When Denmark joined the European Union’s visa-free open travel zone ten years ago, the right wing Populist Danish People’s Party bought a decommissioned border guardhouse, vowing that one day it would be in use again. Unfortunately last week for the rest of the EU it became a reality for the People’s Party after the Prime Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen had agreed to restore 24-hour customs control in exchange for their support on a difficult budget package to salvage their crumbling economy.
The deal was not only a bad one for Denmark but it also set off an outcry in the European Union as tiny Denmark became the first member to seriously challenge the union’s major achievement: the free movement of goods and services across borders. As for Denmark, which in the past also did not accept the euro currency, they can expect to feel more economic pain, with traders and tourists now starting to avoid Denmark like the plague.
EU-Digest
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