Divided Danes approve EU enlargement treaty

COPENHAGEN (Reuters) - Denmark ratified the Amsterdam EU treaty by a clear margin, paving the way for it to enlarge eastwards, nearly complete results showed after a referendum yesterday.

Danes voted 55 per cent in favour and 45 per cent against the Amsterdam Treaty, according to television computer projections with 90 per cent of the ballots counted. The likely outcome was in line with opinion polls taken before referendum day. While a sweet victory for the Prime Minister, Poul Nyrup Rasmussen, a strong champion of the EU's ambitious expansion plans, the referendum showed that the people in his small but wealthy country remain deeply divided over Europe. The early results suggested a majority of Danes had put aside their misgivings about EU interference in their own affairs.