Denmark to hold referendum on euro

Photo: Denmark to hold referendum on euro

A referendum on whether to adopt the euro and drop other exemptions to European Union cooperation will be held in Denmark, the premier said Thursday.

Danish voters rejected the European common currency in a 2000 referendum. The Scandinavian country has also opted out of participating in other areas of EU cooperation.

Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen said at a news conference it was time to reassess those exemptions, which Denmark was granted in the early 1990s.

"A lot has changed since," he said. "It is the right time to take a decision."

No date was sent for a plebiscite but it would be held during the next four years, said the prime minister, whose center-right government was re-elected last week.

It was not immediately clear whether there would be a separate vote for each of the exemptions.