H.E. Jesper Sørensen

In June 2022, Danes voted in a referendum to rescind a 30-year-old opt-out clause in their country’s membership of the European Union. The overwhelming vote opened the way for Denmark to have a voice in the EU’s Common Security and Defense Policy (CSDP) and take part in military missions. The Danish move was the latest sign of Western nations closing ranks in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine four months earlier. It coincided with the decision by long-time neutrals Finland and Sweden to join the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, and—equally significant for the Danes—the German government’s decision to increase its defense spending by 100 billion euros. “We have to make sure that Putin doesn’t have any success in this brutal invasion of Ukraine,” said Denmark’s ambassador to Washington, Jesper Sørensen in a recent interview. “This is our backyard.”

H.E. Ambassador Sørensen says Danes have come to appreciate that being inside the European Union is better than remaining outside, and would overwhelmingly vote to remain members in a referendum, but Danish enthusiasm for the EU also has its limits. Earlier referendums to remove three other opt-out clauses negotiated in 1992 failed: Denmark has not switched from using the Danish kroner to joining the eurozone, limits its acceptance of the EU legal system, and doesn’t recognize European citizenship as a substitute for Danish citizenship. Further decisive steps towards political and economic integration were not likely to have Danish support, the Ambassador added.

Denmark (population 5.8 million), home of the Little Mermaid statue, Hans Christian Andersen, Lego, and the only surviving queen regnant in Europe gets consistently top marks from international institutions for high living standards with few left behind, high levels of trust, and a great degree of safety. According to an annual report by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), “Denmark fares exceptionally well on people’s satisfaction with public services. More than 80 percent of Danes are satisfied with the judiciary system, health care, and the education system.” In 2022, public trust in the government leveled at 48.8 percent of the population, according to the OECD, compared to 28 percent in France, and 24 percent in Japan.

Along with the other Scandinavian countries, Danes enjoy the benefits of a free health and social welfare system from the cradle to the grave, known as the “universal welfare model.” Danes are exasperated when, because of the safety net, foreigners assume their country is socialist, or even Communist. But the program operates within a free-market economy. Denmark is also a member of NATO, with troops deployed at various times recently in Afghanistan and Iraq, and with UN peacekeeping contingents in Mali and elsewhere. Denmark is a monarchy headed by Queen Margrethe II, who with the death of Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II is the only queen regnant in Europe. Her successor is Crown Prince Frederick, married to Australian lawyer Mary Donaldson. The Crown Prince’s younger brother, Prince Joachim, is a senior officer in the Danish military and is currently serving as an attache at the Danish Embassy in Washington.

Ambassador Jesper Møller Sørensen is a career diplomat whose most recent post before moving to Washington was State Secretary for Foreign Policy at the Danish Foreign Ministry. He has also been Political Director at the Ministry. He has been Danish Ambassador to Pakistan and before that deputy ambassador to Afghanistan.

Diplomatic Connections: Ambassador, this is your second Washington posting, is that right?

Ambassador Jesper Sørensen: That’s right. I was here from 2005 to 2009.

Diplomatic Connections: You have more challenges, now, of course, more responsibility. But how different is working in Washington today from before?

Ambassador Jesper Sørensen: In many ways Washington is Washington, I don’t see any big difference in terms of how the city operates. The United States is a country that I hold very, very dear. I love the American people. I have had a very warm welcome back. One thing I notice is a tendency to be more polarized on political issues than when I was here 15 years ago. The tension between some of the political viewpoints is higher than it was then. But on a personal note, I’m very pleased to be back in the U.S. and certainly, I’m very honored to be the ambassador of Denmark in this country.

Diplomatic Connections: Is the bilateral relationship in good shape?

Ambassador Jesper Sørensen: It’s in excellent shape. We are very strong allies. We are very strong political partners. We work together on a number of fronts. The U.S. has also become Denmark’s largest export market. A lot of Danish companies are involved in the U.S. market. They are investing significant numbers in manufacturing, in creating new jobs. We have a number of Danish companies that are very good in green transition and in energy efficiency. So all of this is a very good example of where Denmark has something to offer which is relevant to the United States. 

Diplomatic Connections: And that cooperation includes supporting Ukraine?

Ambassador Jesper Sørensen: Denmark together with the rest of Europe, and with the United States is assisting and supporting Ukraine quite a bit. Speaking for Denmark, we are one of the top donors when it comes to military assistance. We have provided artillery, and tanks, and weapons, and Denmark is one of the countries that will be donating F-16 fighter jets to Ukraine: we are in the lead of that donation; we are training (Ukrainian) pilots. In addition to our very significant military support—more than $3 billion, and Denmark is a country of 6 million people, so it brings us to the very top of the list in terms of military support per capita. We are also one of the top donors when it comes to development and humanitarian assistance. And so is Europe, by the way. It’s important that Europe lifts a major part of the burden. This is our backyard: we have a very special responsibility. The United States and Denmark and Europe are together behind Ukraine because we have to make sure that Putin doesn’t have any success in this brutal and illegal invasion of Ukraine.

