The End of an Affair? The Danish-British Relationship in the EU and the Brexit

Abstract

Denmark is considered a ‘reluctant’ and ‘hesitant’ European member state, ever since its accession to the European Community in 1973. Before and during its membership, Denmark found a partner in Britain. Both were reluctant towards transferring sovereignty, had a sense of ‘superiority’ in relation to the EU, shared significant opt-outs on the TEU and as a result were named ‘the odd couple’. After 43 years of membership, the British electorate voted in favour of a Brexit in the summer of 2016. The partnership between Britain and Denmark, and to what extent Denmark is losing a key ally when Britain leaves the EU, is the subject of this thesis. The small state theory explains why small countries like Denmark bind themselves to great powers like Britain. Denmark’s approach towards European integration and during its membership has been characterized by ‘shadowing’ Britain. Denmark depended its European policies on the British European policies before and during its EU membership. The two countries also shared positions and approaches towards European integration between 2000 and 2008. Two more recent EU policies examined in this thesis, eastern enlargement and the Constitutional/Lisbon Treaty, were highly prioritized by Denmark and in the academic literature the second is considered a consequence of the first. Using party manifesto’s and public statements and speeches by the Danish and British Prime Ministers on these policies, the Danish and British approaches are analysed and compared. Support for eastern enlargement is explained by rationalists and constructivist approaches, used as tools to examine whether there have been similarities between the British and Danish arguments and approaches. The IR theory which distinguishes supranationalists from intergovernmentalists is used to examine the Danish and British support for the Constitutional/Lisbon Treaty and their approach to the principle of subsidiarity. After comparing and analysing these approaches, it is clear that, with Britain leaving, Denmark is definitely losing a key ally. It seems, however, that the focus of the Danish shadowing has already started to shift to the EU, away from Britain. The ‘odd couple’ is breaking up.