In Denmark, theatrical flourish to EU debate

To enlarge or not to enlarge. That is the question.

The answer, referring to the European Union's eastward expansion at least, is certainly in the affirmative. But weekend talks in Hamlet's Danish hometown couldn't hide how much drama remains before the show is done.

The symbolism of the setting was not lost on the usual cast of political players gathered at the weekend in the Shakespearian prince of Denmark's old fortress at Elsinore, an hour's drive up the coast from Copenhagen.

Dominating a scenic narrow strip of water between Denmark and Sweden which provides the entrance to the Baltic, Hamlet's Kronborg castle overlooks a key entrance for ships traveling to the three former Soviet republics of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, which will join the EU in barely 15 months if all goes well.

"Kronborg played a vital role in controlling the ships passing through the narrow sound," said Per Stig Moeller, Denmark's foreign minister. "Today ships bound for the Baltic pass the sound without hindrance and can visit some of the future EU member states. "Elsinore is a true gateway to an enlarged Europe."

Yet strangely, the small Danish port also shows some of the more amusing anomalies of our not-yet-united Europe.

On the cobbled streets just up from the port site, every second shop is an off license, bodega or wine merchant. And visitors from other parts of Europe are astonished to see them doing a roaring trade at 9 a.m.

"Spirits are twice the price just over the water in Sweden. So the Swedes come over here and stock up on the ferry," said local shopkeeper Sven, rubbing his hands at the extra business the EU meeting spotlight brings here.

The mayor of Elsinore is 62-year-old Per Taersbol, a white-haired but energetic Dane, who started life running a hardware shop before taking over the municipal reins nine years ago.

"We have 10 million Swedes crossing the water per year. Beer is four times cheaper here than over there. It's not very complicated," he said.

The Kronborg castle is also a key source of revenue: 300,000 -400,000 people flock to see theatrical productions there every year, including in the past the original Royal Shakespeare Company from Stratford-upon-Avon.

But on the wider perspective Taersbol is happy about the political implications of the weekend meeting in his city.

"I am both proud and happy. Elsinore is a dynamic city in a historic framework," he told AFP.

After decades of communism, he is sure that the opening up of the Baltic states and their admission into the European Union will be a good thing for this part of the world.

"Economically it will be good for Denmark," he said. "There are many Danish companies who have set up in Poland, where they can make things cheaply and sell them back here to make good business," he said.

The political players, too, got into the Shakespearian spirit.

"To be or not to be," quipped EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana as he joked with journalists about whether he needed to go to dinner before he could answer any more questions.

Solana and other EU leaders are the ones who will shepherd EU enlargement down the homestretch toward the Copenhagen summit in December when, if all goes well, 10 new ex-communist countries will be given the green EU light.

Key stumbling blocks remain, of course, not least an Irish referendum expected in October, and thorny issues such as farm subsidies and budgetary reform.

In fact Copenhagen has long been instrumental in the European enlargement. It was in the Danish capital in 1993 that the process of adding up to 13 mostly ex-communist Eastern Europe states to the bloc was launched.