Diplomatic Connections: What’s the timeframe for delivery of F-16s to Ukraine?

Ambassador Jesper Sørensen: I cannot go into any specifics, but we are working as fast as we can to get the training in place, and together with our partners in the F-16 coalition we are working to make sure that the Ukrainians have the capacity to receive the fighter jets, and I am hopeful that we are going to be able to make delivery in the foreseeable future.

Diplomatic Connections: How do you address Ukrainian concerns that the crisis in Gaza is shifting the efforts and attention of its international supporters who now have to deal with the fallout from two dangerous conflicts?

Ambassador Jesper Sørensen: I don’t see a tradeoff between the two. I think we can make sure that we support Israel and make sure that this conflict does not escalate while at the same time, we maintain our very high level of support to Ukraine—and I see absolutely no dwindling in the amount of support that Denmark and our European partners are putting into Ukraine. And it’s also my clear impression that in the U.S. there is a very large political majority that wants to continue that support. We will maintain our high level of support also in the coming months and years, if necessary.

Diplomatic Connections:: Not every EU member has the same sense of commitment to continuing that support.

Ambassador Jesper Sørensen: I think that the level of continued support both when it comes to military support and development cooperation assistance, and humanitarian support, remains at a very, very high level.

Diplomatic Connections: What about recent signs that Hungary, for example, is restive when it comes to Ukrainian support?

Ambassador Jesper Sørensen:  I remain very, very convinced that we will continue to support Ukraine at a very high level.

Diplomatic Connections:: When Denmark joined the EU in 1993 the Danes were not fully committed. In fact, the referendum came up short of a full majority, and membership was conditioned by opt-out clauses covering some areas of membership. For example, Denmark remains outside the Eurozone. Given developments over the past few years—Brexit, etc,— if a referendum on whether or not to stay in the EU were held tomorrow, how do you think the Danes would vote?

Ambassador Jesper Sørensen: There’s no doubt that the support for the European Union is today quite high. You saw last year when the Danish government called for a late referendum on the question of our opt out on defense—70 percent of the Danish population said they would like to omit that optout. And I would not be surprised if they were asked that question [whether to remain] the percentage would be even higher.

Diplomatic Connections:  How do you explain the change?

Ambassador Jesper Sørensen: First of all I think that the world as it looks, the geopolitics of today, make it very clear that it’s better to work with our European partners to jointly confront all the international global challenges. I also think that Danes would think that the benefits of being inside the European Union are significantly higher than not being in the European Union.

Diplomatic Connections: And how do you assess Copenhagen’s relations with Brussels?

Ambassador Jesper Sørensen: Denmark is a very strong partner. We are very committed to the EU, and that relationship is both very good and well-established. Denmark continues the work to strengthen our relationship both with the EU institutions but also with the other EU countries. Denmark works very hard to improve the tools that the EU has available internally.

Diplomatic Connections: So the Danes are comfortable with EU objectives towards further integration—unified budget, more centralization, common defense?

Ambassador Jesper Sørensen: I’m not saying that. You asked what our relationship is and I think we have a very good cooperation and people want to be in there. But of course, there can be different notions whether that means that we should have more integration—that’s not the same.

Diplomatic Connections: But what does the Treatyof Rome say? “An ever closer union,” which basically is the direction the EU is going.

Ambassador Jesper Sørensen: I think Danes would be looking at further integration of specific areas where it makes sense. An example would be what we’re doing within the common security policy, but Denmark like many other European countries would prefer to have national legislation. I don’t really see very many countries at this point being very pushy on treaty changes and so on. Those are discussions of the past.

Diplomatic Connections: So it’s a matter of wanting to decide your own internal business.

Ambassador Jesper Sørensen:  Of course. I don’t think the Danes define their link with the European Union based on what was written 60 years ago about ever closer union. I think that the Danes are interested in which areas would be better with further EU integration—but that there are other areas that Denmark, just like any other country, would refer to have national legislation. 

Diplomatic Connections: What does it mean to be Danish today?

Ambassador Jesper Sørensen: It means that you know you come from a country with certain values, one of them is—documented by many indices—anti-corruption. We consider ourselves to be a very green country and many people are proud of our transition into the use of renewable energy. I think we stand very firm on our commitment to values such as democracy, equality, and human rights. I think we are very committed to working for a federal system internationally, and we have consistently been very engaged, both with our diplomacy and our development cooperation assistance. Also when it’s needed we are not afraid of deploying military tools. But I also would like to highlight that many Danes are also very proud of the private sector: we have so many competences and technologies, which I think is a very good thing for the rest of the world, not least because we need to become much more energy efficient and become much more green, and I think that the Danish private sector and the Danish companies, and universities, and research institutions have so much to offer to the rest of the world.