ABSTRACT
Since the Danes narrowly rejected the Maastricht Treaty by referendum in June 1992, the Danish approach to European integration has - to an extent not previously experienced - been the focus of much international attention. 1 For almost a year - until the second referendum in May 1993 - the behaviour of Danish voters was a decisive factor in every attempt to predict the future development of the European Community (EC). Sparking off a referendum in France in September 1992, the Danish population brought the discrepancy between elite and mass opinion to the forefront of the political debate over the question of European integration. Danish reservations with regard to the Maastricht Treaty were the subject of a broad consensus among the main political parties, and were almost all complied with at the Edinburgh Summit of the European Council in December 1992. The Danes had lowered the tempo of the entire integration process and paved the way for an EC of 'more than one speed', at variance with the strategy pursued by the EC's decision-making elite since the creation of the European Economic Community (EEC) in 1958.
