The first Danish minister for European affairs visits CBS
Nicolai Wammen has left the postponed budget negotiations at the EU summit to talk about his new field of responsibility. Everybody will now be able to discuss where Denmark is going with the EU with the new man in charge.
The EU has been the concern of the Foreign Ministry until the government was appointed and Helle Thorning-Schmidt, Prime Minister, appointed Denmark's first minister for European affairs with his own department - Nicolai Wammen from the Danish Social Democrats. The CBS Center for the Study of Europe has invited the minister to visit CBS on 30 November at 10:45.
Wanted: More focus on the EU
The media have been criticised of not paying enough attention to the EU. Michael Herslund, Professor at the Department of International Business Communication at CBS and Director of the Center for the Study of Europe understands the criticism and hopes that the minister can and will do something about it.
- In fact, I know a lot more about Nicolai Wammen, Mayor of Aarhus, than I know about Nicolai Wammen, Minister for European Affairs. This lack of knowledge simply underlines what we have been repeating again and again - we need to focus more on the EU. However, I do think that there is some development. During our chairmanship, there were more political commitment and much more media coverage of the EU. The minister can continue this development, says Michael Herslund.
A multi-speed EU
The theme of Nicolai Wammen's visit at CBS is ”Where is Denmark going in Europe?” The prime minister has announced that we need a multi-speed EU. A scenario of great immediate interest is the postponed budget negotiations at the latest EU summit, where Nicolai Wammen's plan was smaller budgets and larger discounts for Denmark. Michael Herslund is looking forward to a status and a plan for the Danes' future EU.
- For many years, a metaphor for the EU has been a bicycle. The wheels have to keep turning or it will tip over. And little by little, people have started talking about a multi-speed Europe. In my view, we are experiencing a multi-speed Europe right now. The euro countries take the lead, and then we have countries like Denmark, who pegs the krone to the euro, but still haven't surrendered the national monetary standard. This interim solution has consequences; Denmark is not able to impact the legislation to the same extent as the euro countries. In my view, this characterises the Danish commitment, and how many is in fact paying attention to security politics a like that, says Michael Herslund and encourages everybody to join the debate.