> Regarding the latest Danish EU referendum, I'm inclined to agree with you. But then, there is nowhere in the world where money doesn't to some degree equal power. There was nobody trying to stop contributions to the "No"-side.

No, but the government had a theoretical duty to see that the two campaigns recieved equal government funding. They needed to bend EU law to fund the "yes" campaign more than the "no" campaign. Note that in both cases, private funding was about equal.

> > I would suggest that in such a close vote, the mos sensible thing would be to maintain the status quo.
>
> A problem arises in determining true status quo. These EU referendums have always regarded whether or not the next treaty should be signed, not whether membership of the EU should be continued or not. Both would be a departure from the present situation.

It wouldn't be a departure from the present situation not to drop the Krona in favour of the Euro. In fact, it would be exactly the status quo to not sign the next treaty.

If no action is taken following such a close vote, then the status quo is maintained.

> > I still fail to see why it more unfair to ignore the 49% of people who want to join the Euro than it is to ignore the 51% who are strongly opposed to it.
>
> Oh, but that is exactly my point! I don't think it's "more unfair", I think it's (/exactly/) just as unfair, which is exactly the reason why I don't like to use the 'result' of such a vote.

Hmm. My understanding of democracy is that is IS more unfair to go against the wishes of a slim majority than a slim minority. That's the point of majority rule.

> > > My point is that a significant minority is just that - a minority - whereas the almost-majority could just as well have won, given a few circumstances possibly unrelated to the subject of the referendum. The most well-established is the effect of the weather on who stays home (I trust other Rinkies to know more specifically about this than I do).
> >
> > Of course this is true. The Danish government had no direct control of the weather, but I'm sure that they would have arranged the vote to take place at a time of year when the weather would be most likely to favour the "yes" campaign.
>
> That is one of the perks of being in power - i.e. having won the latest election :-)

Accepted. But it's also an abuse of that power.

> > Britain will be having a referendum on the same subject soon. Tony Blair wants us to join the Euro. What Blair wants, he gets. Despite the fact that 90% of the population say that they are strongly against joining the Euro, I will be impressed if the vote is more than 55% against.
> >
> > I think that democracies should not try and tell their electorate what to think. That's where the reform needs to begin.
>
>
> Again, I agree. I think there has been a tendency among professional politicians to view the voters as ignorant. That's the kind of arrogance which people are very sensitive to, and which moreover really annoys them. I hope we are moving towards greater respect (from both sides, that is).

I certainly agree with you there.

> > winter"I will be voting against"mute
>
> jul"May I ask why?"ian

Basically, I don't have any problem with economic union between Britain and, say, France and Germany. But when you tie such strong economies into the likes of Italy, Spain and Greece, it can only cause massive economic problems for the (vastly) stronger economies.

The test run (ERM) that was trialled in 1992 wiped over £3bn off the British economy in a matter of hours. This was not a freak occurrence, but had been predicted by many economists, both in Britain and around the world. Far larger losses are being predicted if we enter the Euro proper.

In addition, I do not think that taxation for the whole of Europe can be managed centrally. Also, not the sanctions that have been placed by Europe on various member states over the years (Britain and Ireland immediatly come to mind), for having *stronger* economies than the Eurocrats had accounted for. Essentially, Joining the Euro seems designed to bring all of Europe down to the lowest common denominator. I don't want to be part of that.

winter"and I just want to see Blair lose"mute