Danish PM Lars Lokke Rasmussen urges EU to learn from Brexit lessons

FREE now and never miss the top politics stories again. SUBSCRIBE Invalid email Sign up fornow and never miss the top politics stories again. We will use your email address only for sending you newsletters. Please see our Privacy Notice for details of your data protection rights.

Lars Lokke Rasmussen warned MEPs of the growing levels of eurosceptism in Denmark during a hard-hitting ‘future of Europe’ speech in Brussels. He revealed his government has a hard time defending EU rules and urged the bloc to reform its freedom of movement policy. Speaking at the EU Parliament, Mr Rasmussen said: “The EU has too much power. The EU is not for the people.

“These are views that aren't uncommon in Denmark or the rest of Europe.” He urged Brussels to learn lessons from the Brexit vote, as plans for a United States of Europe "fall on deaf ears". He said: “We need to learn from this choice. For 40 years people of Britain were told how European cooperation was holding them back. “In fact Brexit has revealed how European cooperation was solving problems the Brits now have to deal with on their own.”

“In Britain the government perhaps forgot to tell about the results in Europe, forgot to tell about what we have achieved together and perhaps along the way they forgot to listen to the voices of concern too before it was all too late,” he added. Mr Rasmussen argued Denmark was a “pragmatic” country when it came to its views on the Brussels project. He said: “Grand ideas of the United States of Europe fall on deaf ears. “We're concerned with finding down to Earth solutions to everyday problems, to making EU work better.

“Danes recognise a good deal when they see it and EU is a good deal.” But his scathing criticism of the EU’s freedom of movement rules urged the bloc to reconsider one of its key principles. He has a “hard time defending and explaining the EU rules” on child benefits. They are “not fair and a challenge to the Danish model of society”, he adds.