For the third day of the negotiations on the Maastricht Treaty, let’s take up an issue that has been continuously overshadowed by a sheer endless discussion of numbers from 40/40 over 5.4 to 65 - or perhaps 90? - seeing as these have proven to be neither fruitful nor productive.
An insider source from within the Danish parliament has revealed that Minister Ellemann-Jensen, with full support from Denmark, will refuse to “sign any treaty if Germany makes no territorial or political concessions in Schleswig Holstein”. Considering that in a previous interview the Danish minister firmly stated that now that Germany has been reunified, the time has come to return Schleswig-Holstein to the Kingdom of Denmark, this intel appears to be viable. And how could we fault them for that?
Our Foreign Minister has claimed that Germany is no longer expansionist as we have left that part of history behind us. Upon request for comment, Denmark quipped that “Germany is in an easy position to say it is not expansionist anymore as it has expanded everywhere already”, only leaving Schleswig-Holstein to be rightfully returned to Denmark. It would do right for the Danish people who have been wronged by German expansion, as these Danes have been stricken of their nationality for over a century and should be able to once again declare themselves as Danish.
Three high-ranking government officials of major European powers - maintaining anonymity for now - present in Limburg have expressed their support for the reunification of Denmark. It remains to be seen how a debate on this particular topic will play out.
Ben O. Verbich, Süddeutsche Zeitung
