Attitudes in new EU states evolve in ten years
Finns, Swedes, and Austrians ponder experiences of a decade
By Laura Pekonen
When Finland was negotiating on terms for EU membership about ten years ago, the Minister for Foreign Trade at the time, Pertti Salolainen (Nat. Coalition), was given unforgettable advice.
"I was told that the European Union can be compared with the mating of elephants. Everything happens at a very high level, kicking up huge amounts of dust and causing plenty of noise. Also, getting results seems to take forever", Salolainen said on Thursday at a seminar of the European Commission assessing the ten years that Finland, Sweden, and Austria have been in the EU.
Often seen as the "model students" of the EU, the three countries became members at the same time in 1995. However, their experiences as EU members have been quite different.
In Austria nearly 67% of the people voted in favour of membership in their referendum, but with Turkey knocking on the door, the popularity of EU membership has declined significantly. In Sweden, 52% voted "yes" in the referendum, but the country recently decided not to accept the euro as its currency.
In Finland, the vote in favour of EU membership in this country’s referendum was 57% for and 43% against, and Finland took the euro in 2002. Speaking at the seminar, Austrian Professor Fritz Breuss expressed the view that of the three countries, EU membership has benefited Finland the most. Finnish economic growth has been one percentage point higher than it would have been outside the EU.
Salolainen, who took part in Finland’s negotiations on EU membership, said that while the EU has not been a paradise for Finland, joining it was nevertheless "the best that has happened to Finland during independence".
"We no longer fear Russia as we used to. We used to always envy the Swedes, but now we are on an equal footing", Salolainen said.
"However, a dramatic change has taken place in security policy. Who would have believed 15 years ago, when we had the Treaty of Friendship, Cooperation, and Mutual Assistance with the Soviet Union, that we would now be forming a rapid deployment force in collaboration with Germany - a country with whom cooperation was specifically ruled out under the FCMA treaty?"
Mats Hellström, Sweden’s former Minister of European Affairs, admitted that attitudes in Sweden toward EU membership are clearly more negative than in Finland or Austria. Hellström attributes this to the fact that the EU was unfairly blamed for the recession of the 1990s, and for unemployment.
Hellström nevertheless feels that there has been a change in Swedish attitudes. After the Swedes rejected the euro, Swedish attitudes toward the EU have become more positive than at any time during the ten years of membership.
"The Swedes have more confidence as EU members: we feel that we can also say no", Hellström said.
Development in Austria has been the opposite. According to former Chancellor Franz Vranitsky, former enthusiastic supporters of EU membership have turned into Euro-sceptics.
According to Vranitsky, this is the result of the fact that the people look at EU membership primarily from the point of view of economic benefits. It has been forgotten that the EU was originally a project of peace: raising the standard of living was seen a prerequisite for peace, not first and foremost a value in and of itself.
Although the representatives of all three countries felt that the decision to join the EU was the right one, they were all worried about the future of the Union. The EU already has 25 members, and not all of them are as eager to do their homework as Finland, Sweden, and Austria were in their time.
The EU is still seen as distant and elitist by the people. Relations between Europe and the United States have suffered, and the division is also seen within the EU.
"The danger is that the Union will be divided on the basis of economic development as seriously as it was over the war in Iraq", Vranitsky warned.
"Some politicians seem to have forgotten why they or their predecessors originally signed the EU treaties. We should keep in mind the roots and purpose of the EU, and not concentrate on the future alone."
Helsingin Sanomat / First published in print 18.2.2005
LAURA PEKONEN / Helsingin Sanomat
laura.pekonen@hs.fi
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| 22.2.2005 - THIS WEEK |
 Attitudes in new EU states evolve in ten years |
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