’s break-away from the EU left both groups without voting rights in their country of residence, whereas prior to Brexit all registered residents had the right to vote as well as to stand as candidates in local elections.

Britons resident in Denmark could also take part in Denmark’s EU elections, but this also lapsed when the UK left the EU.

The deal is a reciprocal agreement which will be treated as an international treaty that has to be ratified by the British parliament. In Denmark’s parliamentary system, this is done by executive order.

The treaty was signed on Thursday at the British Ambassador’s Residence in Copenhagen by the UK’s Ambassador to Denmark, Emma Hopkins and Nikolaj Stenfalk of the Danish Ministry of the Interior and Health.

In a joint statement, Hopkins and Denmark’s ambassador to the UK, René Dinesen, said the agreement will “enhance and protect the rights to participate in local democracy of approximately 50,000 citizens who reside in each other’s countries.”

“As an important outcome of the UK-Denmark Joint Statement signed by our Foreign Ministers last year, this treaty demonstrates the close ties between our countries and underlines our shared commitment to democracy,” they added.

In a statement posted by the Danish foreign ministry on social media X, Foreign Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen said the deal securing Danes’ voting rights in the UK “pleases me on behalf of ourselves and democracy”.

Denmark is the fifth country to sign a voting rights treaty with the UK, following treaties signed with Spain, Portugal, Poland and Luxembourg.

Citizens of EU member states resident in the UK currently still have the right to vote in UK local elections, but this will change after May this year, when EU citizens who moved to the UK after January 1st 2021 will no longer be able to vote in the elections — apart from the five countries (now including Denmark) with which the UK has bilateral treaties.

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