European microphone receives the Danish journalist and former correspondent in Paris, Lally Hoffman.
franceinfo: Lally Hoffmann, the Prime Minister of Denmark is Mette Frederiksen, who is she?
Lally Hoffman: She is 44 years old exactly. At 15, she became a member of the Social Democratic Party, like her family. In 2001, she became a member of the Folketing, the Parliament. In 2015, she became the president of the Social Democratic Party. 2019, she becomes the Prime Minister. It’s still well done.
It’s not bad since adolescence…
And when she was elected in 2019, it was for social programs, retirement a little earlier, for people who worked many years, she wanted to be the Minister for Children. But she has another side, she approaches the Iron Lady…
Precisely the United Kingdom, on April 14, signed an agreement with Rwanda stipulating that any person entering the United Kingdom illegally as well as those who arrived illegally since January 1 could be transferred to Rwanda. Did the idea also germinate in Copenhagen?
This idea was born in the former government, and we are discussing it. I must say that most people find that absurd and we negotiated, but in secret, on the government side with Rwanda, but it was not signed. The case is not closed. With what has just happened in Ukraine, the reception of immigrants is completely different today for Ukrainians. So, Denmark which is really known for its immigration policy, really harsh…
Does that mean that there would be good immigrants, bad immigrants?
That’s absolutely it, and non-Europeans are still not welcome. But we still have quotas for 500 immigrants per year. But the Ukrainians came with them, everything changes, there are now 25,000 of them and they have the possibility of having a job, which is not feasible for the others. And Ukrainian children go to school.
Yes really. Two weights, two measures, as we say in French…
Absolutely.
Now we are going to talk about a Danish referendum. First of all, in this referendum, we are not asking the Danes: “Do you agree or not? It’s rather : “Are you, are you saying yes or are you saying no?”
It’s normal with us, except for the queen.
Firstly, the Danish text of the referendum is based on the principle of Denmark’s participation or not in European cooperation in the field of security and defense by abolishing the European defense reserve? What is the European Defense Reserve?
It’s a long story. In 1992, for Maastricht, to the great surprise of all Danes, we said no. The Treaty on European Union was rejected by 50.72% of the votes cast. So we try to save face, and we find a national compromise between the different parties, with four conditions. First we keep the crown, we don’t want the euro, then we keep the Danish nationality if one day there was a European nationality, then there is the question of Danish legal cases, we keep the law and lately, the security and defense reserve.
When the European Union is discussing defense and security around a table, the Danes are not there, so we have no influence. But when it’s decided, external operations, for example, we can ask the Danes whether or not you want to participate, and then we decide.
So Mette Frederiksen, Prime Minister decided it was time to act. We have to go for it so that we become more European, that we enter into European defense and security. As Europe has become more constrained with the war and the Americans will perhaps not always be interested in the old continent as they are now, we say to ourselves that Europe must be stronger and we with it.
What is the date of the referendum?
June 1st next.