Home > Foreign relations of Denmark
Danish foreign policy is founded upon four cornerstones: the United Nations, NATO, the EU, and Nordic cooperation. Denmark also is a member of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund; the World Trade Organization (WTO); the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE); the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD); the Council of Europe; the Nordic Council; the Baltic Council ; and the Barents Council . Denmark emphasizes its relations with developing nations and is one of the few countries to exceed the UN goal of contributing 1% of GNP to development assistance.In the wake of the Cold War, Denmark has been active in international efforts to integrate the countries of Central and Eastern Europe into the West. It has played a leadership role in coordinating Western assistance to the Baltic states ( Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania). The country is a strong supporter of international peacekeeping. Danish forces were heavily engaged in the former Yugoslavia in the UN Protection Force ( UNPROFORThe United Nations Protection Force UNPROFOR were the primary UN peacekeeping troops in Croatia and in Bosnia and Herzegovina during the Yugoslav wars. They served between February 1992 and March 1995. The UNPROFOR was composed of nearly 39,000 personnel,), with IFORThe acronym IFOR may also refer to the International Fellowship of Reconciliation. The Implementation Force (IFOR) was a NATO-led multinational force in Bosnia and Herzegovina under a one year mandate from December 20, 1995 to December 20, 1996 under the, and now SFORThe Stabilisation Force (SFOR) is a NATO-led multinational force in Bosnia and Herzegovina which under the code name Operation Joint Guard ( December 21, 1996 June 19, 1998) and Operation Joint Forge (since June 20, 1998) has been tasked to uphold the Day.
Denmark has been a member of NATO since its founding in 1949, and membership in NATO remains highly popular. There were several serious confrontations between the U.S. and Denmark on security policy in the so-called "footnote era" (1982-88), when a hostile parliamentary majority forced the government to adopt specific national positions on nuclear and arms control issues. With the end of the Cold War, however, Denmark has been supportive of U.S. policy objectives in the Alliance. Denmark is not a member of the Western European Union but does hold observer status.
Danes have enjoyed a reputation as "reluctant" Europeans. When they rejected ratification of the Maastricht Treaty on June 2, 1992, they put the EC's plans for the European Union on hold. In December 1992, the rest of the EC agreed to exempt Denmark from certain aspects of the European Union, including a common defense, a common currency, EU citizenship, and certain aspects of legal cooperation. The Amsterdam TreatyThe Amsterdam Treaty (in full: Treaty of Amsterdam amending the Treaty of the European Union, the Treaties establishing the European Communities and certain related acts which was signed on October 2 1997, and entered into force on May 1, 1999, made subst was approved in the referendum of May 28, 1998, but the persistent skepticism of the EU in Denmark may no longer be a purely Danish phenomenon, as other member nations seem to have lowered their ambitions for ever greater political integration. In the autumn of 2000, Danish citizens rejected membership of the EuroThe euro ISO 4217 code EUR is the currency of twelve of the twenty-five nations that form the European Union (and four outside it, as well as Montenegro and Kosovo), which form the Economic and Monetary Union (EMU). It is the result of the most significan currency group in a referendum.
Disputes - international:
RockallRockall is a small, rocky island in the North Atlantic but is probably better known as one of the British Sea Areas named in the Shipping Forecast broadcast on BBC Radio 4. Its status is disputed, being claimed by the United Kingdom, Republic of Ireland, continental shelf dispute involving IcelandThe Republic of Iceland is an island nation in the northern Atlantic Ocean, located between Greenland and Scotland, northwest of the Faroe Islands. Lydveldid Island ( In Detail) (Full size) National motto: none Official languageNone. Icelandic de facto''., Ireland, and the UK (Ireland and the UK have signed a boundary agreement in the Rockall area)
