To Be, or Not To Be E.C.

Like Hamlet as he strolled the ramparts of Elsinore castle, Danish voters last week confronted a dramatic dilemma: to be, or not to be fully a part of the new Europe. Their answer, which provoked an instant volley of slings and arrows from the nation's outraged Community partners, was an astounding no. By a 50.7% majority, meaning roughly 48,000 votes out of nearly 4 million cast, Danes voted in a referendum not to ratify the treaty of Maastricht, a landmark agreement that pledges the Community to monetary as well as political union by the end of the century. Coming amid a Continent-wide recession and with a bloody conflict still raging in Yugoslavia, the stunning no vote also undercut the unity that could allow the Eurocrats in Brussels to play a more important role in the new world order and the peaceful evolution of Europe after the demise of communism.

Those anxious to scuttle the Maastricht agreement quickly pointed out that it cannot legally take effect in any of the 12 E.C. countries until approved by all of them. "The Danes' decision has blown a hole in the treaty below the waterline," argued British Conservative M.P. Sir Patrick McNair-Wilson, with scarcely suppressed glee. Still others hailed the plebiscite as a triumph for democracy, highlighting the abyss between voters and their political leaders who, in Denmark's case, had campaigned vigorously for the treaty's approval.

Seeking to minimize the damage, Denmark's 11 E.C. partners left the door open to the country's eventual reconsideration of the treaty. Their strategy: to salvage the Maastricht framework while applying pressure on the Danes to change their minds, perhaps in a second plebiscite that could be held as late as 1993 if the treaty's current ratification deadline is extended beyond December of this year.

One danger is that Denmark's objections to the treaty will spread to other Community nations. Danes feared that membership in a new European union would swamp their tiny country's identity in a federal superstate and force them to lower strict national environmental and social standards to the E.C. level. Until the other Community members decide more precisely how to lay such worries to rest, important questions like approval of Brussels' new, bulging five-year budget will effectively be put on hold along with the applications for E.C. membership by Sweden, Finland and Austria.