Die dänische Präsidentschaft hat Europas Verteidigung und Wettbewerbsfähigkeit gestärkt, sagt Bjerre
Während sich Dänemark darauf vorbereitet, die EU-Präsidentschaft an Zypern weiterzugeben, erklärt ihre Ministerin für europäische Angelegenheiten gegenüber Euronews, dass ihr Land bedeutende Fortschritte bei den Prioritäten erzielt hat, von der Vereinfachung bis zur Migration.
LESEN SIE MEHR : http://de.euronews.com/2025/12/23/die-danische-prasidentschaft-hat-europas-verteidigung-und-wettbewerbsfahigkeit-gestarkt-sa
00:30You said very clearly back in the summer, at the beginning of this presidency, that advancing Ukraine's application to join the European Union would be a big priority for you.
00:40Are you satisfied that progress has been made?
00:43Well, absolutely.
00:45Advancing EU enlargement process with Ukraine has been and is one of our top priorities, because we live in uncertain times.
00:54We need a stronger Europe, a Europe that is more secure, that can defend itself.
00:58And enlargement is a part of that priority.
01:02And that is why it has been so essential for us to move on the enlargement agenda, especially with Ukraine, but also with Moldova and the countries in the West Balkan.
01:10This is about security.
01:12We need the candidate countries to be closer with the EU, to be more secure, more stability for Europe.
01:18We don't want any of the candidate countries to turn their eyes to Russia.
01:21It has been particularly difficult with Ukraine, because, as I guess almost everyone knows, Hungary is blocking for formal process with Ukraine.
01:32Recently, I know in Lviv that you managed to find a solution for that, which is a workaround.
01:37Exactly.
01:37That the technical work can continue, that Ukraine can continue on this path.
01:41But are you disappointed that you were not able to convince Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán to give his green light, and that you had to find this quite creative workaround to that?
01:51No, I have to say I am extremely satisfied and proud that we actually managed to find a new approach where the enlargement procedure is not at a standstill, but is, in fact, very much alive, that we are moving with Ukraine and also Moldova.
02:08Because we are now taking this new approach, and that approach will be continued during the next presidency, the Cyprus presidency.
02:15So, even though that Hungary is blocking, we have moved on the enlargement agenda, because we knew before we took over the presidency that it would be a problem with Hungary.
02:23They were also blocking during the police presidency, and they are still blocking.
02:27Couldn't this risk, though, entrenching Viktor Orbán's opposition even more?
02:33Because at some point, if the rules stay as they are, he will have to lift his veto if Ukraine is to become a European Union member.
02:40Well, the enlargement procedure requires unanimity and eventually becoming a member country.
02:47We need all countries on board.
02:48But I think that when Ukraine is delivering and increasingly are making the form, reforms are getting closer to EU day by day, that also increases the pressure on Hungary.
02:59They can't keep blocking because Ukraine is getting so much closer to EU in terms of reforming and transforming the country.
03:07And Ukraine in EU will be a huge benefit, not just for Ukraine, but also for EU.
03:13For instance, when it comes to our defense and security, having an integrated defense with Ukraine would really boost our security.
03:21So, I think as long as Ukraine is moving that way, we are also able to increase the pressure on Hungary.
03:29Now, you've always said that EU membership should be merit-based.
03:33That is, countries have to meet milestones, implement reforms, and be ready to join the European Union before they join.
03:39But now Ukraine and also the U.S. seems to have a different timeline in mind.
03:45And they're saying that Ukraine, as part of security guarantees, should become a European Union member as soon as January 2027.
03:54Do you fear you're being outsmarted by the U.S. here?
03:57Well, I hear all of those rumors.
03:59And to be frank, we hear a lot of things from over the seas.
04:03We have never put a timeline on neither Ukraine nor Moldova or the countries in West Balkan, because it is a merit-based approach.
04:13And we stand with that.
04:16Ukraine have to deliver.
04:18Of course, we would like to see them sooner than later in the EU, but they have to deliver and they have to reform.
04:24We're not going to lower the bar.
04:25We will help them reach the bar.
04:27So no peace agreement can demand quicker access or establish a timeline for the enlargement process.
04:35I think it is fair that it is a part of the talks when we're talking about peace with Ukraine,
04:42because the EU membership is undoubtedly a part of the long-term security and stability for Ukraine, having a more stable country.
04:51But when we talk security guarantees, the EU membership is not enough.
04:56Moving on to a slightly different topic, you've also vowed at the beginning of the presidency to tackle bureaucracy and over-regulation.
05:05And in recent months, we've seen various initiatives, so-called simplification packages,
05:11stripping back EU laws in many different areas in order to restore its competitive edge.
05:16Are you satisfied with these measures, or are you still concerned that Europe could become a desert for tech champions and emerging companies?
05:27Well, I'm very happy that you're bringing up this topic, because that's also really one of the areas that I'm just super proud of the Danish presidency.
05:34We said from the beginning that we wanted a stronger Europe in terms of security and defense and also competitiveness.
