referendum A referendum (plural: referendums or less commonly referenda) is a direct vote by the electorate on a proposal, law, or political issue. This is in contrast to an issue being voted on by a representative. This may result in the adoption of a ...

on the abolition of the defence

opt-out The term opt-out refers to several methods by which individuals can avoid receiving unsolicited product or service information. This option is usually associated with direct marketing campaigns such as e-mail marketing or direct mail. A list of thos ...

, one of the country's opt-outs from the European Union, was held in

Denmark ) , song = ( en, "King Christian stood by the lofty mast") , song_type = National and royal anthem , image_map = EU-Denmark.svg , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Danish Realm, Kingdom of Denmark ...

on 1 June 2022. The referendum was announced on 6 March 2022 following a broad multi-party defence agreement reached during the

2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine On 24 February 2022, in a major escalation of the Russo-Ukrainian War, which began in 2014. The invasion has resulted in tens of thousands of deaths on both sides. It has caused Europe's largest refugee crisis since World War II. An ...

. The referendum resulted in the "Yes" side winning with approximately two-thirds of the vote.

Background

After the rejection of the

Maastricht Treaty The Treaty on European Union, commonly known as the Maastricht Treaty, is the foundation treaty of the European Union (EU). Concluded in 1992 between the then-twelve member states of the European Communities, it announced "a new stage in the ...

in the 1992 referendum, the Edinburgh Agreement was reached, which gave Denmark four opt-outs in the

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been des ...

(EU), one of which was on defence matters. The Maastricht Treaty was subsequently ratified in

1993 File:1993 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The Oslo I Accord is signed in an attempt to resolve the Israeli–Palestinian conflict; The Russian White House is shelled during the 1993 Russian constitutional crisis; Czechoslovakia is peace ...

. The defence opt-out meant that Denmark did not participate in the

Common Security and Defence Policy The Common Security and Defence Policy (CSDP) is the European Union's (EU) course of action in the fields of defence and crisis management, and a main component of the EU's Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP). The CSDP involves the deplo ...

or EU military operations. In addition, the opt-out meant that Denmark did not participate in the decision processes in the EU related to military operations. This is the third referendum to be held in relation to the country's opt-outs. In

2000 File:2000 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Protests against Bush v. Gore after the 2000 United States presidential election; Heads of state meet for the Millennium Summit; The International Space Station in its infant form as seen from ...

, the Danish electorate rejected the adoption of the

euro The euro ( symbol: €; code: EUR) is the official currency of 19 out of the member states of the European Union (EU). This group of states is known as the eurozone or, officially, the euro area, and includes about 340 million citizens . ...

as national currency, and in

2015 File:2015 Events Collage new.png, From top left, clockwise: Civil service in remembrance of November 2015 Paris attacks; Germanwings Flight 9525 was purposely crashed into the French Alps; the rubble of residences in Kathmandu following the Apri ...

a proposal to modify the justice opt-out was also rejected. For a referendum to be rejected, a majority of participating voters must vote against, and the voters voting against must represent at least 30% of the electorate; however the parties behind the defence agreement have agreed that the result of the referendum should stand regardless of the turnout.

Campaign

The defence agreement was signed and presented by the leaders of the

Social Democrats Social democracy is a political, social, and economic philosophy within socialism that supports political and economic democracy. As a policy regime, it is described by academics as advocating economic and social interventions to promote so ...

, Venstre, Socialist People's Party, Social Liberal Party, and the Conservative People's Party. The parties endorsed the agreement, which also included increased defence spending and the aim of ending the country's dependency on Russian gas. Liberal Alliance and the

Christian Democrats __NOTOC__ Christian democratic parties are political parties that seek to apply Christian principles to public policy. The underlying Christian democracy movement emerged in 19th-century Europe, largely under the influence of Catholic social ...

have also endorsed the "Yes" option, while the Independent Greens voted "Yes" but did not recommend voters what they should vote. The

Danish People's Party The Danish People's Party ( da, Dansk Folkeparti, DPP/DF) is a nationalist and right-wing populist political party in Denmark. It was formed in 1995 by former members of the Progress Party (FrP). The DPP lent its support to the Venstre– C ...

New Right New Right is a term for various right-wing political groups or policies in different countries during different periods. One prominent usage was to describe the emergence of certain Eastern European parties after the collapse of the Soviet Uni ...

, Young Conservatives and the

Red–Green Alliance In politics, a red–green alliance or red–green coalition is an alliance of "red" (often social-democratic or democratic socialist) parties with "green" (often green and/or occasionally agrarian) parties. The alliance is often based on commo ...

have opposed the abolition of the opt-out, recommending the electorate vote "No". On 30 March, the Danish Foreign Ministry released two bills (draft laws) for organising the referendum and joining the

(CSDP). Following this, the wording of the referendum question, which did not mention the European Union nor the opt-out, was criticised by the Danish People's Party and the Red-Green Alliance.

Jeppe Kofod Jeppe Sebastian Kofod (born 14 March 1974) is a Danish politician of the Social Democratic Party who served as Minister of Foreign Affairs of Denmark between 27 June 2019 to 15 December 2022. Kofod previously served as a Member of the European ...

, Denmark's

Foreign Minister A foreign affairs minister or minister of foreign affairs (less commonly minister for foreign affairs) is generally a cabinet minister in charge of a state's foreign policy and relations. The formal title of the top official varies between cou ...

