Külügyi Szemle - A Teleki László Intézet Külpolitikai Tanulmányok Központja folyóirata - 2003 (2. évfolyam)
2003 / 2. szám - EURÓPA - Claus Juul Nielsen: Together in One Europe
Together in One Europe Claus Juul Nielsen T he motto for the Copenhagen Summit was "One Europe". In this spirit the 25 participating states finalized the negotiations about EU enlargement and created one of the big moments in the history of Europe. Now it is up to the populations in the 25 states to make maximum use of this moment. In the new member states the voters will have to approve the results from Copenhagen by referendum. Afterwards, the parliaments in as well coming as present member states will have to ratify the accession treaties and hopefully on May 1st 2004 the European Union will comprise 25 members. At least this is the vision of my country and it is supported by a very broad majority in the Danish Parliament and among the Danish voters. For me as Danish Ambassador to Hungary, I hope and wish that our two countries by Hungarian membership will become ever closer related. However, this is up to the Hungarian voters to decide on April 12th this year. Our hope and wishes shall therefore also be my point of departure here today, where I shall try to evaluate what such a new relationship among our two countries could bring for the future. Let me start to explain to you what the decisions in Copenhagen means to us, and how we view our role in the new Europe. The conclusions from Copenhagen together with the conclusions from Prague to enlarge NATO fulfills the mam objective of the last 15 years of Danish foreign policy. The new democracies of Central Europe, including the three Baltic states have been safely led into our western organizations for cooperation. Denmark has changed position from a front-line state in the conflict between East and West to a place at the center of the new Europe. The fall of the Berlin wall meant that Denmark was able to emerge from the shadow of the war with Prussia in 1864 and the two world wars of the last century. For more than 100 year's small state and adoption policies characterized Danish foreign policy towards Germany and later the Soviet Union. This situation has now changed decisively. The Danish EU presidency and the enlargement negotiations in both the EU and NATO have shown that Denmark has got 2003. nyár 77
