14 June 2001
Questions still to be answered on US missile shield: Denmark
AFP

COPENHAGEN (AFP) Jun 14, 2001 - Danish Prime Minister Poul Nyrup Rasmussen said Thursday that US plans to build a nuclear missile shield were far from clear and that Europe would continue to discuss the project with Washington.

Speaking after a meeting of parliament's foreign policy committee on Friday's EU summit, Rasmussen said the question of the anti-missile shield, which is dividing Europe, was far from being clarified.

He said the US was prepared to allow the EU and Russia to take part in discussions and consultations on the shield and that he placed "great importance in the fact that Denmark takes part in these discussions."

Denmark could be directly involved in the US project because its overseas territory of Greenland is home to an American radar base which would be a key part of the shield.

However the centre-left government has refused to take a position until it has received clarification from the US administration on a number of points.

Washington says it wants to build the shield to protect itself and allies from missile attacks by so-called "rogue states" like North Korea, Iraq and Iran.

The Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty (ABM) signed between Washington and Moscow in 1972 would have to be renegotiated if the shield is built.

In his strongest comments on the issue yet, US President George W. Bush said in Brussels on Wednesday that the ABM treaty was a "relic of the past".