EC Gives Danes a Second Chance to Back Unity : Europe: Leaders patch up internal squabbles. They also condemn Serbia for its actions in Bosnia-Herzegovina.

European Community leaders resumed their march toward political unity Saturday after patching up some internal wrangles that had distracted them from both their own economic problems and their relations with the rest of the world.

“I believe this will be remembered as a summit that put the Community back together,” said British Prime Minister John Major, the meeting’s chairman.

The 12 leaders agreed on a formula designed to give Danish voters a second chance to approve a far-reaching treaty calling for a common EC currency by 1999 and for common EC foreign and defense policies. Danish voters narrowly rejected the treaty in June, throwing the Community’s drive toward unity into confusion.

Danish leaders said they hoped for a second referendum next April or May and predicted a solid vote in favor of ratification the second time around.

The new formula will let Denmark stay out of most of the treaty’s major provisions. Danish Prime Minister Poul Schlueter, declaring the summit a “tremendous success,” said, “Our 11 partners accept that Denmark gets a special deal.”

And on another thorny internal issue, the leaders adopted a seven-year spending plan that provides the EC’s poorer members with additional aid--but not as much as they had sought--from the wealthier members.

The summit dragged on until 10 p.m. as Spain held out for what other EC leaders called a “marginal adjustment” in aid from the rich countries. Spanish Prime Minister Felipe Gonzalez said he was satisfied with the outcome, and Irish Prime Minister Albert Reynolds, whose country will also benefit, called the result “excellent.”

With their progress on the Danish problem and the budget, the EC leaders said they could begin to negotiate with four other Western European countries--Austria, Sweden, Finland and Norway--that have applied for EC membership.

The 12 leaders also found time to address some external issues.

They condemned Serbia for a “savage campaign of military aggression, ‘ethnic cleansing’ and the persecution and torture of civilians” in the former Yugoslav republic of Bosnia-Herzegovina. In particular, they pronounced themselves “appalled by the systematic detention and rape of Muslim women.”

Dispatching a fact-finding commission to Bosnia-Herzegovina, they said “those responsible for these crimes against humanity will be held personally accountable and brought to justice.” They warned Serbia that if it does not halt the violence, they will take “sterner action, including tightening and extending existing sanctions.”

Once again bowing to Greek demands, the leaders declined to recognize the independence of Macedonia, another former Yugoslav republic. Greece, afraid that the new country would lay claim to the region of northern Greece that is also known as Macedonia, insists that it must choose another name.

On the touchy subject of wholesale immigration to the EC, especially from Eastern Europe, the leaders recognized that “uncontrolled immigration” could be destabilizing and stressed the need to reinforce “the fight against racism and xenophobia.” Although they suggested that displaced people “should be encouraged to stay in the nearest safe area to their homes,” they called for “temporary admission” of refugees from the former Yugoslav federation.

They also declared their support for the U.N. resolution authorizing the use of force to deliver relief shipments to Somalia. And they praised Russian President Boris N. Yeltsin’s efforts at economic reform and vowed to build more commercial and political bridges between the EC and Russia.

Closer to home, they adopted a modest package of public-works spending designed to boost Western Europe’s sagging economies, which are expected to show anemic growth of about 1% next year and an unemployment rate rising to 11%.

Among the internal issues facing the EC leaders at their regular semiannual summit, the “Danish problem” loomed largest. EC treaties must be ratified by all 12 member nations before they can take effect, and Danish voters turned down the Maastricht Treaty on European union, which was completed by EC leaders exactly one year ago in the Dutch town of Maastricht.

Leaders of the opposition to the Maastricht Treaty in Denmark demanded an exemption from its most controversial provisions, including a common EC currency and defense policy.

Schlueter, although an advocate of the original treaty, delivered on all the opponents’ demands. Major said the Danish formula, while legally binding on all 12 EC nations, did not change the treaty to the extent that the other 11 would have to reopen their own treaty ratification processes.