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BREXIT

Danish newspapers rue ‘historical setback’ of Brexit but also call for reflection

Opinion columns in major Danish newspapers have set forth their takes on the day of the United Kingdom’s official exit from the EU.

Danish newspapers rue 'historical setback' of Brexit but also call for reflection
Photo: Liselotte Sabroe/Ritzau Scanpix

The UK’s exit is primarily seen as a sad event from the perspective of the Danish newspapers.

But Brexit is also cause for shake-up in the European alliance, others argued.

“We are going to miss our most annoying friends in the EU,” conservative daily Berlingske writes.

“The British have fought the same fight as the Danes for free trade and moderation over the use of taxpayers’ money,” the newspaper continues.

READ ALSO: Why Denmark is losing an EU 'big brother' with UK exit

“We must spend the coming years discussing the consequences and preparing ourselves to make the European cooperation more efficient and ensure it provides tangible benefits ro citizens. At the same time, we must work to tie the UK as close to the EU as possible,” Berlingske writes.

Centre-left daily Politiken calls the British exit a “historical setback”, while also pointing out the need for Europe to take stock.

“But Brexit is not just a crisis and a tragedy. It’s also the possibility of a new beginning, in which the remaining 27 countries shift closer together. But that will require political courage and revitalization from within,” the paper writes.

“Successive British governments were never able to formulate a long-term European policy. Whether we learn from the Brits’ mistake. May their exit be our occasion to step even more wholeheartedly into the European community. In which case, Brexit will have been good for something,” Politiken writes.

The editorial in centre-right Jyllands-Posten calls the withdrawal a “day of mourning” but also expected, given that “the United Kingdom’s relationship with the EU has been one big drama”.

“The British have pretty much had things exactly as they wanted. As much good as that did,” the column reads.

Financial daily Børsen points out the common value placed on free trade by the UK and Denmark alike.

“The United Kingdom and the Nordic countries have often acted as a counterbalance to the French-German axis in the EU. We are now losing a major and strong ally in Brussels,” the newspaper writes.

“There is much to thank each other for after 50 years’ close cooperation – and just like at New Year, it doesn’t all end just because we’re beginning a new phase of our friendship,” it adds.

READ ALSO: 'We have to keep calm and carry on': Brits in Denmark voice concern, look beyond Brexit

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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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