ABSTRACT
Denmark broadly supported the position of Germany and the Netherlands that a bilateral grid of exchange rate parities rather than the European Currency Unit, an average of the currencies of the member states, should anchor the system. The main explanation, however, lies in the long-standing propensity of Danish politicians to present the European Community as advantageous from a strictly economic point of view, and not as a stage in the movement toward political union. The conversion of political elites to farreaching economic and political integration had come too suddenly to be accepted by the voters. A memorandum from the Danish Ministry of Justice argued, however, that the potential transfer of sovereignty later in the 1990s that was specified in the special protocol and ratified by the parliamentary vote justified taking a position in advance. To a considerable degree Danish policy makers did embrace the new realities, but the conversion had been too rapid for most voters.
