Anita Lehmann :
The Attitudes Towards European Integration in the Period 1945-60 in the Danish Liberal Party - Venstre

Traditionally Venstre has claimed to be the most pro-European integration party in Denmark This article shows that this (self)perception to some extent can and should be modified. Venstre has not consistently entertained an unambiguous positive attitude towards European integration. After the Second World War Venstre was divided between those party segments, often farmers, who were mainly interested in European integration when it concerned the field of agriculture, and those, the academic members, who perceived of European integration in broader terms. The creation of the Council of Europe in the late 1940s was supported by the few academic members of Venstre who considered a politically united Europe a step towards ensuring peace and stability in Europe. The farmers in Venstre at this time showed little interest in the integration process. During the 1950s the positions of these two factions of Venstre changed. When the Treaties of Rome were signed, the farmers argued in favour of Danish membership of the EEC as a way to maintain agricultural market shares and steady prices for agricultural products in Continental Europe whereas the academic part of Venstre now was substantially more sceptical on the grounds that the EC project was based on anti-liberal conceptions of economics. During1959-60 even the farmers within Venstre became more reluctant to support the demand that Denmark join the EEC without the participation of Britain.