Anders Fogh Rasmussen (FoNet)
Here is an interview with Danish Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen translated from Politka and reported in B92:
When he landed at Belgrade airport, Danish Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen already knew that 76 % of people, who voted at a referendum in Greenland, voted for more autonomy, which is considered to be a great step towards possible independence of the island. However, on the question whether he feels uncomfortable like Serbian politicians when Kosovo claimed its independence, the Danish prime minister said that he supports higher autonomy of Greenland and their ambition to take on more responsibility. However, talking with Politika, Fogh Rasmussen points out that, it is a question on autonomy within the Kingdom of Denmark, and not question of Greenland’s independence.
“Greenland would only like to strengthen existing local authorities, while foreign policy, defence policy, the central bank and several more institutions are in common. I think that decentralisation is good, and that is why I welcome the result of the referendum in Greenland. The result of the referendum was by no way influenced by the Danish recognition of Kosovo, but instead the citizen’s of Greenland wants to control profits from the possible oil, gas and minerals findings on the island. We were negotiating and made a compromise saying that we will share the profit of possible oil and mineral findings in two, if it turns out to be any in the area. In accordance with the possible profits, we will reduce the current regular subvention to Greenland.”
Euro sceptics in Serbia often stress that Serbia’s recognition of Kosovo will be one of the conditions for joining EU. What do you have to tell them?
I would like to stress that we will not introduce any new criteria. It is obvious that Serbia’s constructive approach is necessary, and you showed it with the full cooperation on the Eulex mission. This kind of approach will, of course, improve cooperation between Serbia and the EU.
But, we will not make a condition that Serbia has to recognize Kosovo, because there are a certain number of other EU countries which haven’t recognized Kosovo. It would not be fair to request that from Serbia.
Are you saying that the problem of Kosovo and that the official Belgrade is insisting on the current politics, will not be a hindrance for the continuance and speedup of Serbia’s European integration?
Here and now I don’t see Kosovo as a hindrance for Serbia, because you showed full cooperation within the agreements on Eulex. We should now focus on ratification and adaptation of the Stabilisation and Association agreement, as well as making visa liberalisation. Denmark strongly supports greater progress of Serbia in the relationships with the EU. At the end, when it comes to the final decision on Serbia joining the EU, we will have to be sure that there are no border conflicts between Serbia and other countries. Because, if you want to join, you mustn’t be in border litigations, since good neighbourly cooperation is an important element of the European integration.
As a difference from other European Prime Ministers who recently visited Belgrade, you came with a slightly different agenda, focusing on economy, political and trade relationships and energy efficiency. Did you propose a concrete plan to the Serbian authorities on improving the economic relationship between the two countries?
The goal of my visit to Belgrade is not to talk about the problems, but about the possibilities for additional development of our cooperation. Trade between the two countries has recently increased significantly, but the growth started from a very low level. I would like to strengthen our cooperation, but not only within the energy and ecology sectors. That is why we organized a round table, where Danish businessmen and Serbian ministers will get to see the possibilities to increase trade as well as investments. I think that Serbia has noticeably improved their investment climate. My message to Danish business circles is that there are good investment possibilities in Serbia and that they should use them.
In the past ten years, Denmark has tripled the export of technology for renewable energy and energetic efficiency. Do you see Serbia and the whole western Balkan as potential buyers of this technology, which would lessen our dependency of oil- and other fossil fuels?
It is utterly important for Serbia and other countries to lessen their dependency on the import of fossil fuels, first of all of oil and gas. It is the question of both energy security as well as the environment. Your energy supplies are mostly based on coal, which is a very problematic technology for energy. For the sake of the environment, I think that we should focus more on climate and ecological technologies. Denmark has developed strong businesses with renewable energy, and today our energetic industry represent eight percent of our export. Within this sector, we have renewable energy as well as products that provide higher energy efficiency. Since 1980, Danish economy has grown by 80 percent, and our consumption of energy has remained the same. It is an example that it is possible to combine economic growth, opening
of new jobs and high competition with energy efficiency. Energy efficiency is the question of saving, and saving means profits. Denmark has managed that 15 % of our consumption is based on renewable energy sources, and we plan to double that number before 2025.Despite being liberal, in the election campaign in 2005, in a certain way you announced the “death” of liberalism. What do you think of liberalism now, when the world is facing a financial crisis?
I didn’t announce the “death” of liberalism, but I did say that it is necessary to take all aspects into consideration and according to that to direct world development. My point is that common people are not so focused on ideology, but on solving the concrete problems. I am a great supporter of free trade, private sector and deregulations, but I am a pragmatic politician as well, who thinks that with regard to the financial crisis, it is a good decision that governments, in short-term, interfere in the financial sector and maintain economic liquidity.
Because of the financial crisis, Denmark might join the euro zone. When will you call a referendum on that decision?
I strongly believe that Denmark should accept the euro, although we refused it at a referendum in 2000. The financial crisis has clearly shown that there is a price for not being part of the euro zone. Financially, because the central bank has raised the interest rate in order to maintain the value of the currency, and politically, because we didn’t participate in making decisions with the other euro zone countries, and these decisions have an influence on us. I can’t tell you when there will be a referendum, since I am talking to different parties in the Danish parliament, and I will not call a referendum until I have a wide coalition which will support with votes for the euro.
In the light of the financial crisis, which measures can you recommend to your colleagues in Serbia?
My best piece of advice would be to continue with the economic reforms in order to fulfil the conditions for joining the EU. It will be bad if the financial crisis is used as an excuse to slow down the reform process.
