EC Summit Focuses on Danes

With the prospect of a politically united Europe fading fast, European Community leaders made a last desperate effort Friday to rescue the treaty they signed one year ago in the Dutch town of Maastricht.

On the first day of a two-day summit, the leaders reported uncertain progress toward resolving their immediate predicament: how to get Denmark, whose voters rejected the Maastricht Treaty in June, back on board.

“There might be no deal,” warned Danish Foreign Minister Uffe Ellemann-Jensen.

The leaders also remained deeply divided over other issues, particularly future transfers of funds from the EC’s richer members to its poorer nations.

The uncertainty at the summit contributed to new turmoil on Europe’s currency markets. Three EC currencies--the French franc, the Danish krone and the Irish pound--came under heavy selling pressure. The French and German central banks bought large amounts of French francs in an effort to prop up its value.

At the summit, EC leaders discussed formulas for amending the treaty to allow Denmark to exempt itself from some of the more far-reaching provisions: the single currency, the common defense policy and a common citizenship for citizens of all EC nations.

Denmark demanded that the formula be legally binding. Anything less, Ellemann-Jensen said, would not get the support of a majority of Danish voters. But other EC nations insist that a new treaty cannot be so different that it requires a second ratification.