2015 Danish European Union opt-out referendum

Last updated
Danish European Union opt-out referendum
Flag of Denmark.svg
3 December 2015
Proposed Law to change the justice opt-out to a case-by-case opt-in. [n 1] [1]
Results
Choice
Votes %
Check-71-128-204-brightblue.svg Yes1,375,86246.89%
Light brown x.svg No1,558,43753.11%
Valid votes2,934,29998.13%
Invalid or blank votes55,9621.87%
Total votes2,990,261100.00%
Registered voters/turnout4,153,04172%
 2015 Danish EU opt-out referendum.svg
Results by electoral district
Source: Statistics Denmark [2]
Election posters in Copenhagen Election posters at Trianglen.JPG
Election posters in Copenhagen

A referendum on one of the country's opt-outs from the European Union was held in Denmark on 3 December 2015. Specifically, the referendum was on whether to convert Denmark's current full opt-out on home and justice matters into an opt-out with case-by-case opt-in similar to those held by Ireland and the United Kingdom. Approval of the referendum was needed for Denmark to remain in Europol under the new rules. However, it was rejected by 53% of voters.

Contents

Background

After Danish voters rejected the Maastricht Treaty in a 1992 referendum, the Edinburgh Agreement that was reached granted four exceptions to Denmark, one of which concerning Justice and Home Affairs. The Danish people subsequently approved the Maastricht Treaty in a 1993 referendum.

Several Danish governments had considered holding a referendum on abolishing certain opt-outs. When it became clear that, under new rules, Denmark would have to leave Europol due to its full opt-out, the two main political parties agreed to hold a referendum after the 2015 general election. The second Lars Løkke Rasmussen government that was formed following the election subsequently decided on 21 August 2015 to hold a referendum on 3 December. [3]

Consequences in legislation

List of legislation

The following are EU-laws affected by the opt-outs, that the proponents wanted to opt into: [4]

Police and criminal law
Civil law and commercial law
Family law
Proposals

Campaign

A "yes" vote was supported by the governing Venstre, the Social Democrats, the Conservative People's Party, The Alternative, the Social Liberal Party and the Socialist People's Party. A "no" vote was supported by the Danish People's Party, the Liberal Alliance, the Red–Green Alliance, the People's Movement against the EU and the Young Conservatives.

Opinion polls

Date(s)Polling agencySampleForAgainstUndecidedLead
1–2 December 2015 Megafon/TV2 1,92739.4%42.2%18.4%2.8%
30 November–1 December 2015 Gallup/Berlingske 1,63037%42%21%5%
25 November–1 December 2015 Wilke/Jyllandsposten 2,00037.4%41.1%21.5%3.7%
22–30 November 2015 Epinion/DR 2,77832%36%31%4%
26–29 November 2015 Megafon/TV2 1,00035%40%25%5%
25–26 November 2015 Gallup/Berlingske 1,03534%38%25%4%
20–23 November 2015 Megafon/TV2 1,03139%38%23%1%
18–23 November 2015 Norstat/Altinget 1,00234%41%25%7%
16–22 November 2015 Epinion/DR 2,37332%29%34%3%
November 2015 Voxmeter/Ritzau 1,00934.8%32.1%33.1%2.7%
November 2015 Voxmeter/Ritzau 1,01033.0%30.5%36.5%2.5%
November 2015 Voxmeter/Ritzau 1,00526.8%30.4%42.7%3.6%
26–28 October 2015 Megafon/Politiken ca. 1,00032%28%40%4%
22–26 October 2015 Norstat/Altinget 1,00031%37%33%6%
14–21 October 2015 Epinion/DR Nyheder 1,00529%28%39%1%
September 2015 Voxmeter/Ritzau Archived 2015-10-11 at the Wayback Machine 1,00926%37%36%9%
21–24 September 2015 Megafon/Politiken ca. 1,00041%32%27%9%
16–21 September 2015 Norstat/Altinget 1,00131%36%33%5%
24–26 August 2015 Megafon/Politiken ca. 1,00041%27%33%14%
21–24 August 2015 Norstat/Altinget 1,00034%33%32%1%
June 2015 Norstat/Altinget ca. 1,00038%31%31%7%
May 2015 Norstat/Altinget ca. 1,00040%30%30%10%
April 2015 Norstat/Altinget ca. 1,00036%29%34%7%
12–17 March 2015 Norstat/Altinget 1,00138%27%35%11%
3 February 2015 Norstat/Altinget ca. 1,00039%27%34%12%
12 January 2015 ukendt/Børsen ca. 1,00043%41%16%2%
January 2015 Norstat/Altinget ca. 1,00039%27%34%12%

Results

Results by electoral district .mw-parser-output .legend{page-break-inside:avoid;break-inside:avoid-column}.mw-parser-output .legend-color{display:inline-block;min-width:1.25em;height:1.25em;line-height:1.25;margin:1px 0;text-align:center;border:1px solid black;background-color:transparent;color:black}.mw-parser-output .legend-text{} No Yes Danish European Union opt-out referendum result by district, 2015.png
Results by electoral district
  No
  Yes
ChoiceVotes%
For1,375,86246.89
Against1,558,43753.11
Invalid/blank votes55,962–
Total2,990,261100
Registered voters/turnout4,153,04172.00
Source: Statistics Denmark [2]

Footnotes

  1. ↑ The ballot question was the name of the proposal.

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References

  1. ↑ "Forslag til Lov om omdannelse af retsforbeholdet til en tilvalgsordning". retsinformation.dk. Department of Civil Affairs. 13 November 2015. Retrieved 3 December 2015.
  2. 1 2 "Folkeafstemning torsdag 3. december 2015: Resultater - Foreløbig opgørelse af valgresultat". dst.dk (in Danish). Statistics Denmark. Retrieved 3 December 2015.
  3. ↑ "Denmark to vote on Justice and Home Affairs opt-in model on 3 December". Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Denmark. 2015-08-21. Archived from the original on 2015-09-11. Retrieved 2015-08-21.
  4. ↑ "Statsministeriet - Aftale om tilvalg af retsakter på området for retlige og indre anliggender". Archived from the original on 2015-04-02. Retrieved 2015-03-17.
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