The Nordic Countries and the European Security and Defence Policy

THE EU–NATO RELATIONSHIP 69security discussions from an early stage. Its views on the WEU were thusformed at a time when this organization had different ambitions from those itdeveloped at a later stage. In Denmark, WEU policies were seen as expressinglimited European interests, pursued at the expense of those of NATO and thereforea threat to NATO. 3 For a small Atlanticist country, not being able to wieldmuch influence on the policies of the WEU and seeing WEU defence guaranteesas nugatory as compared with those of NATO, Denmark chose the policyof staying outside specifically European defence endeavours. 4 This opt-out hasrecently come to be seen by many Danes as a constraint.III. The meaning of non-alignment and relations with NATOThe non-aligned countries also demonstrate much parallelism in their policies:long after the fall of the Berlin Wall, not just Finland and Sweden but alsofellow EU members Austria and Ireland have remained non-aligned. However,they have also undergone a number of changes. Austria and Finland have bothchanged the term used for their security status from ‘neutrality’ to ‘nonalignment’.Sweden, which already used the term ‘non-alignment’, abandonedthe term ‘neutrality policy’ (as did Finland). 5 All have made policy moves thatwould have been inconceivable or at least more complicated during the coldwar. Sweden and Finland applied for membership of the European Communityin 1991 and 1992, respectively, and joined the EU in 1995 along with Austria.(Austria had applied in 1989, while Ireland had been a member since 1973.) Allfour non-aligned EU members entered partnership with NATO, joining theNorth Atlantic Cooperation Council (NACC) or its successor from 1997, theEuro-Atlantic Partnership Council (EAPC), and the Partnership for Peace(PFP). 6 For all four countries, participation in these bodies meant that they werein partnership with NATO, rather than waiting for future membership.The question is therefore why Finland and Sweden have not exchanged theirnon-alignment for NATO membership. One reason might lie in the fact that thechanges they have made are seen as satisfactory: the two countries are nowdoing what they want to do in terms of defence activism and see NATO as avaluable partner with which they share their values and can participate incommon efforts to promote them.3 Danish Commission on Security and Disarmament, Dansk og europeisk sikkerhed [Danish and Europeansecurity] (Sikkerheds- og Nedrustningspolitiske Udvalg: Copenhagen, 1995), p. 291.4 In effect, Denmark stayed outside the WEU institutional system until 1992 and then opted to becomeonly an observer—a status designed for non-NATO members of the EU—rather than taking the full WEUmembership it would have been entitled to as a member of both the EU and NATO. For details of WEUmembership arrangements see the WEU website at URL .5 Ireland uses the term ‘military neutrality’.6 Finland and Sweden joined the PFP in 1994, the year it was established, Austria in 1995 and Irelandonly in 1999. Austria, Finland and Sweden had observer status in the NACC; Ireland did not participate inthe NACC and did not join the EAPC until 1999.