Sign up now for TIME's WorldWatch email newsletter. On the surface, the naysayers have signaled that the risks of hanging back are manageable. De facto, the Danes are part of the Economic and Monetary Union anyway. That, too, has been discounted by Danes great and small. This Danish sparrow has been able to enjoy a wonderful life, a Social Democratic dream remaining true in spite of rampant globalization.
Taxes are high, and so is public spending.
The watchwords are redistribution, regulation and egalitarianism. And yet, Denmark's unemployment is lower than Euroland's, and their prosperous economy is doing fine, thank you very much. And we don't like it. If it were just Denmark, Europe could shrug off the fall of the sparrow. But the Danes have articulated a malaise that stretches from Barcelona to Berlin.