The Nordic Countries and the European Security and Defence Policy

324 THE NORDIC COUNTRIES, THEIR REGION AND EUROPEIt was during the Bondevik administration (2001–2005) that the opportunityfor participation in EU defence activities first arose. While Bondevik is amember of the anti-EU Christian Democratic Party, the largest party in hiscoalition government was the Conservative Party, which has never made asecret of its ultimate aim of making Norway a member of the EU. In the publicdebate on battle groups, the Conservative Minister of Defence, Kristin KrohnDevold, stated that ‘Norway cannot isolate itself from what happens in Europe[or] remain on the sidelines as passive spectators while watching Europeansecurity policy cooperation take shape without us’. 2 At the same time, herfellow cabinet member Dagfinn Høybråten, Minister of Social Affairs, wassending out the opposite message. Speaking in his capacity as chairman of theChristian Democratic Party, he told the national convention of Nei til EU, theNorwegian anti-EU movement, that Norway could best pursue its policy ofinternational peace mediation by not getting involved with the great powers—including, by implication, the EU and its leading members. Instead, Norway’spolicy should emphasize its independence of those powers. 3II. The background: Norway’s (lack of) policy on the EUA striking feature of Norway’s foreign relations over the past 100 years is thecountry’s lack of political involvement in European affairs. This started withthe 1907 Integrity Treaty, through which the great powers of the day promisedto protect the sovereignty of the newly independent kingdom. 4 Norway wasplaced on the periphery of European affairs, and since then a lack of diplomatictradition has been evident. The one important exception to the rule of politicalnon-involvement in peacetime is Norway’s decision to join the North AtlanticTreaty Organization in 1949 and the country’s active participation in the alliancesince then.Norway has made three applications to join the EU or its predecessors. Thefirst, in 1962, was vetoed by French President Charles de Gaulle in 1963; thesecond application, in 1967, and the third, in 1992, were rejected by the Norwegianpeople in referendums in 1972 and 1994, respectively. The politicalhandling of these last two rejections varied greatly: in fact, completely differentstrategies were chosen.After the 1972 referendum, and in the aftermath of the 1968 upheavalsthroughout Europe, there was a loosening of Norway’s modest ties to the EU, aturning away from Europe and an increased focus on development aid and2 Norwegian Ministry of Defence, ‘The government backs participation in Nordic rapid reaction forcefor the EU from 2008’, Press release, Oslo, 26 Nov. 2004, URL .3 Nei til EU, ‘Dagfinn Høybråtens hilsen til landsmøtet’ [Dagfinn Høybråten’s greetings to the nationalconvention], 19 Nov. 2004, URL .4 The Norwegian Integrity Treaty was signed on 2 Nov. 1907. As well as Norway, parties to the treatyincluded Germany, France, Russia, Sweden and the UK.