, defended the wording, emphasising that the vote was about joining the other 26

EU member states The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been des ...

. Following the criticism, Kofod announced a changing to the wording on 7 April, which read: "Do you vote for or against Denmark's participation in the European defence and security co-operation by abolishing the EU defence opt-out?" Concern was raised that eliminating the opt-out and participating in the CSDP could eventually lead to Denmark having to join a

European army The Common Security and Defence Policy (CSDP) is the European Union's (EU) course of action in the fields of defence and crisis management, and a main component of the EU's Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP). The CSDP involves the deplo ...

if one were to be created in the future. Foreign Minister Kofod committed that any such change would require treaty revisions, which would be put to the Danish people for approval in a new referendum.

Television debates

Four major television debates involving the leaders of parties represented in the

Folketing The Folketing ( da, Folketinget, ; ), also known as the Parliament of Denmark or the Danish Parliament in English, is the unicameral national legislature (parliament) of the Kingdom of Denmark—Denmark proper together with the Faroe Islands ...

were held.

Opinion polls

Results

The result meant that 43.38% of the registered electorate had voted for the proposal, and 21.49% had voted against.

By constituency

Reactions

Exit polls released by national broadcasters DR and TV 2 immediately after polls closed at 20:00

CEST CEST or cest may refer to: * Central European Summer Time (UTC+2), daylight saving time observed in the central European time zone * Cognitive-Experiential Self-Theory * Chemical Exchange Saturation Transfer, a subset of Magnetization transfer in ...

(18:00 UTC) showed a large majority of the electorate had voted "Yes". This was the first time that Denmark had ever abolished one of its

EU opt-outs The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been de ...

. This was the largest share of the vote ever received by the "Yes" side in an EU-referendum, with the result being described by some as a

landslide Landslides, also known as landslips, are several forms of mass wasting that may include a wide range of ground movements, such as rockfalls, deep-seated grade (slope), slope failures, mudflows, and debris flows. Landslides occur in a variety of ...

. The turnout at 65.8% was noted as one of the lowest of any EU referendum, with only the 2014 Danish Unified Patent Court membership referendum having had a lower turnout. Election scholars expressed concern and attributed the low turnout to some parties being hesitant to campaign, as well as the opinion polls prior to the election showing the yes side having a large lead. Prime Minister

Mette Frederiksen Mette Frederiksen (; born 19 November 1977) is a Danish politician who has been Prime Minister of Denmark since June 2019, and Leader of the Social Democrats since June 2015. The second woman to hold either office, she is also the youngest prime ...

commented that she was "very very happy" for the result, and said that Denmark had sent a very important signal to its allies and a clear signal to

Vladimir Putin Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin; (born 7 October 1952) is a Russian politician and former intelligence officer who holds the office of president of Russia. Putin has served continuously as president or prime minister since 1999: as prime min ...

. She also praised the cooperation with the other parties that had advocated in favour of the referendum. Frederiksen emphasised that there were no plans to abolish Denmark's remaining opt-outs, promising that the referendum had been "about the defence opt-out and nothing else". Venstre leader

Jakob Ellemann-Jensen Jakob Ellemann-Jensen (born 25 September 1973) is a Danish politician who has served as Deputy Prime Minister (Denmark), Deputy Prime Minister of Denmark and Minister of Defence (Denmark), Minister of Defence since 2022. He has been the leader of ...

said that the vote sent a clear result that other countries could count on Denmark. He then focused on the

next Danish general election General elections are scheduled to be held in Denmark no later than 31 October 2026, according to § 32 in the constitution, which defines an election cycle as four years. All 179 seats in the Folketing will be up for election, 175 in Denmark pr ...

, saying that the country's right-wing should work together to give Denmark a new government.

Morten Messerschmidt Morten Messerschmidt (born 13 November 1980) is a Danish politician and current leader of the Danish People's Party. He was a elected Member of the Folketing at the 2019 Danish general election having previously served from 2005 to 2009. At the 2 ...

commented that the result showed that the

was alive. He said that many people's votes were "influenced by the

war in Ukraine The following is a list of major conflicts fought by Ukraine, by Ukrainian people or by regular armies during periods when independent states existed on the modern territory of Ukraine, from the Kyivan Rus' times to the present day. It also i ...

". Political Spokesperson of

Mai Villadsen Mai Minna Villadsen (born 26 December 1991) is a Danish politician who is a member of the Folketing and the political spokesperson of the Red–Green Alliance. Villadsen has been a member of the Folketing since the 2019 Danish general election. E ...

, said that she had "very great respect" for the result of the election. She mentioned that many of the party's voters had voted "Yes", and promised that the party would remain engaged with defence policy. European Commission President

Ursula von der Leyen Ursula Gertrud von der Leyen (; Albrecht, born 8 October 1958) is a German politician who has been serving as the president of the European Commission since 2019. She served in the Cabinet of Germany, German federal government between 2005 an ...

welcomed the result and said that Denmark and the EU "would benefit from the decision". French President

Emmanuel Macron Emmanuel Macron (; born 21 December 1977) is a French politician who has served as President of France since 2017. ''Ex officio'', he is also one of the two Co-Princes of Andorra. Prior to his presidency, Macron served as Minister of Econ ...

said that it was a "fantastic news for our Europe" and that "we are stronger together". Following the referendum, Denmark's Foreign Ministry stated that it planned to formally ratify the decision and notify the EU of its participation in time for it to be effective from 1 July.