Alas Poor Europe...
The surprise “no” vote put European unity in jeopardy. Until then, the Maastricht Treaty had looked like a shoo-in. Laboriously negotiated over 12 months, it provides for a European economic and monetary union, including a powerful central bank and a single currency by 1999, common approaches to foreign policy and defense, and centralized authority in such areas as labor relations and the environment. Dismayed European Community leaders put on a show of unity: they refused to renegotiate any new agreement with Copenhagen and vowed to continue their own ratification procedures come what may-piously suggesting that Denmark might reverse its position sometime in the future....