Tag: Denmark

Visiting Brussels to lobby for the election of his city as European Capital of Culture for 2013, Mayor of Marseille and Vice-President of the French senate Jean-Claude Gaudin praised the EU's initiative, which he says has an enormous and long-standing impact on the cities selected.

Following the re-election of Anders Fogh Rasmussen for a third term as Danish prime minister, Danes are set to vote on their country's opt-out from a number of EU policies and, most notably, the adoption of the euro, which was dismissed in a 2000 referendum.

Anders Fogh Rasmussen said he would hold broad government talks in a bid to ensure backing for his planned reform of the Danish welfare state after the Danes re-elected the liberal prime minister for a third term.

Denmark, the champion of the EU's Lisbon Agenda on Jobs and Growth, will increase the retirement age by two years in order to bring more people into jobs and finance social security systems.

As Germany and France are struggling with the implications of labour reforms that Germany has already implemented and France is still deciding upon, the question arises of whether reforms should be based on successful Nordic models. 

The Netherlands will hold a referendum on the EU Consitution on 1 June 2005. It will not be legally binding.