Stay up to date with notifications from The Independent

Notifications can be managed in browser preferences.

Euroscepticism plummets in Denmark as consequences of Brexit become clear

Support for 'Dexit' falls sharply since Brexit 

Jon Stone
Brussels
Tuesday 03 April 2018 07:21 EDT
Comments
What is still needed to complete a deal with the EU?

Your support helps us to tell the story

From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.

At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.

The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.

Your support makes all the difference.

Euroscepticism has fast lost support in Denmark as the consequences of Britain’s vote for Brexit become clearer, new polling suggest.

Denmark joined the EU in the same year as the UK and has long been seen as one of the more eurosceptic or anti-EU countries along with its British neighbours over the North Sea.

But a new poll for Danish public broadcaster DR conducted by Epinion found Danes’ attitudes have softened quite dramatically since the Brexit vote.

Voters now say they would reject a referendum on leaving by 55 per cent to 27 per cent – a 28 per cent gap in favour of the EU.

This compares to polling conducted in 2016 by the same company before the EU referendum that found the result would be much closer – 44 per cent to 37 per cent, just 7 per cent.

The previous, more narrow gap in public opinion was similar to the one that the Leave campaign had to bridge in the Brexit referendum.

Like Britain, Denmark has its own opt-outs from using the European single currency and other EU agencies.

Rising pro-EU sentiment in Denmark is not isolated: the regular eurobarometer poll conducted by the European Commission in August found that more Europeans than ever say they feel like EU citizens.

As Britain heads towards the exit door the rest of the continent feels more positive about European identity than ever, with a solid 68 per cent of the population telling the regular Eurobarometer poll that they “feel they are a citizen of the EU”.

There were also sharp rises in optimism about the EU across the board, but especially in France, where new president Emmanuel Macron saw off a far-right challenger, and Portugal, whose government has ended austerity and kick-started growth with an investment programme.

Aside from the example of Brexit, the new figures also come amid a solid increase in growth and other economic indicators across the continent.

In Britain there has been little significant movement in the referendum voting intention polls since voters decided to leave by 52 per cent to 48 per cent in June 2016.

Join our commenting forum

Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies

Comments

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in