The Danish Euro: Constructing a Monetary Oxymoron in the Danish Euro Debate

In this article, I analyse the political debate leading up to the Danish euro referendum in 2000. I show how the euro-positive government unintentionally reinforced the arguments of the euro-sceptics by framing the euro as something belonging to the nation-state. I argue that this paradoxical campaign strategy stems from the Danish conceptualisation of nation and state and from the close connection between national currencies and feelings of community and citizenship more general. The analysis confirms the suggestion made by Gilbert that new monetary organisation, such as European Monetary Union, potentially reconfigures the feelings of belonging, popular sovereignty and social welfare rights.