Word: denmarks
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...eyes of the European Community focused anxiously on Ireland, as voters went to the polls to decide whether or not to back the Maastricht treaty and its call for deeper economic and political integration into the E.C. The Irish vote acquired special importance after Denmark rejected the treaty's ratification in its own referendum three weeks ago. Had Ireland also opposed the Maastricht pact, it almost surely would have been dead, and the Community's greater integration, including the creation of a single European currency and common foreign and defense policies, would have suffered a setback that would have taken...
...result. The E.C., whose subsidies have substantially benefited the local economy, has enjoyed wide popularity in Ireland. All the major secular institutions had urged endorsement of the treaty. Still, in the wake of Denmark's surprising vote, there was concern that Irish enthusiasm might flag. As it was, only a minority voted against...
...them. "The Danes' decision has blown a hole in the treaty below the waterline," argued British Conservative M.P. Sir Patrick McNair-Wilson, with scarcely suppressed glee. Still others hailed the plebiscite as a triumph for democracy, highlighting the abyss between voters and their political leaders who, in Denmark's case, had campaigned vigorously for the treaty's approval...
Seeking to minimize the damage, Denmark's 11 E.C. partners left the door open to the country's eventual reconsideration of the treaty. Their strategy: to salvage the Maastricht framework while applying pressure on the Danes to change their minds, perhaps in a second plebiscite that could be held as late as 1993 if the treaty's current ratification deadline is extended beyond December of this year...
...danger is that Denmark's objections to the treaty will spread to other Community nations. Danes feared that membership in a new European union would swamp their tiny country's identity in a federal superstate and force them to lower strict national environmental and social standards to the E.C. level. Until the other Community members decide more precisely how to lay such worries to rest, important questions like approval of Brussels' new, bulging five-year budget will effectively be put on hold along with the applications for E.C. membership by Sweden, Finland and Austria...