Denmark may have voted not once, but twice, against adopting the euro as its currency, but the results from those referendums may end up being cast aside like a one cent euro coin in a wishing well.
According to leaked notes from a confidential meeting held in Strasbourg last week that have fallen into the hands of the German newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, Denmark may be coerced into forgoing the kroner in the not-too-distant future.
According to the notes from that meeting – in which big EU hitters Pierre Moscovici and Valdis Dombrovskis allegedly participated – the EU Commission wants all 27 member states to adopt the euro by 2025.
The notes also indicated that the EU wants to establish a euro budget that will incorporate a fixed tax payment from all EU nations to be used for mutual investments across the EU.
Dombrovskis, who is the EU Commissioner for the Euro and Social Dialogue, contends that the whole thing is a big misunderstanding.
“There has been some confusion. What we discuss in the coming reflection paper is the completion of the economic and monetary union [the euro],” Dombrovskis said according to the EU Commission’s Swedish site.
“It doesn’t mean the EU member states must adopt the euro. There is no specific time schedule, but we naturally encourage all member states to make the necessary preparations.”
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More control
The secret meeting was apparently a precursor to a meeting regarding the future of the euro, which the EU Commission is expected to hold on May 31.
According to Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, the EU Commission also wants to gain control over the euro, a power currently held by the finance ministers of the member states.
EU nations currently outside the euro are Denmark, Sweden, Poland, the Czech Republic, Bulgaria, Hungary and Romania.
