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Den Danske TidendeNationale nyheder i Danmark siden 1714Danmark to join the Council of NationsHillerød announces that end is in sight for 'hyggism'
ELSINORE, Danmark - The Statsminister, Jens Peder Hillerød, yesterday formally submitted Danmark's application to the Council of Nations, the body established as part of the post-war international peace settlement. Made to the official office of the Council, the application marks the culmination of several years of often acrimonious national debate within the kingdom and the determination of the Liberal-Agrarian coalition government to reject Hyggism ('cosiness') and embrace an activist foreign policy.In a stormy session of the Folkehuset (National Parliament) with the coalition often at the receiving end of jeers and protests, Hillerød announced the news which was broadcast on most national media outlets."The climate in Europe at present does not allow Danmark to continue along a course of 'hygge' anymore. This policy has failed and it has increasingly become apparent that it does not do the country or it's people any favours. All anyone evers thinks of us is that we're a little nation of pig farmers more interested in moaning about the price of pork and frying bacon, than looking outside our windows and having broader horizons".He continued: "This is not to deny that this policy has served us well in the past and we have managed to largely escaped unscathed from much of what has befallen Europe. There is a certain attaction in continuing along the old route which, I see, the opposition, are keen to keep us on. But, in reality, no country is an island, and it's become stark how little we actually do outside our own border, whether to work with other countries or to further our aims and to increase our prosperity. This is not even to begin to start on the most obvious areas where our isolationism is failing us, such as in our national security and addressing the plight of the dispossessed in Europe's conflict zones. This is immoral and wrong, and so should end. I'm surprised some of the opponents to this move cannot see this".Numerous studies and reports have shown that Danmark is missing out on possible economic benefits by remaining in isolation and that senior military chiefs have been pressing for greater engagement with potential allies. Opinion polls conducted by numerous agencies indicate an average approval rating for 'engagement' of between 65 - 74% over the past 3 years.The opposition Social Democrats and numerous leftist groupings, however, have consistently opposed the move. Last year, the SD parliamentarian, Henning Folgnir, led the 'Keep Danmark Clean' campaign to highlight the pitfalls of 'dragging a largely happy and untainted society' into the 'morass of dirty international politics'. This was pithily dismissed by the famously drunk and obtuse popular grass-roots Liberal member for Odense South, Ole Munch, as "a load of bull-crap from people who should get their heads from up their collective delusional holes".In the session lastnight, the motion was carried by a majority of 356-112 with rebel Social Democrats joining the government.