Today, May 18 is the anniversary of the Norrebro Riots which followed the second Danish Referendum on ratifying the Maastricht Treaty in 1993. As a result of the European Community agreeing the terms of the Maastricht Treaty on 7 February 1992 this treaty created the European Community ('EC') under the control of a central authority, the European Commission along with the European Parliament and the European Court of Justice and the European Monetary Union. It marked a new stage of the creation of a European Federal State and the creation of a Common Foreign and Security Policy.
Most importantly, the Treaty established the convergence principles for the creation of a European Economic and Monetary Union (EMU) which established the euro as their common currency.
In order for this Treaty to become operable the twelve European States had to ratify the treaty. Each state had to vote and most required a referendum to make the accession a matter of law. The ratification process was anything but straightforward. There was considerable resistance in the UK over the ratification of the treaty. It was opposed by a majority in the Parliament of the opposition Labour and Liberal Democrat MPs as well as by the Maastricht Rebels within the governing Conservative Party. The number of rebels exceeded the Conservative majority in the House of Commons, and thus the government of John Major came close to losing a confidence vote in the House. The UK Parliament demanded an opt-out clause from the treaty's social provisions and an opt-out on the euro. It was only when the EU agreed to these opt-outs that the UK ratified the treaty.
The Maastricht Treaty did not go down well in France either. A September referendum in France saw was only supported by a 51.05% majority (a figure widely discredited as a legitimate tally of the votes). It was barely ratified in France.
In Denmark, however, the referendum on the Maastricht Treaty in September 1992 rejected the Danish ratification of the treaty. The EU was unable to proceed with the terms of the treaty because of the need for unanimity in the ratification process. The EU bureaucracy and the Commission turned their full fire against the recalcitrant Danes to hold a second referendum. The EU offered a bunch of "sweeteners" and inducements to the Danes to get their votes. These sweeteners were incorporated in the Edinburgh Agreement which listed four Danish exceptions to Maastricht: (a) an opt-out from the European Monetary Union which allowed the Danes not to join the euro; (b) Denmark does not participate in the European Union's foreign policy where defence is concerned, does not act in that area, does not contribute troops to missions conducted under the auspices of the European Union and does not participate in the European Defence Agency; (c) Denmark opted out of the Justice and Home Affairs rules on freedom, security and justice - acts made under those powers are not binding on Denmark except for those relating to Schengen, which are instead conducted on an intergovernmental basis, and (d) Danish citizens remain citizens of Denmark - not European citizens. On the basis of the Edinburgh Agreement the Danes were persuaded to hold a second referendum on the Maastricht Treaty on 18 May 1993 when the treaty narrowly passed.
The result of this second referendum provoked civil unrest. The protestors rejected the need for second referendum when they had already voted 'no' in the first referendum. They also felt that the sweeteners of the Edinburgh Agreement would be watered-down and amended by the Danish Government over the years without reference to a referendum. This was, indeed the case.
On the same day as the second referendum (18 May 1993) protestors gathered in the Copenhagen suburb of Norrebro. The police were not prepared for the protestors and the scene grew violent. Paving stones were picked up by the protestors from a building site and hurled at the police. The police opened fire on the protestors. They fired at least 113 shots. No one was killed but several protestors were wounded. The riots left 13 protestors requiring medical attention as well as 92 policemen. It was a bad day for Danish politics and has left a sour note in most subsequent Danish votes on the EU.
The EU has consistently refused to recognise the democratic process, rejecting referendum losses in Ireland and elsewhere, trying to get a different result from the votes freely cast and insisting on re-running the referenda after offering "sweeteners" to a recalcitrant populace. Perhaps the UK will get the same treatment after June 23; offering whatever the Cameron Government thinks it can sell to the British public and then water down afterwards when a referendum isn't required. The Norrebro Riots are a good illustration of the EU methods and a warning to the Brexiters that they will need a substantial victory in the referendum to stop the EU erosion of democratic principles after the vote.
