Danish PM to discuss EU and Iraq with Britain's Brown

(COPENHAGEN) - Danish Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen said he would discuss the EU treaty with Britain's Gordon Brown Wednesday, ahead of a European Union summit in Portugal aimed at finalising the document.

Denmark is "waiting for political negotiations on the new EU reform treaty, which will be discussed at the European summit next week," Fogh Rasmussen told reporters Tuesday.

"The treaty will undergo legal scrutiny after the talks until December, where the 27 members will sign at the bottom of the document," he added. A formal ratification procedure would follow with member states.

Fogh Rasmussen said the Danish government would present its ratification project to parliament at the beginning of next year.

During this time, Danish legal experts would evaluate the document to see whether or not it involved the transfer of sovereignty to the EU.

If they found that it did, Copenhagen would call a referendum on the new treaty as required by the Danish Constitution.

Fogh Rasmussen was speaking the same day a British parliamentary committee said the new treaty was much the same as the old one, increasing pressure on the British prime minister for a referendum on the revised text.

The Danish leader said he would also discuss Iraq, where Denmark has some 100 troops assisting British forces including four helicopter surveillance teams.

Its 350 soldiers in the southern Afghan province of Helmand also fall under British command.