Denmark in the EEC The whole idea behind the EEC, and later the EU, was launched on 9 May 1950, when the French Foreign Minister Robert Schuman presented his plan for a peaceful Europe based on the European Coal and Steel Community.

Since then, European co-operation has developed into more than just coal and steel co-operation.

The Danish Prime Minister, Jens Otto Krag, signed the Treaty of Rome on 22 January 1972 and Denmark officially joined the EEC on 1 January 1973.

According to the Danish constitution, however, entry had to be approved by a 5/6 parliamentary majority. Such a large majority could not be attained and the question of Denmark's entry into the EEC was put to a national referendum.

The stamp features an excerpt from the front page of Berlingske Tidende on Tuesday 3 October 1972, the day after the Danes voted to join the EEC. The newspaper carried the provisional national result at the time it went to press on the evening of the referendum. The final turnout was almost 90%, 63.3% voting Yes and 36.7% voting No.

Denmark's membership of the EEC has remained a subject of lively debate ever since 1972, and subsequent referenda have been held about co-operation with and connections to the other countries in the EEC and later the EU.

Denmark's future participation in European co-operation will also remain an object of intense debate. The Danes return to the voting booths again on 28 September 2000. This time, the issue in question is the abolition of one of the four reservations to the Maastricht Treaty that Denmark negotiated at the Edinburgh Summit, i.e. Denmark's participation in the common currency, the euro.