Author:

Abstract

The famous Danish writer Karen Blixen once described in her story Babette’s feast, how the most amazing meal was served but none of Babette’s guests realised the price of the dinner with all its imported continental, luxurious, gourmet food and drinks, until Babette tells them: it is a life’s savings.¹ Highly shocked by the unexpected expenses of the dinner the guests tell her she will stay poor for the rest of her life whereby Babette replies: ‘An artist is never poor.’ Denmark seems to have a different relationship to the EU imported project: it is too costly and not worth its price, particularly with regard to the Area of Freedom, Security and Justice (AFSJ). EU justice and home affair cooperation is simply not deemed tasty enough as it encompasses too many half -baked dishes.

Keywords: Denmark, AFSJ, EU project, Protocol no.22, opt-in, opt-out, Lisbon treaty