05:41That was the second theme.
05:43And we really managed also to deliver results here, taking the omnibus packages.
05:48The Council now have reached a general approach on six of the omnibus packages, and we have been able to, during our presidency,
05:56to make agreement on three of the omnibus packages with the European Parliament.
06:00Especially, I am very satisfied that we made agreement on the omnibus one, on sustainability requirements for companies.
06:07This will ease the burdens on our companies very much, and that is very good, and it is a good first step for moving on and making it easier to do business in Europe.
06:19And that is really something we need if we want to have a better competitiveness in Europe.
06:24But does this simplification agenda come with a price?
06:29Does it come with a price for the climate, for example?
06:32I don't see it that way.
06:34Actually, on the contrary, if we don't strengthen our competitiveness, we will not be able to solve the climate challenges we are faced with.
06:45Because in order to find solutions for that, we need to have a strong economy where we do not depend on fossil fuel.
06:54Therefore, we need new green technologies.
06:56And those new green technologies, they cannot thrive if we don't have a good economic environment,
07:03and where it is easy for businesses to scale and to grow, to find investment.
07:07Digital rules have also been simplified.
07:11Are you concerned that this is partly a bow to the US, which is making it very clear that it's unhappy with the degree of regulation affecting digital tech companies coming from the European Union?
07:23I think it is quite a strange argument to make.
07:28Europe has to have better competitiveness, and we needed to have that, whether we had Trump or we did not have Trump,
07:35whether the US is saying what they do or not.
07:38That was evident by the Mario Draghi report last year, before there was the presidency election in the US.
07:44We have problems with our competitiveness.
07:46And Mario Draghi, in fact, was also pointing to that we are over-regulating in the EU.
07:51So this has nothing to do with Trump or the US.
07:54This has something to do with the EU, with Europe, that we want Europe to be stronger.
07:58And in order for us to be a global actor, we need to make it easier to do business.
08:03And therefore, we need to ease the burdens.
08:05I'd like to touch as well, Minister, if I can, on the migration files, because you have been overseeing, as the Danish presidency,
08:13many important developments when it comes to migration policy, including steps that could allow EU countries to send asylum seekers to third countries deemed safe.
08:26Some of these countries may have absolutely no connection to these asylum seekers.
08:33Is this a fair and humane way for the EU to treat potential refugees?
08:39This has also been part of our presidency priorities.
08:43And it is a part of making Europe more secure.
08:47We need to have better control of migrants going to Europe.
08:51And we need to be better at sending our regular migrants back.
08:55It is also about the number.
08:58There is a limitation of how many irregular migrants we can receive.
09:03That will destabilize our countries if we receive too many, if we cannot send back irregular migrants.
09:10Now we have reached an agreement in the Council on the safe third country, making it easier to send irregular migrants back.
09:18And would you say that the EU is now embracing the quite harsh or hard line on migration,
09:24that Denmark has been embracing for quite a long time and often criticized for that?
09:29Well, to be honest, not enough.
09:31I mean, it's very good that we made these agreements, but we still have a lot of problems.
09:37We still have conventions saying that we have to protect the criminal immigrants better than our own citizens.
09:44And Denmark, we are struggling a lot.
09:46Are you referring to the Human Rights Convention?
09:48The Human Rights Convention, yes.
09:50Criminal immigrants that we cannot send back because of the conventions.
09:55So this has nothing to do with the EU policy but the conventions.
09:58And that is a problem.
10:00And we are, to say it out straight, we are protecting criminal immigrants better than we are protecting our own citizens.
10:07So this is something that we are also working with.
10:10We did that before our presidency, during our presidency, and we will keep working with that.
10:14And I just acknowledge that we are now many member countries, also non-EU countries, that are now working to have this change.
10:23And you support changing the way that convention is interpreted, is that right?
10:27Yes.
10:27We made a letter together with now, I believe it's 27 countries, some of them EU countries.
10:33And it is also about trust and trust in our democracy.
10:39If it is convention and judges that are making our laws instead of elected politicians, we will lose trust in our democracy.
10:48So this is something we have to take serious.
10:51And that's what we do from Denmark.
10:52And I can see that more and more countries agree with our approach in Denmark about this.
10:58Finally, Minister, to close off, what would you say to your Cypriot counterparts?
11:04What should they really be prioritizing over the next six months?
11:07Well, I hope they will continue on the same track as we did.
11:12And we followed up on the Polish presidency, especially when it comes to security and defense.
11:18That was also what the Polish presidency was about.
11:20We have built on that, also on competitiveness.
11:23And this is really key issues for Europe.
11:25Now we have a roadmap from the Commission guiding us how to be able to defend ourselves in 2030.
11:34I hope that the Cyprus presidency will continue this work and also on competitiveness.
11:40We just talked about Omnibus 1 and now we have eight packages, but much more will come from the Commission.
11:45And we need to reach agreements on that in the Council and with the European Parliament.
11:49So I really hope that the Cyprus presidency will do their best on this.
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